A Blogger’s Day Off
Sometimes food bloggers want a day off and the aim is to just have a quick meal, no photos or recipes to try to get. That was the plan recently when I was having a day out with my family for my granddaughter’s birthday.
I can see now the bad idea of going into London in half term but it was a little girl’s birthday wish so I met them at the station and off we headed for the Natural History Museum. When we got there, there was a half hour wait till they opened the doors again and the queue would take about an hour and a half meaning a two hour wait in a queue – no thanks!
Instead we headed into Central London for the Chinese restaurant we always go to which turned out to be closed for renovations! What else could go wrong?
We had passed a Jamie Oliver Diner so armed with the reputation of Jamie Oliver we went inside for our lunch.
Either Jamie Oliver had never been there or it was qute a while ago but it was not quite up to his usual standards.
Our party consisted of three adults and one child. Four meals, how hard would it be to get them right!!
We shared two starters and had one soft drink each. This is important as it fills in the picture of the price too.
My burger came with my son’s chips (they were in a little bucket) and the waitress took them off my plate and swapped them to his plate. My chips which were deep fried acavados (yes, they were weird) on my son’s plate. My daughter in law got her hot dog and no chips and had to wait ages for them. When I asked the waitress (who by the way kept referring to us as ‘you guys’) for a slice of pickle she asked if I wanted another one! No I said just the one missing from my meal.
The child’s meal was chicken lollipops and chips with a lemony creamy dip. In reality it was a piece of grilled chicken cut into slices with chips and no dip.
When we came to pay the waitress asked if we would like to leave a tip with the credit card payment! No we didn’t. I wanted to give her a tip – Don’t keep calling us ‘you guys’!
The bill was just under £70.00 – three adults and one child, two burgers (both over cooked), one hot dog and one ‘chicken lollipops’ and four drinks. A bit excessive for the quality and level of this meal.
This is not a restaurant I will be wanting to re-visit! Just saying.
Oh my goodness that's horrendous! Hope you have tweeted Jamie Oliver and asked for your money back!
In the process of sending them an email and I have tweeted about it already.
Mmm. When you believe in a chef and what he stands for it's very disappointing to find his restaurant is among the run of the mill in quality. Service can sometimes make up for that but when both are poor it just leads to overall frustration. Hope you get a response, influential blogger and all that. GG
'influential blogger' not sure about that but will definitely chase it up in a few days if no response.
That is terrible! I bought a voucher from Amazon for a three course meal at jamies italian, here's hoping it turns out to be ok, otherwise I want my money back!
I am sure you will have a great meal!
I have heard of other bad reports too Heidi, and I think that our Jamie has over stretched himself…..such a shame and such a lot of money too!
Well they have lost our custom!
Oh dear, what a shame when you have been looking forward to a day off!
I guess food bloggers never get a day hey!
Oh dear. I am sorry your food was not up to a good standard.
Probably wouldn't recommend them now.
Sorry to hear that! I actually never visited his restaurant before and I'm not his biggest fan as well so good to which place to avoid 😉
I have been to his Italian in St Albans and that was OK but this Diner thing just didn't work for us!
Awwww that is a shame and a big bill for such a disappointing meal. I went to one in Birmingham and we all really enjoyed our meal and the waiters were faultless.
Glad to hear that Jac!
Yikes, not what you expect, especially at that price.
Janie x
We did feel the price was a bit steep, we really didn't go overboard with the food.