"Breathtaking indifference"
A review of The Mitre by Mela - Thursday 21st of February 2008
I like the Mitre as a place, and have been going there repeatedly over the last year or so despite growing misgivings about their attitude to their customers, but have now definitively given up. They seem to have a very weird notion of a service industry. I've been told at 7.20 that they're doing food until 9, then on going to order (at 7.30) been told the kitchen's closed, because "the boss is cooking". And presumably he's feeling a bit weary... Or doesn't care? Or what? And this after waiting several minutes for the incredibly surly woman behind the bar to look up from her urgent task of wrapping cutlery in napkins while I just stood there waiting for the mood to strike her. Who was going to be using it, I have no idea. Sometimes these things just happen, but it's not the first time, and the least you can do is apologise rather than looking at the customer as if they were insane to have the audacity to think that the items on the menu, on the table, were being offered for sale. This is one incident that I give as an example - unfortunately it has been the general trend at the place of late, so I'm not sticking around to see what happens next. There are a few noble bar staff who keep a more cheerful tenor, and they're a real bonus amongst the rest, but they're swimming against the tide. Maybe they're making enough money never to need repeat custom; they're not getting any more from me.
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