Bouchee, La

Myriam (5 September 2008)

I have been to La Bouchee several times and have always enjoyed their food and a reasonable service. Unfortunately yesterday I had a very unpleasant experience since we were told to leave the table at 9pm, however, no notice was provided either at the time of the reservation or when we arrived to the restaurant. On top of this their staff, in particular a male waiter - was extremely rude and the whole thing ended up ruining our evening. I don’t know whether the administration is changed or what happened; in any case it's a shame and I’m certainly not going back.

Michael (29 August 2008)

Our experience was positively inexcusable and a night I will not forget for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately we can't rate the food as we never ate any. Last Friday it was our 38th wedding anniversary, and our daughter joined us. We came upon La Bouchee and stepped inside because it looked so inviting. It was 7.30pm and we were greeted by a not-so-friendly lady who said the table had to be back by 9pm. We had no problem with that and were seated. Drinks were ordered. But when they arrived she only then informed me that they didn't have what I ordereded which was 'Ricard', no pastis in a French restaurant? There wasn't a sorry and she shoved the menu back in my hands and said would you like a drink? So I decided to order a bottle of Saint Emilion Chateau Negrit. ‘I hope you have this’, I said jokingly. Well you've guessed it, she walked back minutes later to say they didn't have it, but the way I was told is laughable – ‘I'm afraid sir you are being very unlucky tonight’. No smile or apology, just indifference. So I plumped for the house Red - they had that.

It was time to order starters and main courses, even though we had not been informed about the specials, unlike the table behind. For starters, we ordered two jambon and asparagus and one potato soup. We ordered at 7.45pm but it arrived at 8.15pm, I realised that the two couples who had entered after us were both eating and we still hadn't received our very quick to make starters. So my daughter gently approached the waitress who took our food order, she swiftly passed her onto the lady who I suppose looked like the manager, the one who greeted us and took our drinks order, who replied rather rapidly with ‘oh well it really depends on what you ordered’, blanking my daughter, she started tapping away on screen to see our table orders. Low and behold! Yes that is right the order hadn't even been put into the computer. She totally ignored my daughter, stumbled and stuttered, grabbed the waitress who had obviously forgotten and started mumbling in French to her. My daughter was livid. No customer service whatsoever. So she told the manager that we were leaving, and not paying for our drinks. No apology or anything, just total incompetence. Never have I walked out from anywhere before.

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