To ask what is the worst restaurant you’ve eaten at in the uk

[Whereisthecoffee]

Inspired by another thread , tell me about the worst restaurants you have eaten at in the U.K.
thanks

Prezzo. My friend and I try to escape once a month for a meal and a gossip. We were sat in a booth. Waited 20 minutes for drinks. After a further hour, the very young supervisor came to tell us the trainee waitress who had taken our order hadn't given it to the kitchen. She came to the table making a bit of a dramatic show of flapping, sat down in the booth next to my friend forcing her to move over and explained the problem by being very dramatic, calling us 'guys' as in, 'really sorry guys, and, at one point, rested her head on the table and bemoaned the awful night she was having. It was embarassing, but we didnt really complain, just asked when we might get our food. She said that she would order it immediately and we'd get our starters and mains at the same time, to which we said no and asked for the seperately. Then said she'd give us a discount off the bill. At which point, we told her we had a '40% off mains' voucher. To which she told us not to use it and that she could do 'much better than that' and to leave it with her. 40 minutes later, we finally had our starter, followed 3 minutes later by the main. Bill arrived with no discount, I had to go and remind her (by then we were the only table in the place!). She then behaved like we were an inconvenienc, the theatrics having completely disapeared, and replaced with a rather snippy 'we are closing in 2 minutes' attitide. She sent the bill back with a 'discount' that worked out £2 less than if we'd used the voucher and not had to go through the embarrassment of asking for it. Never again. Im pretty happy with well cooked, tasty food. I do not have expensive tastes, nor do I have a massively gastronomic interest. I cant stand bad service though.

We often eat at the Jamie Oliver’s at Bluewater and it’s always been fine. Service may be bit slow at times but food has always been good and not particularly tiny portions. The reason we go there is the kids eat free offer is usually on and my DH loves the fried ravioli starter.

A chipshop in Springburn.
It had recently changed owners so we popped in to check it out and we're served thin fries warmed in a microwave.
I asked if the friers were out of order, thinking maybe teething troubles. The guy explained to me that the friers worked fine but to save money they were cooking the chips then turning off the friers and leaving the chips to sit in the cold fat. This was OK because "the junkies will still eat them".
Apparently he had seen that we were "respectable customers" and got out the "special chips" just for us.

@helipad,it's the worst you've eaten at,not the ones you quite like

Bella Italia in Lakeside - okay it's in a shopping centre so were not expecting amazing food, but it's the ridiculously terrible service. Waiting staff nowhere to be seen for ages at a time, food taking a very long time even if restaurant not busy.

I actually enjoy other Bella Italias and I love Turtle bay food & drink however I am not vegan or vegetarian.

goatwithacoat I'm with shockers here; hot smoked salmon is the smoking manner, not the serving temperature. Hot smoked salmon tends to be cooked, whereas cold smoked is the more traditional raw smoked salmon you would eat for breakfast on a bagel

A pub in Ealing, now happily changed hands. I really fancied avocado do ordered nachos which contained guacamole. When it arrived they'd run out of guacamole and the sour cream was mayo.
My colleague's burger was underdone so they too it away and clearly microwaved the whole plate; the salad ended up a sad little pile on the side.
Still, better than the French place round the corner where they took my undercooked chicken from me to redo and returned it to me still semi raw.

To those who are being put off eating out, I can see why. I try very hard to avoid all these chains, who are serving microwaved or preprepared food. I resent spending my money on food that isn't made with care or attention. If you have independent places near you (and I know lots don't now) then give them a try. They often invest a lot more effort into their food.

Every single really bad food experience for me has been when I've ended up in a chain. The one that sticks in my mind most weirdly enough was a friend and I ordering a baked Camembert to share in a chain pub, and it came uncooked. We sent it back and they were clearly microwaving it because the middle was molten and the outside still cold. We sent it back repeatedly until it was edible and it got very funny by the end.

Also agree that eating out in Centre Parcs is dismal - we had gone with high hopes) stupidly. Got a frozen starter.

Xiaoxiong
Been to the Ascot Loch Fyne several times and it has always been good. I had had a few 'less than perfect' experiences at the Egham one before my dreadful night there - so I think it is the branch rather than the chain.

A very posh gastropub in Broadway (Cotswolds not NYC!) Awful service and the weirdest, tiniest steak baguette - more like one of those par-baked morning rolls with a slice of shoe leather. Awful.

Worst though was San Carlo in Bham. We'd been given a £100 voucher as a wedding gift so were really looking forward to a lovely treat. Vastly overpriced, definitely style over substance. Disinterested waiting staff that took over an hour to serve us (although the table of WAGS behind us got lots of attention.) DH & I were clearly not rich or 'famous' enough.

Food was tiny portions, slimy as smothered in sauce and a bit rubbish. One of those places where 'steak' is just that so you have to pay another £10 for chips or sides.

Bill came to £120 for two mains, sides, 1 (shared) dessert and a drink each. And we had a voucher so only really paid £20...still felt really ripped off!!!

I don't think the menu had changed since its heyday. It was like dining out in 1985...

