If service has been poor, one should not expect to pay for service charge. It is not a legal requirement to pay the charge added to the bill and a customer has the right not to pay for it!
Pablo's on the other hand takes a different approach. We arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes before the table was booked for. Upon arrival we asked to be seated early to which our reply was that table is upstairs. We were not shown to our seats, we were not offered drinks and the service started as it meant to continue.
Upon the arrival of other members of the party, they also received the same inhospitable reception. We all settled in and looked over the rather extensive menu. Not only did it cover Italian cuisine, it had meddled with British and French. After half the party had waited 30 minutes for a waiter to come upstairs and take an order for drinks; a member of our party had to go downstairs and ask for service to which the reply was we'll send someone up. No apology.
The process of ordering was somewhat stressful. The waiter had no clue about the specials that were on offer. After waiting 15 minutes from the start of ordering, a member of our party went to enquire about our drinks. They were rudely told that apparently we had only been waiting about ten minutes. Once again we received no apologies.
When the drinks finally came we were told that they were out of stock on one product. Also the water we had ordered took a further 15 minutes to arrive. When the starters came half the garlic breads we ordered did not have cheese on. Obviously we made the mistake in ordering or so we were told.
Another problem They only had two steaks left. One person would have to have a sirloin. We quickly resolved this problem with somewhat little complication compared to the rest of the meal. Another bottle of wine was ordered, not cold and not opened. We had to ask for the manager who was rude throughout the process to open the wine.
On arrival of the main courses, I had to wait a further 5 - 10 minutes for my main course to arrive. I enquired into why my meal was taking longer, whether they had a mistake in the kitchen or whether another waiting mistake took place. The waiter did not offer a response but only replied by saying it's special. This was repeated over and over again.
The food was adequate for the money.
When the bill came the service charge was on there and we deducted this from the total of our bill. We still paid the full price for the food and drinks. When the waiter came over to collect the money, I informed him that the food was good but the service was diabolical and we were refusing to pay the service charge. We started our exit from the building.
Members of our party were stopped from leaving by the waiting staff. Not only by rudely talking to us, but one waitress forcibly touched one member of our party. We attempted to explain that we did not have to pay service charge by law and as the service was awful we weren't going to pay. The management tried to argue that it was Pablo's law. Upon exit from the building we were told that our faces were on CCTV and that the police would be called. We were also hurled abuse by the staff shouting all sorts of expletives. This was also repeated by the phone call I received 5 minutes later. The manager did not offer any apologies for the conduct of her staff but was still hurling abuse in all sorts of directions. These are not your usual waiting staff, I assure you.
Overall, Pablo's was an awful experience. Upon another review the management has replied by stating that they do not want people who do not want to pay service charge. They suggest going to McDonalds instead. In future I will be going to McDonalds and I recommend it over Pablo's every time. read more
