Don't come here if you need to eat fast. This restaurant has the most disorganized serving staff you will find anywhere. It's like watching a west end farce as they throw themselves busily and pointlessly around the restaurant trying to make space for the incoming hordes, totally missing that it's going to end in tears if they don't actually serve some of the existing customers first. It's like it's a big surprise to them that they are going to be busy.
On a positive note, the diner style menu has a good choice of food for all tastes, the cooking's formulaic but edible and the portions are filling. As I sit here with apparently loads of time to fill before I get any food at all, I thought I'd pass on some top tips for dining here on your travels:
1) Don't fly from Gatwick anyway! It's one of the worst UK airports with a decaying infrastructure and poor service at the best of times but it easily cracks under any pressure with long lines for everything and the staff running around doing headless chicken impersonations
2) If you have to fly from Gatwick, eat before you go.You would think an airport fighting for customers in the current market would have some sort of quality control over the services it provides to its customers but, apparently,judging by the awful choice of the catering concessions (all food for Chavs) the job has apparently been given to a work experience student who goes home every night to mum's fish fingers and oven chips and would not recognize a good meal if it had a sign on it saying "good meal".
3) If you end up in Garfunkel's, which to be honest is actually the best of a bad bunch, make sure to ask the clown with the spinning bow tie and flappy shoes for your check when he/she eventually brings your main course or you will wait forever
4) a special tip for my friends from the USA, stop rewarding bad service!The lady traveller from California on the next table to me was almost in tears waiting for her meal yet still felt she should reward the person who brought her so much stress with a 20% tip. In Europe, we expect good service, tip for outstanding service and punish bad service
5) For the Brits of the younger, wannabe American generation who did the same, STOP IT!
Anticipating the usual messages from fellow Yelp!ers questioning my expectation of decent food at airports (you know who you are :-), it's that attitude that has got us what we have today. The campaign continues! :-) read more