To think that this pub/restaurant was rude and out of order for telling us we had to rush our meals?

[CrystalMuffins]

We went out for Sunday lunch today to a two for one place, cheap and cheerful but always lovely when we've been there in the past.

We arrived at 2pm and we were seated the manager, who led us to our table and sat us down, before telling us that we had to be finished by 4pm because that table was booked. I noticed he was telling every single other person who was being seated the same thing, this was despite there being other empty tables in the pub. That gave us only two hours to enjoy our meal and a drink.

We ordered out food and then had a 45 minute wait for it to come. I was about to say something when it finally arrived. We order at 2.15 and it came at 3pm. By the time we has all finished it was 3.30 and we wanted a pudding, so ordered one each. The manager was the pacing up and down our part of the pub, getting more and more visibly agitated because people were still eating . I should say that no one was rushing, despite being told we had to be out 4pm.

He and other members of staff were pushing what empty tables were left together, which made me think that they had a large group booking for 4pm, but if that was the case why didn't they just close off that part of the pub and sit customers elsewhere? They were too busy pushing tables together and laying them that they were ignoring everyone else who wanted to pay their bills and not clearing dirty plates up.

We finally left at 4pm dead on, and I noticed a large birthday party arriving with party bags and cake etc.

AIBU to think that paying customers in a restaurant, no matter how cheap and cheerful should be allowed to take as long as they like to enjoy a meal and a catch up with friends and family? That's it's not out problem if they have a large booking later on and should have closed off a part of the pub to accommodate them earlier on? I've never been to a restaurant and been told that I had to be finished by a certain time before and thought it was really rude and disrespectful.

Yabu....op you hadn't even booked.... and yes it is Common practise to say to walk ins that they need table back by a certain time for a confirmed booking. You have the choice then to stay or go.

I don't think it is a common thing. I live near big town center and at weekend if you havent booked they'll seat you if there's a table free but
will tell you how long till they need the table.
Think yabu.

Think it IS A COMMON THING
haven't*
Think I need to put my glasses on!

We had this with a fairly upmarket restaurant. We'd booked beforehand, and there was no mention of the fact that they wanted the table at a particular time, nor was it mentioned when we sat down and ordered. They were quite slow about bringing the menus and the first and second courses but we didn't mind, we were having a very pleasant evening.

However, when we asked for the sweet menu, the waitress looked worried and said they needed the table shortly, but then said she thought it might be all right because we were eating off a set menu and they could produce those sweets quickly. The only trouble was, we weren't using the set menu and didn't particularly fancy the choice of sweets on it. Subsequently another waitress turned up and took our order without saying anything, and then no.1 came back and told us that it was all right, they'd managed to assign the people who'd booked our table to another. Her tone was terribly patronising and as if she was doing us a favour. DH pointed out they'd never mentioned it previously, but she didn't apologise, just saying something terrible quickly along the lines of "Oh, but it's all right, you're all having a lovely evening, aren't you? By that stage, we weren't having a lovely evening and were feeling distinctly ruffled. We won't be going back.

Only1scoop, it's not a realistic choice whether to stay or go unless they tell you when you turn up that you only have two hours to eat but they're going to take an hour to take your order and bring the food. I'm sure if OP had known that she would indeed have left.

Ici....I think in your instance that was extremely bad customer service.

Agree they should have advised Op there was a 45 minute (was it) wait on food. I personally would have been chasing that up though given the already tight time constraints....

I have recently stopped working for a pub restaurant and we had an allicated area for partys and reservations although other customers were welcome to be seated there if we didnt have any due in. We would put reserved signs on all tables needed as soon as diners left upto 2 hours before.
There had been cases where people had been slow eaters and a booking was due in in under an hour the manager would usually have a quiet word in these situations and ive never known a customer who has made a fuss about it.

Sometimes these things do happen, Sundays are always busy and food times at place I worked were always around the 20 min - half an hour mark if a few people in the party (customers were warned before hand), I think the colleagues I worked with in the kitchen would of been trying there hardest to get all food out on time though in cases where the diners would be rushed. We woulds of also offered you a new table to order your pudding off. It doesnt sound like it was organised very well tbh

If you are told before you are seated, and you have not prebooked, then I don't have a problem with it. We went to one restaurant a few weeks ago, walked in about 6pm, and were told that the only table they had free was booked for 7:30. We said that was ok, would only have one course, and vacated the table in time. The restaurant offered us a drink in their bar after the meal. No problem. If we'd booked a table and been told to be out at a certain time, that would be different.

If he hadn't made you wait 45 minutes (!!!) for food, it would have been fine. On normal time with food served at a reasonable speed, do people truly take 2 hours to eat?

Midnite, in the OP's case they were seated AND THEN told about the time limit. That's different.

YANBU about the wait for food. Yabu about the time limit. Your choice at that time to stay or go.
Ywnbu to complain that you were rushed through no fault of your own. You may get a voucher or something.

so you want excellent quality, fabulous service, to keep the table for as many hours as you want....in a cheap pub with 2 for 1 meals? Seriously? Don't ask for much do you?

Standard procedure would have been set smaller groups around in such a way that the party table would be free when the party time was close enough they could put reservation cards on it and tell subsequent arrivals that one of the smaller tables would be available soon.

45 minutes to serve the food is outrageous, i wonder if they werent too busy /shorthanded/using too much stove and oven space with a catered menu to be actually cooking individual orders. And roping the whole front of staff into rearranging for the party without leaving anyone to deal with the previous guests is also poorly done.

It sounds like he was struggling to make the day work, either due to inexperience or some sort of planning failure or staffing issue. Anything from somebody crucial calling in sick, or the party somehow being forgotten when making up the employee roster, or even when ordering the food for the day. Maybe he was called in to replace another manager and not used to parties?

I don't think it's unreasonable for them to tell you before you order that they need to have your table by a certain time. However, if their slow service impeded this, then it is their problem and not yours. Cheeky things!