Tempus
Bar & Restaurant, Palace Hotel Manchester - reader comments
|
| "The
meal was delicious and the waiting staff
were very friendly and attentive! Was a great start to the
night before we went to the theatre over the road"
- richard, middlesbrough 15/4/08 (visited on a friday evening) |
|
"We
visited Tempus after being impressed by the photographs on Restaurants
Of Manchester. On arrival, the front of house manager greeted us and
told us that they couldnt fit us in before 8.30pm despite the fact
the restaurant visibly had over 20 empty tables. My boyfriend told
him that the time was 8.28pm and then the manager replied that it
was going to be another 10 mins and asked us to have a drink in the
bar. Whilst in the bar (which is excellent by the way), they took
our food order and told us they'd come and get us when our starters
were ready to be served (interesting practice). As promised the starter
arrived at the same time we were sat at the table. Accompanied by
warm crusty bread that was too hard to eat - all the other diners
seemed to have left their inedible blocks of bread too. The food
was average, although prices very high if not eating
from the pre-theatre menu. My medium rare steak was served
very well done and the vegetables were either over or undercooked.
The worst experience of the night though came with the dreadful
service. Many diners on tables around us were growing frustated
at trying to get the attention of the waiters and we were left with
dirty plates and empty glasses for most of the evening. Our order
of mineral water never came so we prompted another waitress (who was
following up a complaint from the table next to us at the time) she
informed us 'my colleague has already gone for your water', but again
it never came. After finishing both the starter and main courses without
any drinks, we angrily asked another waitress once more for the water
and she rudely poured us some tap water from a jug she had just cleared
from another table! We then sat for 20 minutes with empty plates,
waiting to order desserts (by this time we were timing every request).
When they finally took our order it was again a long time before the
desserts came (and they weren't that great to be honest). We then
asked for the bill but, like the table's around us, it never came.
We asked once again 15 minutes later and a nice waitress was very
apologetic, telling us the manager was doing it - he wasn't; we could
actually see him below us in the corrider fooling around with other
staff. The waitress promptly returned with the bill and (all the other
tables at the same time). Surprise, surprise - they had charged us
for the water, that never came. The waitress corrected the error and
we left without leaving a tip. Throughout the meal, with the exception
of one couple, we could hear every customer around us complaining
about something. During our meal we could see all the staff and the
so-called manager stood around the till or in the bar area below,
chatting, laughing and even play fighting whilst all the tables had
empty plates, no drinks, or unfilled requests. Both staff
and manager seemed very unprofessional - no one was in control
of the restaurant - the manager was busy looking important in his
suit at the till. It's a pity as Tempus is as impressive as
the photographs on the website - it's a gorgeous dining arena, arguably
the best in Manchester. They need to employ a professional
front of house manager and full-time waiting staff instead of part-time
students. As it is, I will not be returning."
- nancy, manchester 4/4/08 (visited on a thurs evening) |
|
|
|
