"Following our experience, I have written directly to the restaurant and had no response, which is another minus. What follows is an edited version of that contact. Following our visit yesterday evening I want to pass on some of our observations which I hope you will take on board constructively. We received a warm and pleasant greeting on arrival. The main front of house was helpful throughout and we would say that she was making every effort to please. Our enquiries about timings and serving pauses were answered efficiently and several requests during the meal responded to similarly, once attention had been gained, which wasn 't always easy as both servers were prone to being pass kitchen facing, chatting, rather than looking at the restaurant. On the table a candle was lit and producing black smoke, at least in part because the wick had not been trimmed. Perhaps, also because mit is a Wilko citronella candle and not intended for indoor use? Unfortunately, we had poured wine in to a glass before realising that there was lipstick residue on mine. Obviously, one would never expect a dirty glass to reach table! I asked about your glass cleaning procedure and was told that it included a post wash steam and polish evidently this had not happened. Service proceeded satisfactorily, the duck roll was lovely, swiftly followed by the sourdough etc. and the veloute. We were left wondering why all had come together, but presumed that it was to allow the soup to cool down? Or is there some other reason? After a pause, we had the Caesar Salad wherein the lettuce base was fresh and crispy. We would suggest that croutons be more in evidence and a good deal less anchovy it was oversalty and unpleasant. The fish course..... had a piece of something blue on the underside. The explanation offered was that this was a piece of j cloth on which the fish had been resting. However,..... I would suggest this may have been a fragment of catering elastoplast, or.... blue catering serving glove... Psomething else with a more plastic than paper or cloth content. Other than it being my wife 's birthday and not wishing to cause embarrassment, at this point we would have left. Having persevered, we enjoyed the meat course and the dessert marrow tart was a treat. The lemon curd was not what we recognise as a curd, seeming overly rigid too much cornflour, gelatin? and the balm leaves also contained stalks. Extra hot water for coffee should not be delivered in a cup it is not suitable as a pouring vessel. The toilet space was found to be clean and tidy EXCEPTthat the sink needs a good 'shine up ' clean and if at all possible an extra touch of general niceness adding to the little room. We would also suggest that you aim to deliver a more leisurely feel experience. We felt there was somewhat of an air of hurry in the room, that dishes were put on the table more than placed for example; the chef hurrying out at 9:10, no interaction with diners, did not give a good impression. In summary : a lack of attention to details marred what we expected to be an at least near fine dining experience and means that we had far less than good value on this occasion. As already said, I hope that you and your team may find the above constuctive. I addition to the above: one of the sauces was delivered in a cracked and chipped dish, we had to ask for a wine cooler rather than being asked). Various elements of the menu were more akin to a finger buffet or hors doeuvre selection than meal even allowing for the usually smaller parts to a tasting menu). Overall, just too much that was really not good enough and at £140 for two no drinks), very poor value."
