I'm not one given to reviewing, but felt compelled to sign up to tell you about my experience at 'FÖLLEREI'. I guess lots of people on here have a dining (or otherwise) experience, either good or bad, that acts as the catalyst to get them to sign up to a review site; here is mine.
A friend and I fancied some proper German fare the other night, and after seeing some mixed, but largely decent reviews here and elsewhere, we plumped for FÖLLEREI (not least because it was only a 10 minute walk away). The interior is pleasant enough, and the huge photographic portraits of what I presumed were German farmers on the wall was a nice touch. The waitress, who may have been the owner, I'm not sure, seemed like a nice, friendly lady. After ordering, our starters came fairly quickly a cream of broccoli soup, which, although perhaps a little too salty, was nice; and a beetroot carpaccio, which was pretty good too.
For main we had both ordered Bratwurst, which, it being ages since I had had it for the last time, I was anticipating with some relish! About half an hour passed, with no sign of the Bratwurst. At this point, another couple arrived and took the table to our left. When they were served their starter before we our main had shown any signs of appearing I was somewhat perturbed; but it was when they were served with you guessed it Bratwurst (!), over an hour after we had finished out starters, that I summoned the waitress. Perhaps I ought to have done this earlier, but she looked somewhat flustered and as though she was being rushed off her feet. After I waved her, it took her a good five minutes to come to our table, with her first deciding to replace the candles on all the benches outside before coming at a leisurely pace back inside and asking what it was that I wanted. When I asked about the Bratwurst she seemed mystified, and denied all knowledge of our having ordered it. I reminded her of the details of our order (she had asked if we wanted a large portion to share, or two individual dishes), and this seemed to ring a bell, so she headed back to the kitchen 'to check'.
On her return she told us that our order 'ist vielleicht in der Kueche irgendwo runtergefallen' that the slip of paper must have fallen on the floor. This might have mitigated things and been a reasonable excuse, were it not for the fact that there were only FOUR tables occupied in the whole restaurant. It is her watch to notice if there is one table that is conspicuously not getting what they have ordered whilst all the others are being served. We were sitting for about an hour at the table in a glum attitude whilst everyone around us munched away. It shouldn't be beyond the capacity of a waitress to keep her eye on four tables!
At this point I told her, not in the happiest of moods, but also in a by no means unfriendly manner that we would get the bill and leave. She said rather woodenly that she was sorry, in an obviously unapologetic, even a somewhat angry tone, and gave us the bill. I was very surprised to have been asked to pay for our starters, given what had happened; but even more surprised to see that after we had put our money down, she showed no signs of appearing to give us our change. Although loathe to tip, I didn't fancy waiting another hour, so after five more minutes of waiting, we left!
A shame really, because the place had a nice atmosphere, the starters were nice, and the prices seemed reasonable. I'm sure the Bratwurst would have been delicious! But had this happened in England, the starters would have been on the house, and the apologies profuse. The restaurant owner needs to realise (especially for a place that's somewhat hidden away), that good customer references leads to repeat sales, recommendations, and much more revenue than the cost of, for example, two starters!
Although perhaps I'm lurching towards a treatise on the subject of differing conceptions of 'service' in different countries, and I don't want to do that!
All in all, though this place might well serve good food, a thoroughly disappointing and disheartening experience!! read more
