Disappointment , poor afternoon tea experience, disorganised.
We booked up for an Afternoon Tea as a Christmas treat for my daughter. a few days before the event I contacted the venue to ask if they could add another to the numbers to make three, this would include my other daughter unfortunately they said they were unable to accommodate as they were fully booked, we were fine with this as it was Christmas and the Winterfest charismas fair was on at the same time. My other daughter came with us anyway to see the reindeer and attend the Christmas fair. When we arrived i asked again if there had been any cancelations so my daughter could have afternoon tea but we were told they were still fully booked, so she had something to eat at the fair. There are two reasons i was unhappy with Withworth Hall, the first was the actual afternoon tea experience , the table was not ready for us until about 2.15pm we booked for 2pm, and when we were shown into the room everyone else in the room was still eating Sunday lunch, and because they were still ordering deserts etc we had to wait for ours. I felt we were neglected as the two staff members were very busy with other customers , the tea pot and food was put on the table Infront of us with very little communication it took me nearly 15 minutes to get the attention of a member of staff to give us butter , more milk etc . I have had many afternoon teas at different places and this has to be the least pleasurable. It wasn't the nice experience i promised my daughter. The food itself was ok, had better. Plates, cutlery tea pots, milk jugs etc what you would find in the average café. Half way through our afternoon tea most of the Sunday lunch dinners left just leaving four people having afternoon tea, the rest of the room was empty, and this brings me onto my second reason, we were told the restaurant was fully booked for afternoon tea , there were four of us in there for afternoon tea, which meant that my daughter could have joined us after all. What a shambles, poor organisation and poor service. The waitress in charge of the restaurant was apologetic when she found out that we had been turned down for another place for my daughter and immediately told the manager who was apparently unhappy. I also informed the reception staff who continued to believe they were over booked and had told many potential guests. I’m afraid if I went back it would be to only see the reindeer. less
whitworthteam, Manager at Whitworth Hall Hotel & Deer Park, responded to this review
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