AIBU to never go here again & tell everyone I know how awful it is?

[FrazzledCareerWoman]

New fancy "mums brasserie" type place has opened in the London suburb where I live. Think zone 3, up and coming area. Lots of yummy mummies, baby classes, mums fitness, etc around. People have money to spend.

So they open this place that is marketed as a wellness and foodie experience where you can have lunch and spa treatments while they watch your little darlings. Sounds amazing, non?

They also will have classes for the kids that are put on by external providers, and a soft play area.

Okay, fine. Me and NCT friend decide to go and check it out just for lunch.

Well, I think I'm still in shock. No alcohol at all firstly - I tried to order a glass of Prosecco and they were like "what's that"? So clearly missing a trick there 🤷🏻‍♀️

Secondly, waiting staff obviously had never worked in so much as a greasy spoon previously as they were faffing around doing very little, extremely inattentive and managed to take an hour to bring our starters and a further 30 mins for our next courses. To be fair they claimed this was due to a power cut (which lasted about 5 mins after we had already been waiting for an hour).

Thirdly, it was eye wateringly expensive. Their sushi chef hadn't started yet and so they was barely anything on the menu that was available.

Our bill was £43, no alcohol, 1 tea, 1 latte, 1 dip with crudités, 1 broccoli soup, 1 stale foccacia slice, 1 eggs Benedict with cold sauce , 1 basic salad.

I waited an hour for a “Japanese style avocado salad” that was cucumber tomato and iceberg lettuce. The bread with my soup was stale.

So you would think we were offered our meal for free after all that wouldn't you? Well not only am I ashamed to say I didn't blink and paid the full £43 when asked but the owner had the audacity to offer us "a free dish next time you come".

I feel like they are totally ruining something that could have been great! And they are clearly mental and have done zero research. Membership is around £500 a year.

Just speechless.

Poncy Gentrification not Londoners !!! I am a Londoner myself , as stated yesterday , dear .!

MIssing the point entirely, but since when has Tooting gone all gentrified? It was cheap and cheerful —bit of a shithole— in my day!

@alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 agree, and Balham!

Tooting! Realised I don’t think of tooting as sw London at all - always think of it as pure ‘south London’ but the map would kind of suggest otherwise. I too haven’t moved with the times if tooting is now gentrified ! Need to get out and about more clearly.

Hello, thank you for understanding that a simple private email to us would certainly have been much appreciated and also perhaps more productive. The world of the web we live in means that things can be taken out of context and unintended consequences from a simple comment or rant can impact others enormously. Entrepreneurs work tirelessly to create visions and yes it so happened the hour you came in we genuinely had two power cuts due to some engineers fixing some issues onsite. Our head chef had walked out the afternoon prior and we were dealing with no central heating as a result of the electric issues. We tried to not hinder your experience but of course it did and we truly did seek to apologise for this.

I think there is a clear misunderstanding and I appoogise if I misheard your comment regarding the door, however you also did mishear me clearly regarding my offer of a lunch on the house and coffee which is what I intended and not a lie?? Again, language is so important and I request you to consider it when posting in public forums. You may not have intended this but the consequences for startups of such things can be enormous. For us to deliver the place we all want for our children and for us, a safe beautiful haven, we need the community to support and be patient and advise and recommend. Honestly, the community has been otherwise amazing and for that I am truly grateful:

We don’t want anything less than excellent and we are striving to ensure this. Do come by for that coffee and lunch and I’m sure you will be happy :)

Childplay

The half price in first week membership sounds fantastic given the classes offered.

Didn't realise it was your first week opening. It's good to have an insight to the full picture.

Best of luck

Also Op....

What else did you expect in your 'avacado salad'

On the plus side Childsplay loads of people who wouldn’t have heard of you now have

I’d try it if I was close by but you’d need to build one in SE London - loads of families here ;

Also half price - now loads more know about that too

I’d definitely have a look for that if I could

Agree good publicity really under all circumstances (p.s. you need to proofread your menu!)

