Yes, it was The House of Tides.
The food itself wasn't bad, it wasn't up there with other starred places I've eaten but it was good. The first thing that was a bit off was after we had ordered drinks in the downstairs bar, a second waitress came up to us to take our drinks order with the drinks in full view of us at the bar. Just seemed very amateurish.
My mother doesn't drink red wine, at all. So we asked the first waitress if the reds in the wine flight could be substituted for something else. She said that wouldn't be a problem and let the sommelier know. When her lamb course arrived (the first and only with a red wine pairing), he arrived with 2 glasses of red wine. She asked if it could be substituted, and he uhm'ed and ahh'ed for about 15 seconds in front of us before deciding that a Chardonnay would be OK but stressed an awful lot that it wouldn't work. He just didn't seem to have much of a clue about wines.
We were sat down at the back wall, beside a table of two others. Beside them were 2 empty tables of 2, one being beside the window. We were also led past another couple of empty tables. We felt it odd that we were sat right beside another party, but assumed that the tables must be reserved or whatever. They didn't fill it.
As we were leaving, the receptionist asked how our meal was to which we said it was good but were a bit miffed as to the seating arrangements. It would have been nicer to sit at a table where one of us weren't facing a brick wall, or even beside the window. She quite abruptly replied that "better tables were reserved for a VIP who didn't show". I found this very rude, and quite astonishing that we weren't as highly regarded as guests as another reservation. The fact she said that it was for a VIP rather than just a reservation beggars belief in my eyes. The lack of apology and how curt she was did certainly sour the experience.
Am I being particularly picky and anal? I don't think so. Having spent £300 on a meal for two, there were just too many small issues to ignore and the final remark by the staff was quite out of place so I sent an email detailing my displeasure. I got a phone call from a member of staff, no idea who she was (oh yes, not one of the staff introduced themselves by name which I also find pretty off); asking for more details and apologised on behalf of the restaurant. However, I wouldn't be going back if I lived locally and I certainly wouldn't recommend it.
I'll report back after.
