a total comedy of errors.. from a very snobby welcome, to a dirty table, to a a dish so cold which could have been a main or a dessert, to the kitchen running out of food, to being told that our card had been declined, when in fact it was someone else's card and the staff didn't notice, almost making us pay for another table's meal without apology...to finally be able to leave the restaurant 3 hours later to drive somewhere we could actually get something to eat, this is the comedy of errors that was lunch at 10 minutes by tractor.
i having heard good things about the restaurant, i took my folks there for sunday lunch. when we arrived we were informed that since we had only booked a table 1 month in advance we had to sit at this table in the centre of the room, with no table cloth ( the only one in the entire restaurant) that had clearly not even been wiped. we complained and after been told we should have booked earlier by one of the waiters and that we couldn't move tables, the manager stepped in told the waiter to "just let them have it". trying to put our disappointing welcome behind us, we went on to order. two of our party opted for the 5 course degustation menu and my mother ( being vegetarian) and i opted for the 3 course a la carte menu. the degustation went ok - no complaints, but the events that followed were a total joke.
my mother ordered the pumpkin gnocchi, when when they arrived they were cold, to the point that dish had turned slimy and inedible. we sent the dish back, only to be advised by the waiter, that there were components of the dish that they had run out of and, would we mind if they added something else in place of that specific component. we said fine. 10 minutes later the manager comes to the table to inform us that there were in fact no gnocchi left either..
having waited over an hour for the main course, being offered cold food ( which we are very surprised was even allowed to leave the kitchen), having to wait a further 10 minutes while watching others eat, only to be told that what you ordered was actually not available and that you would probably have to wait longer still for another dish to be prepared, my mother gave up hope of eating a main meal and opted to go straight to dessert.
the dessert was ok, then it was time to finally pay the bill. to their credit, the never charged us for my mother's dismal meal. however after paying the bill the waiter runs over saying that our card had been declined...we went to pay the bill and just before putting the pin number in the machine, one of us noticed that it was for a difference figure to the bill we had initially paid. when queried, the waiter ran off and returned only to tell us that it was in fact not our bill, and not our card that had been declined...without apology ( that we nearly paid for a meal that wasn't ours) off he went again. we left soon afterwards with an icy 'goodbye' from the manager to go find some food for my mother.
truthfully we can't fault the food that did arrive, it was nice, and there was that comedy factor to the whole experience - we will certainly have a funny story to tell. but will i ever go back to eat there?...not a chance ( i have no idea why it has 2 chef hats). would i recommend the restaurant to my friends?...no. why would i when in that area there are much better restaurants.