'The free madeleines were offered before I even had my second course.'

Clearly eager service recovery

Obviously not to OP's specific time schedule

The price points would work here in Oxford if there is reasonably good availability for the classes (not so much if everything is booked so you’re lucky to get into a class a week). Not sure what you’re charging for the spa stuff, but membership and food seem a about right.

Alcohol I’m a bit on the fence with as it depends whether people are thinking of it from the point of view of somewhere to go with their baby, or more of a spa treat where baby is also there. If it’s the latter I think people would expect to be able to have a glass of wine.

....still dissecting her salad and complaining about lack of alcohol....I've no doubt.

Childsplay you're a business, you need to be much more business-like in your responses to customer feedback. Your replies are amateurish, you can't personalise these things. When you attempt to show up your customers with 'I heard you say this' ect, it just puts other people off from going anywhere near your brasserie.
You don't need 'the community to support you' in order to deliver and be a safe, beautiful haven for children. That needs to be in place in the first instance and that's when you'll get the recommendations.

and they are clearly mental I have no words!

My advice stop going to poncy places with equally poncy food! You might live in an up and coming area with lots of yummy mummies quaffing Prosecco but sounds awful you’re going to spend your kids childhood keeping ups with the smyth-Joneses.

@ChildsplayBrasserie happy to discuss in person, I wish that you had let us know about the issues with the chef! My advice would be not to do food until that's sorted - genuinely.

Again it was not my intention to "out" you on a public forum. That said seems like plenty of people on this thread see that what you are trying to achieve is a great concept. I hope you get your staffing issues resolved.

@MarthasGinYard that is a relevant point because they had completely forgotten the second thing I ordered, but never mind. It's not me being fussy about scheduling. Went in with high expectations as that's how it's marketed online.

I’ll have the Nutella infused french toast please if you can deliver...

I agree that that's a massively defensive and unprofessional response on Childplay's part. Your food and service were not good -- you should be apologising to the customer, maybe offering her a complementary meal as an incentive to come back. Instead you're telling her off! You've certainly put me off ever setting foot in your establishment. Why not own up and be gracious? Blimey.

Oops, sorry, I read too quickly and see that you now have offered her a complimentary lunch. I still think your mentality is a bit too focused on blaming the customer though...

I glazed over when o realised this was about somewhere in SOUTH London

whitewine me too. Glazed look suits you !

Dear me.

I wouldn’t set foot in this place after the owner’s Vicky Pollard-ish response to the OP.

I run a business. Yes, it’s tough. No, no-one owes me support. I could always go and work in Lidl if I find it all a bit much.

I've found this thread interesting as it really shows the power of social media. I'm not sure if I would have posted about this experience the way OP did, but she was very careful not to be specific about the location in London or the name of the business. That came from you @ChildsplayBrasserie and I'm not sure you have helped your cause. Language such as 'entrepreneurs work tirelessly to creat visions' just sounds pretentious - actually entrepreneurs work tirelessly (as do other working people) to make money. Creating visions doesn't build a commercially successful business. It's all very well to talk about 'a beautiful, safe haven' but what people want is a place which delivers what it says it will - a nice place to have lunch or coffee (or maybe a glass of Prosecco!) and a spa treatment while your children are looked after and having fun. Do that, and do it well, and the rest will follow. It's not good business sense at this stage be defending yourself in such detail on social media.

Focus on delivering a great product which is good value for money and recognise that not everyone will love what you do. But hopefully lots will. Good luck, and I really hope it works out for you. It's a great idea.

Thank you this remark was meant in the jesty tone with which some of the other comments were - messages can not be clear. Nothing amateur about us and the quality of what we do. Come and check it out :)

what a pretentious wankfest. That will teach you to check your stupid aspirational lifestyle. Take your kids to the park and have a latte in the caff. I'm so sick of all these entitled people taking over. Stay in Islington, we dont want you and you Range Rover buggy in zone 3,