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• what customers think

For a restaurant that boasts such a gracious name and a superb international reputation for vegan dining, you don’t expect to receive a tirade of abuse and aggressive behavior from its senior staff. Equally, you don’t expect the head chef to express hostility, arrogance and aggressive behaviour at your table to the point he is yelling “Go back to eating your f**king microwave meals.”! My partner and I booked in advanced and were therefore dismayed to see they were unsure where to seat us and we ended up on a small, mediocre table beside the door. Not a great start but service was good until I politely questioned the intense flavor combination of my meal. I said we both found the meal so overpowering in flavour that it was bitter and not enjoyable to eat. The waitress was quick to dismiss and refute my concerns and said “This is how we like it”. She took away the uneaten dish without ever offering an alternative suggestion – something any well-established eatery would surely do as a professional courtesy. Even though I have had my fair share of appalling and disappointing vegan dishes in 25 years as a vegan, served with equally bad or unsatisfactory service, I was not prepared for what followed. The head chef came to our table and asked what was the problem. By this stage we were objecting to paying for the meal that we did not eat and I explained our reasons in a polite manner. He was quick to become aggressive and defensive, telling us that he didn’t care if we liked our meal or not and that we had to pay. The abuse continued until we felt so intimated we agreed to pay and leave. We did nothing to incite or warrant such behaviour. More surprisingly, the head chef told us unequivocally that the restaurant neither cared about customer feedback nor were they interested if customers actually enjoyed the food. We have since written to the owners seeking clarification and asking them if it is acceptable for staff to intimidate and rudely offend customers. They have not responded. Gratitude Restaurant has been the worst restaurant experience ever. It appears ego and arrogance has got the better of the staff at this place and gratitude left this restaurant long ago.