I ate moules marinière at Gatwick airport in Cafe Rouge once. I have never eaten mussels or at Cafe Rouge since. Was flying to the Isle of Man and was so, so sick! :(

Italian restaurant in the Radisson hotel at Stansted. Just dreadful in every possible way.

Our Harvester is actually fairly decent. We often go for breakfast and have only been a couple of times on an evening.

Jamie's used to get great reviews although the York one is located in lendall cellars which is underground and smells slightly of damp. I've never eating there, but sil was a regular until a year or so ago when it just went downhill rapidly.

My worst recent meal was at a small tapas bar. Admittedly it was a Friday night and quite busy, but it was tiny and super loud music.

Meatballs were tiny and overcooked with cold, unseasoned tin tomatoes poured over them.

Chicken with manchego cheese and bechemal sauce was just plain chicken chopped into cubes (or defrosted from cubes) with cheddder cheese on top. No sign of a sauce.

Patatas bravas were chopped seriously undercooked potatoes, again with the cold tomatoes poured over.

The ham and cheese croquettes were good though. The waitress kept bringing over more croquettes in different varieties despite us not ordering them and saying 'well, they're cooked now, you can have them for free....'

Oddly the place has very good reviews - I wonder if there was some sort of kitchen emergency and the usual chef was not available so they were having to make do.

I shall stick to ambiente from now on!

Many years ago a group of us went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Tottenham. All you can eat for £5.
We ate our fill and trotted off home, no problems.
Six months later I'm watching one of the environmental health programmes on TV and they had on a restaurant with rats, cockroaches, flies...yes, it looked familiar.

I would add my vote for the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge. £8 for a tiny dry cake and tea that was the same colour as the contents of a catheter bag .

Worst by far was the George in Babraham. Greasy food, appalling service and flies. Lots of them. You literally had to keep your food covered all the time otherwise they were on it.
All the staff did was to blame the chicken farm nearby. Made absolutely no effort to sort it.

So sad to see Frankie and Bennies mentioned so many times. About 8-10 years ago our local one always used to be our go to place ,lovely food,great service,reasonable prices and they were fantastic with our children. We then moved and there were no F&B's near us so we haven't been since. Then about a year ago, one was finally opened about 30 miles away and all I've heard from people is exactly the same as what has been said on here, expensive,bad service etc.
Same with Harvester, could take the kids, grab a roll and a salad bowl to keep them happy while we waited for our food. Ok, food was never cordon bleu but was hot,tasty and plentiful which was all we wanted when we ate there. But about 5 years ago it went rapidly downhill, service was slow, food took over an hour to arrive and when it did it was a mix of burnt, raw, tiny portions or wrong!!
Obviously everyone can have a bad day but there seems to a real drop in standards in these 2 places.

@MrsA2015, strange you were told that because we had a set lunch menu including hot food!

The desserts were impressive but because we chose from the set menu we didn't get a huge choice of dessert.

@Cahira yeah we found it really odd, perhaps the kitchens weren’t in full working order! If you do go back just dive into the puddings. We still reminisce about them now

An Indian restaurant where they used cheddar instead of paneer. Melted cheese curry is not a good thing. Absolutely horrific.

I once went to a pub in central London which was fleecing tourists with an overpriced and crap food menu (we were just drinking). The dish that sticks in my mind was a 'ceasar' salad [sic] made with cheddar cheese, for £16.

Probably a steakhouse many years ago when I still ate meat. My steak was too rare so I sent it back.

The microwaved it - along with the salad also on the plate....

There was also the Indian restaurant in Norfolk which refused to serve me my choice of meal as it was "too hot for ladies". The friends I was with still talk about that one.

More recently a chain pub in Bath where my halloumi and avocado in an "artisan roll" was a tiny piece of the cheese and barely a smear of very ripe avocado. Complete rip off.

A Wetherspoons in Lymington (I think!). I KNOW it’s a Wetherspoons so I shouldn’t expect much! But it comes to something when your expectations are already low and they can’t even manage that. I was anticipating cheap but edible microwaved food. What I got was still frozen chips and massive chunks of onion and cabbage in what could barely be described as colslaw.

@StubbleTurnips my friend went out with the chef at Head of the River when we were at uni (I was shagging the barman). Not surprised the food isn't good - it was staffed by drunk stoners. We had great fun hanging out in the staff accommodation, though 

Reminds me of another place opposite Tesco in Ware. Pretentious Italian, service was atrocious.
No garlic bread if someone else has ordered fish (?? ). I asked for a certain dessert and they were sold out. Very young and attractive colleague asked for the same dessert straight after me and that was no problem. When I remonstrated with them I was told " we can find a little for her".
Thankfully it has long since closed.

DP is a chef and he friends that work in Bella Italia, apparently everything including the pizzas is frozen and just heated up

Jamie Oliver's Italian!

Never stepping foot in one again

Terrible service, rude unable waitress, wrong food brought to us (twice!) long wait time and warm drinks? (How can coke be served warm ) and they tried to make us pay for the all the food that was brought to us, even the stuff we didn't order....