I have been
to a great number of Sainsburys
Restaurants over the years and have found many offer tasty food and good
service at reasonable prices.
One of my
favourite branches is at Milton Keynes, where I was served the best-tasting
Tikka Masala of any of their restaurants, by a smiling, friendly assistant.
Also highly recommended are Thetford, Rugby and Great Yarmouth branches.
However,
whilst travelling through Essex on the A12 last Friday (21st
September) I encountered the worst ever supermarket restaurant experience when
breaking the journey at Stanway, Colchester.
The signage
outside the store informed us that the restaurant was open until 8pm Mondays to
Saturdays. As we (myself and four family members) arrived at 6.30pm, we
expected to be able to get a reasonable meal, up to the usual Sainsburys
standards. How quickly that illusion was shattered!
First
impressions of the restaurant were “muddled” to say the least. A strange arrangement
of counters greeted us with no clear indication of a queuing system. The hot
food section had a pile of trays at each end, yet again making it difficult to
determine where to queue, resulting in customers trying to move away with their
hot food colliding with those still waiting.
There were
only three choices on the hot food menu, a strange vegetarian pie, chicken and
chips, and ham, egg and chips. The explanation for this was that the restaurant
had been busy earlier in the day (though there were only half a dozen or so
customers when we arrived). This shows really bad planning – if a restaurant is
open until 8pm then it should be able to offer a (reasonably) full menu until
that time.
None of us
really wanted the options on the menu, but the paninis and wraps, which were
the alternatives, looked like they had seen better days. We were hungry and
needed a break from a tedious journey, so against our better judgement decided
to try the food.
My husband
managed to get the chicken and chips changed to chicken and mash, whilst three
of us opted for ham, egg and chips and one went without as there was nothing
suitable on offer. My husband was served his meal immediately, but was told
that the other meals needed to be ordered at the payment point, so off we went.
At the till
we ordered the meals along with four pots of tea. I stood expectantly, tray in
hand, but became puzzled when the tea didn’t appear. When I asked where it was,
a disinterested assistant pointed over to a counter the other side and said,
“over there!” My eyes
followed the direction of the pointing finger where I spotted the pots and tea
and cups plonked on a higher surface, from which I was supposed to load the
tray.
On paying
for our order, my husband asked if we were to be given a number (as in many
Sainsburys Restaurants) for our food to be brought to our table. The
(different) disinterested assistant informed us that we did not get a number,
we were just to wander back to the hot food counter to see if and when the food
was ready. This was when I snapped!
I stated
that I felt it was extremely poor service and then did something I would never
normally do. I gave the assistants a frosty glare and said, “I write about this
kind of thing, and this will go down as the poorest service I’ve ever had!” (As
you can see, I keep my word, rather than make empty promises.)
Give them
their due, at this point both assistants underwent a complete expression
change, and the next thing we knew our food was being taken to our chosen
table, with reasonably good grace. Thank you for that, but what about all the
other poor customers who are not given this treatment?
So to the
food. The chicken was good, the mash acceptable, the eggs cooked the way I like
them, the ham of reasonable quality, but sadly the chips were dry. It was
lovely to have china pots of tea, as opposed to those leaky, old metal ones in
some branches, but the choice of cold drinks was poor. My son had to settle for
a fizzy drink as the only ‘still’ alternative was water. Where were all the
bottles of Ribena, Oasis etc, available at the sandwich counter in the store
downstairs?
Where this
branch did gain some extra points was that it supplied bottles of ketchup
instead of those irritating little plastic sachets, which deliver a minimal blob
of sauce and must play havoc with the environment.
So
Sainsburys Stanway, don’t let the side down. Get your house (restaurant) in
order and bring your food and service up to the standards we’ve experienced in
some of your fellow stores. In the meantime, do feel free to comment by
emailing comments@shoppersjoy.co.uk
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