Barry Gregory, Hampshire
Being on a gluten-free diet is difficult enough, but you imagine in top-class restaurants they’d know about allergies. Imagine my shock when at Marco Pierre White’s Quo Vadis the maître d’ on being told that I was allergic to flour removed the vase of carnations from in front of me, apologising profusely.
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Anja Perry, Essex
At the Acorn Wholefood Cafe in Church Stretton, Shropshire, my wife’s dessert consisted almost exclusively of 63 damson stones. When pointed out to the proprietor she snapped, “Damsons have stones. You can’t expect us to take them out.” We recently revisited the restaurant. “cottager’s pie with JP” turned out to be meat and potato pie with jacket potato. I enquired if it was possible to have vegetables. “Vegetables?” the proprietor snapped, “I don’t have time to do vegetables!”
Robert Cory, Cheshire
I booked at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s, also reserving a bar table for pre-dinner drinks. A young woman said, “I’ll take you straight to your dinner table.” I pointed to a reserved table for four in the bar. “We’d first like a drink there,” I said.
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“If you don’t go straight to your restaurant table now I can’t guarantee to serve you,” said the young woman. If I’d had Gordon Ramsay’s number I’d have given him a bollocking, and not a jovial one as you gave Jeremy King last week. Suddenly another young woman appeared. She took the reserved sign off our bar table, saying, “Would you like to sit here?” We wondered who the dreadful woman was in reception who set the wrong tone for the evening.
Norman Coxall, Surrey
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I’m constantly amazed at the enormous prices of meals and hotels your letters reveal — and that people actually pay good money for them when they lead to so many complaints.
Ian Taylor-Forrest, Dorset
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Send letters to Winner’s Dinners, The Sunday Times, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1ST or e-mail michael.winner@sunday-times.co.uk