After a long time in wanting to; and having never booked for Sunday lunch we arrived and were seated as a party of four in the booth. A great warm welcome and attentive service to start for Sunday lunch we had the roasts; desserts and wine for the table followed by tea and coffee. The food was delightful and the Lemon Posset pudding a particular highlight. Having been at the table for 2 hours and having booked this an an extended lunch where we wanted to spend time over lunch and then tea (coffee machine was broken); we were a bit taken aback when a staff member approached the table (when we had not finished our teas or been asked did we want to order anything else). She then uttered the following words which killed the whole experience which had been so good up until then; ‘We will bring you the bill now as the table is needed for the next guests and you have two hours here only’ No ‘would you like to continue at the bar or another area within the pub’ a proper would you like to go now we have finished with you. Have. Spent a fair amount of money on the whole lunch it was not only rude but uncalled for. I appreciate that there may have been a time limits but it wasn’t mentioned on the online booking; not mentioned when we arrived and basically was a sad end to an otherwise positive experience. This is such a simple thing but when people at spending a few hundred pounds for a special occasion that’s been planned for months; I would have hoped for more. Menu was slightly on the pricey side for the mains.
The Florence – Southsea