Incredibly Disappointed
We booked Heavens Kitchen for my Dads 60th birthday after a recommendation that it would be a nice meal. It was the main event of the day we had planned and so were looking forward to a lovely evening of great service, food and environment.
Unfortunately that was not what we received. When we got there there was no one there to seat us. After waiting some time we managed to catch one of the waiters, they didn’t know who we were despite the booking, apologising that their manager was out of the restaurant so he was managing alone.
We were sat by a door that kept being left open despite us closing to avoid the cold draft. We were then given a New Years Eve menu, no water on the table or asked for any drinks.
We were told his manager had told him to give out the New Year’s Eve menu, but apologised and gave us the regular one we expected.
Finally took our drinks and despite knowing we weren’t having wine left those glasses on the table. So we put them to the end to be collected when our drinks came. No water was given, we asked again to the manager when he finally arrived and he still forgot so asked for a 3rd time for water (by which point we were ordering our food).
The wait wasn’t awful but not the quickest for the starters, but it was a lifetime until they collected the plates. We sat infront of them with an empty glass until we decided to put them to the end of the table in the hope someone would see. No one came. So we went up to find someone and asked for the table to be cleared and for another drink.
They cleared the plates (leaving the empty glass). Another lifetime and after getting up and asking again the drink finally came, again leaving the remains there. That glass stayed on the table throughout the rest of the evening, even after paying the bill.
After another long wait the food came for our mains and it was a huge disappointment. The breaded chicken was rock hard edging and dry (unable to cut or pull in half), the burger was not delivered as per the menu and request, instead with sauce that we had to scrape out. They did bring a couple slices of lettuce to help with the scraping and offered to take it back to the kitchen but by that point we were well over an hour in waiting so kept as we were. The chips were different depending on the plate, either over cooked brown crisp or white barely cooked inedible. Both the burger and chicken were barely touched.
Durning the mains we were asked how it was ‘all good?’ And we raised the issues we had with the food, the waiter was very apologetic and professional, his manager though was incredibly defensive. Blaming that a steak takes a long time etc. We then had to ask again for our plates to be cleared.
When clearing the plates the manager asked again ‘all good?’ Completely disregarding all we had said so we listed out all the problems we had in detail throughout the evening and brought to his attention this was a special birthday meal and it had been awful. There was still defensiveness and incorrect information about how long a steak takes, that he seated us and took our drinks order when he was out of the building at that time. We pointed out the issues showing the food remains on our plates and brought up what we thought could be the issue - understaffed and a big table upstairs that had taken priority. He no longer challenged us and said he would look at the bill.
He gave us £30 off as a standard being a birthday and took off the service charge. So in essence the £30 we would have had anyway and anywhere else that service charge would have been based on our experience.
I’m annoyed I didn’t take photos! It was so late by the time we got back (we travelled up from Brighton for this meal!) that I had no choice but to have a bowl of cereal for dinner.
Do not waste your time in this place, there are significantly nicer places to eat for food quality, service and environment with the likes of the Grumpy Mole etc.
To the waiter that served us, you were brilliant, just not a good teacher or leader you have as your manager - advice - you’d do much better with someone that nurtures that urge to do well in the what you do. You handled yourself far better than your manager and you should be proud.
December 15, 2025
Unprompted review
