An Edinburgh restaurant has hit back at a pair of angry customers on TripAdvisor after the guests overstayed their reservation and ripped into the establishment with a two star review.
A diner from Dunfermline criticised the Rustom Restaurant near Haymarket for asking the guests to leave after two hours and for charging a corkage fee on a second bottle of wine.
The general manager at the Pakistani and Indian restaurant snapped back at the review and corrected the guest’s version of events.
“Having visited Rustom before I was excited to recommend another visit with my friend visiting from Spain, ” the review began.
“I had booked a table for 6pm on a Friday night. We arrived and were served by a pleasant waiter who took our food order.”
However, the guest claimed the restaurant “spoilt [their] night out” when the bill was dropped off 90 minutes after their arrival, and shortly after they were asked to leave their table.
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“Unprompted, another waiter brought our bill. We advised we had not requested this so he took it away. Five minutes after, another member of staff who I think was the manager (picture on website) rudely came over to ask if we intend to order coffee or dessert and if not we had to leave as tables had a two hour booking time at the weekend,” the reviewer wrote.
“I explained that I had not been made aware of this either through the booking process or when we arrived. I have checked and there is no reference to this on the website! We also witnessed them bringing the bill unprompted to three other tables who also expressed that they were not ready to leave.”
The Rustom general manager said the complaint was reviewed with the restaurant’s management team, and they reached several points.
“Our seating time on the weekends is a maximum of two hours and you stayed for four hours,” the manager snapped back.
“The table you were sitting at was a ‘prime table’ and it was booked for the next guests who had an anniversary party.”
As regards the restaurant’s BYOB wine and beer policy, the website states that one bottle of wine is free for a couple, but the guests in question brought two bottles of wine, and were therefore charged £5.95 for corkage.
“We hope you understand the mentioned points and we are glad that you have enjoyed the food in our establishment, we would love to see you here soon,” the response concluded.
The Rustom Restaurant has an average 4.5 star TripAdvisor rating from more than 700 reviewers.
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