Guest User
April 23, 2023
I had been to The Rock a couple of times mainly for Sunday roast and although I had read the reviews on here and the comments about the owner we always give people the benefit of the doubt and will try ourselves. We had some friends and their children visiting who stayed with us for a few days and then a couple of days in a lovely place at Waterrow which they said was perfect. So it was a given that we would book into The Rock. We arrived just after our friends and as we planned to come with some other friends in a few weeks time we asked to book a table. She said I'm too busy right now so can we do it later. This was very odd because at that moment us and our friends were the only people in the restaurant (7 of us) and it was pretty early still. The owner was very nice and I mean overly nice to our guests calling them Mr & Mrs xyz etc, which was a bit odd. There was also what I presume was a new waiter. Very young, very shy and nervous. He wasn't great but he was trying and everyone has to start somewhere. The longer we were there the more he seemed to relax and the more the owners crown began to slip. 2 of us went for the rib eye steak on the specials board and 2 for the feather blade and the children had other things. The feather blade was good but the steaks were both very over done. Having read the reviews about steaks being so good we were surprised when she asked how the meal was, we said that the steaks were over cooked. She offered to swap them but only for the feather blade. No new steaks were offered but we said not to worry as we all wanted to eat together and we were all nearly done. After dinner we went into the snug and continued to drink (fairly expensive bottles of wine) and played some games. When the bill came which was around £300 we noticed that there was a service charge of 10% on it. It said we could request to take it off if we wished. Living in this area it is very very rare to see a service charge on a bill unless you are at a Michelin starred restaurant which this is not. We as a group decided to ask to have it taken off and that we would tip still particularly if the tip was going to go to the young lad who was waiting our table. As I said he wasn't great bit it could well have been his first night and we wanted to say, "keep it up"! Our friend went to settle the bill and ask for the 10% to be taken off. The owner was not happy about the service charge being taken off at all and you could see how mad she was bit she was holding it in! A few minutes later my husband went to the bar to book the table for a few weeks time. He said "can I book that table now"? She said 'no we are fully booked that day." But I've not told you which day it is or if its lunch or dinner!" "well we are fully booked" she said My husband was so shocked by her attitude that he walked away in total shock. We had not mentioned when we were planning on coming, there was no way she could have know if she was fully booked, she just didn't want us