This bar on the eighteen floor of the International Hotel has a beautiful, breathtaking view of the Canary Wharf skyline. Unfortunately you will grow tired of looking at it while waiting for your server to take your order and bring you your overpriced cocktail.
Yes, I have come to expect service in the UK to be subpar to that which I am accustomed to in the States. This is not a tip-based incentive system here in the UK, servers are paid a wage regardless of the quality of their service. They are not hustling for your tip at the best of the bars, but here they really don't give a tinker's damn.
A friend passed me as I entered the bar at 12am and encouraged me to "not bother." The service is terrible he instructed, but I did not listen.
He was all too right. It took forever to be waited on, another forever to get served a beer, and we never did get a check. We finally gave up and threw sufficient funds on the table and left. It was damn near 1 am, it's not like they were that busy!
Nice view but not nice enough to warrant the horrid service. read more