Garfunkles at Gatwick Airport

This visit is included in our Campaign for Real Service. I visited Garfunkles at Gatwick airport, for breakfast at about 6.30am. As is the case with airport restaurants they were very busy and I had to queue for a table. I was seated after about five minutes, the table was clean and ready. Within approximately two minutes of my being seated, a waitress came and took my order which was hot chocolate, bacon and eggs. Another two minutes passed and I was served the hot chocolate, followed shortly by the bacon and eggs. The service was polite, speedy and efficient. The food however, was a bit “iffey.” The eggs were like plastic and I actually had a hard time cutting through them with the utensils provided. Interestingly the knife and fork were made of stainless steel! (It occurred to me that I had already gone through all the security channels and could easily have taken the knife on board with me!) On second thoughts, as I was having trouble cutting through an egg, I doubt whether it would have served much purpose to any hijacker who wanted to be a nuisance on board. The bacon was nicely cooked but the eggs! I could have used them to play basketball with as they would have bounced quite nicely. I finally managed to eat them minus the plastic white and was filled enough to last me until the meal was served on board. The service was good, it was polite and efficient however, the food needs attention. The service gets an 8, the food a 5 and the cleanliness of the restaurant gets a 7. However, considering the huge volume of people they serve in such a short time, they do very well.

Market Street Grill.

Last week we met a friend for lunch at the Market Street Grill, one of his favorite lunch venues. We had an enjoyable time. Some years ago the Gastronomy group (Market Street Grill is one of their restaurants) asked Lord Roberts, to visit their restaurants to evaluate their training needs. As a result he train some of their hostesses. It was therefore, interesting to return and see if anything had changed.

Using our original criteria, food, cleanliness, wait service, hostess service and managerial service, here is our report.

Cleanliness: The market street grill is always clean and bright. We have one complaint however, and it is the same one as before; the waiters carry a towel in the back of their belts for wiping the tables. The cloths we saw were dirty but our biggest question is this. The cloth hangs down their bottom area-isn't that unhygienic? That same cloth that flaps in the wind so to speak, is used to wipe the table where food is served! Enough said.

Food. I can recommend the food. I had a grilled Idaho trout and it was delicious. My husband enjoyed his halibut.

Wait service: We had a very pleasant waiter. He was quick witted and quipped gentle humor back to my husband's. We did actually tell him about our campaign but it didn't seem to faze him, he was confident in his attention. Our only complaint was that his uniform needed a trip to the laundry. There could be many explanations for that, either the restaurant is responsible for the uniforms and don't send them to the laundry often enough. Or, he has only one uniform and too few hours between shifts to attend to it, or lastly he is a student and time is too short. Whatever the reason, the detail needed attention.

Hostess service. No complaints; she was courteous and pleasant.

We cannot report on the manager as we didn't see one.

Over all 7 out of ten.