Free Autumn menu tasting @ slug and lettuce 15/10/08

cardiff2007

Went to the Cardiff one tonight arrived at 7.00 o clock by 7.30 a big crowd had appeared we waited for all this food to be brought out and they brought out the smallest plate of chicken satay sticks you had ever seen we waited even longer then came another plate of very small offerings, Everytime a plate came people just started fighting for these meagre offerings after a demoralising half an hour of waiting for something that even resembled food our party of four had become so starved that we gave up and decided to go to Nandos for a proper meal. It was possibly the worst freebie i had ever experienced in my life, they were very badly organised and also it puts you right off going to the slug and lettuce for a proper meal rather than attracting customers this debacle would deter them. I for one will stick with Nandos at least i enjoyed my meal and did not have to jostle for one poxy meagre offering.

sheer_vanilla

Hi! I'm new to this but a huge thank you to MSE for letting me know about this promotion! I booked a table and my husband I and went to the Putney branch at 7.30pm and were seated on a private table. Platters of food were brought to our table and we just kept eating! Were stuffed by the time the last round (3rd) came around! Amazing food, friendly service, great drinks (we paid for drinks though) and a fantastic evening out! Free! Very impressed!

Kimberry

cardiff2007, sorry for your experience. I can understand your experience in such a badly organised event.

I went to a London branch. Around 20 + guest already sitted and having drinks by the time I arrived at 7.20.

The staff bought out trays of food and put in a long table. Told everyone the buffet started (that was 7.30). Food included 3-4 types of chicken and ducks warps, pasta, pies, chicken stick, lamb kabab, chips etc.

ok, everyone did jump to the table at once and help themselves with big
plate of food. There were less choice for the late comers after 7.40. I would say the serving is enough for a light evening meal.

It's not a total freebie as everyone bought drinks at the bar. Think of it as a mid week drinks with some free pub nibbles. The food were tasty

Thanks again to OP and everyone who posted the web link.

cardiff2007

I wouldn't have minded if we were late comers but we were the first ones there sounds like everybody didn't have the same experinece think i will email the head office and give them a heads up on how bad the cardiff one was

pow38

cardiff2007 u weren't the only one to have a disappointing evening but this was b'cos one of the staff members was soo rude to us. I went to a london branch one. At 7.30pm the staff had us food tasters seated in a private section (which was nice) and told us that they would come round themselves with the food platters. Our food started coming about 8.20pm which was fine with us, however my friend and i had noticed that while the staff were going round, we had missed out on a few of the dishes that everyone else was getting so she politely asked him whether we would be getting them too or was it a pick and mix type thing. He replied 'why are u complaining? it free food!!' She wasn't complaining she was merely asking and we were shocked by this response. And so she answered him back that she was wasn't complaining and just enquiring at which point he kept insisting that she was complaining and what did she expect because the food was free.
I honestly wouldn't have come if i knew we were going to be treated like this, no free bite size sample food is worth being spoken to like that, it certainly ruined our evening.
And we did buy quite a few drinks so we were paying customers afterall. I certainly won't be going back there in a hurry.

shaneym

To be fair, what was everyone expecting. The email clearly stated that only a small number of people would be seated properly, and the majority would have to stand up so it was obviously going to be a bit of a free for all when the food came round. We had tickets for a London branch but chose not to go, as we had visions of it being a case of "pigs round a troth" and my friend who went last night said thats exactly what it was. She said she actually felt embarrised jostling with other people for what was basically small finger food, so she decided to leave.

Of course, this does'nt excuse rude staff so it was probaly just bad luck at some particular branches. If some people enjoyed it then they appear to be the lucky ones

ellas9602

morning

I too thought the event was very badly organised last night, nowhere near as good as the last one where smaller groups were brought through in sittings. Very small plates of food were served very slowly, found it a bit degrading to queue for half an hour for some scraps of food. People were getting a bit panicky and grabbing at stuff..not very civilised. I think the last tasting was probably a little too civilised and organised which didn't give customers much chance to kill time at the bar :rolleyes: they got more money out of me for drinks this time with all the waiting around which I think was their aim. Last time were in groups of like 20, this time it was probably a group of 100.

May just give the slug and lettuce some feedback

another thing that bugged me was my husband asked the barman to recommend a bottle of wine (idiot he is, i'd already told him all wine was £9 regardless of menu price. The most expensive, always the most expensive!). Anyway the barman reccomended a white which was only £9 anyway. Our own fault I know, but not very sporting of the staff.

Not sure I'd bother again.

ThinkingOfLinking

I did not go in the end as I had to work and I am sort of glad. I do know who mystery shops them though....wouldn't mind trying it as I have never even been in before.

ThinkingOfLinking

ellas9602 wrote: »

another thing that bugged me was my husband asked the barman to recommend a bottle of wine (idiot he is, i'd already told him all wine was £9 regardless of menu price. The most expensive, always the most expensive!). Anyway the barman reccomended a white which was only £9 anyway. Our own fault I know, but not very sporting of the staff.

I really don't understand what you're saying here.

Jools123

I went to the free tasting in Bristol last night and it was badly organised. Got there around 7.20 and the guy in charge went round to everyone's table just after 7.30 to tell them to go and help themselves. Luckily we got to the queue quite quickly but by the time he'd got round to some of the others the queue was a mile long. We were only about 7th in the queue but it took an age to get any food due to there being no labels on anything and the people in front kept asking what everything was. I didn't care what it was, if I liked the look of it, I took some! The guy in charge had to let 2 people push in as they had apparently had a booking for 7pm which was probably true as more people came along after to say the same thing. Anyway the food was ok but cold by the time we got round to eating it. Once the queue had gone we decided to go up to get some more food but were told that they had bookings for 24 people but more like 44 had turned up but the stupid thing was the guy in charge didn't ask to see anyone's confirmation, so of course this was likely to happen. So he asked us to wait a bit and they'd get some more food out, which came out in dribs & drabs. Certainly wouldn't pay the high prices on the menu for any of the food I tried, apart from the Oriental Burger which was lovely.

Sorry to ramble on! Very interested to hear more of other people's experiences.