Some couples with reservations were never seated and forced to go elsewhere
Tamasha Grill in Woodborough Road, Mapperley(Image: Google)
The manager of a Nottingham restaurant has apologised to couples who were forced to wait outside in the cold for hours on Valentine’s Day.
Some couples were never seated despite having reservations at Tamasha Grill in Woodborough Road, Mapperley, on Saturday (February 14) evening.
This included James Curtis and his partner Amy, who said they were among about 10 couples queuing outside the eatery in nearly freezing temperatures.
The couple were originally told by staff that they were running half an hour behind and advised to have a drink at a neighbouring bar while they waited for a text.
“The text never came, and after an hour we decided to pop back to the restaurant. We were stood out in the cold, about 10 couples, freezing, hungry and completely being ignored,” said Mr Curtis, 35.
After trying and failing to find anywhere else that was open at 11pm, the Gedling couple resorted to eating at home.
“Not even Domino’s is open at that time. We just had snacks from the cupboard,” said Mr Curtis.
“Clearly, the restaurant was put under too much pressure. It happens, but it was the communication; they could have easily contacted all their bookings
“They could have been honest early, so people could have gone elsewhere. They’ve upset a lot of people.”
Mo Sharif, operations manager at Tamasha Grill, described the night as a “disaster” and said many of the issues had been caused by new staff members accidentally seating people without a booking.
“We were so stressed out. The backlog started at 5pm and carried on throughout the night. We tried to move them on, but you can’t throw people out,” he said.
“Yesterday was a one-off situation that was out of our control. It was not nice. We didn’t sleep at night, and we had a meeting after.”
Mr Shariff offered his “sincere apologies” to customers on behalf of the restaurant, but rejected the criticism that staff could have communicated better with customers
“Anybody who felt they were treated wrongly, please reach out to our WhatsApp number, and we will get you a complimentary meal.
“We tried to manage it as much as we could. We were going out non-stop. We were giving people drinks.”
One woman left a negative review, saying she and her boyfriend were forced to wait in the “freezing cold” for 20 minutes and another hour for a starter.
“Not only were there items missing off our starters but the mains were shocking… We are severely disappointed due to wanting to spend a nice Valentine’s meal together in a calm setting and instead we ended up with a chaotic night with awful food,” the post on Google reads.
Another man claimed he waited more than three hours for food in total on the night, adding: “This situation is unacceptable, and I strongly recommend avoiding this establishment altogether.”
Overall, the restaurant has a rating of 4.5 out of five on Google. In 2023, our food and drink writer Lynette Pinchess named it a venue to try.