A family walked out of a Bath restaurant without eating their Christmas Day after experiencing what they claim was 'disastrous service.'
The family-of-four labelled the experience their 'worst Christmas Day' ever after being forced to abandon what was meant to be a five-course meal they had already paid £250 for.
Bath resident Jo Macpherson's excitement at eating at The Bathampton Mill on Christmas Day soon turned to dismay.
She claims her partner Simon Wright, 59, his mum Beryl Wright, 85, and his daughter Harriet Wright, eight, were booked in for 3.15pm but had to wait an hour before their first course arrived on Christmas day.
Jo, 39, claimed the service and kitchen staff were arguing with one another, one waitress was 'very rude' to them and they were so fed up that they left at 4.30pm.
Bathampton Mill has apologised to the family over their experience and said they gave them a full refund, Somerset Live reports.
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But she told of how unimpressed the family was after looking forward to their Christmas meal.
Instead of enjoying a five-course meal together at the restaurant, they found themselves back at Mr Wright's home thoroughly dejected, and sharing a meal of frozen pizza, cheese and crackers, as that was the only food left.
Jo said: "It was nothing short of a disaster due to lack of staff and organisation.
"It also seemed the service staff were arguing with the kitchen staff. I was told by the waitress, who was actually very rude, when we complained about poor/slow service, menu changes and a cancelled amuse-bouche.
"She stated that she was not happy either as she could be at home with her family enjoying Xmas. She obviously didn’t want to work on Christmas day.
"This was not an isolated incident.
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"Other guests arriving for the 3.15pm sitting were also complaining, some worse off than us, waiting up to 30 minutes (standing) for their table which should have been available from 3.15pm.
"We were the first to complain and demand a refund (£250), which we received without hesitation.
"I feel they were happy to see us leave as we started other complaints demanding full refunds, from more polite guests.
"I went home to a meal of cheese and crackers and a frozen pizza. Not what I’d expect on Christmas Day. It was the worst Christmas I’ve ever had!
"I was a regular visitor but the service has always been poor with staff shortages. I assumed this would not happen on Christmas day. I was very wrong."
Jo vows she will never return there after this experience.
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She said: "It is such a shame because we have been regulars. We used to go twice a month," she said.
"We recommended this place to lots of people but now we feel stupid. It ruined our Christmas Day.
"When we got there, they were clearly short-staffed and those that were there were very stressed. The manager wasn't visible at all.
"There was a queue of people waiting for ages. We had to wait 20 minutes for a bottle of wine. We eventually got it after I went up to the bar to get it.
"We waited an hour for our first course, one of which was a course we did not order.
"At 4.30pm we had had enough. My partner wanted his money back. He was polite, quite forceful but not rude.
"Everyone was watching and looking at us."
Jo was surprised they received a refund after the dire experience they said they endured.
"For the price we paid, you expect good treatment," she said.
"We asked for the refund and we got it. I was a little surprised that we did.
"When we went up and complained people were applauding us for doing it. Some said 'well done' to him.
"We will never go back there. It is such a shame because it is a lovely spot in a beautiful place and it has a lot of potential.
"It needs to be managed properly and they need more staff.
"To come home to some frozen pizza, cheese and crackers was a real let down. We had purposefully not bought much because we had the dinner to look forward to, so that is all we had left.
"But tonight we are using the refunded money to have a meal with all of us at the Aqua restaurant in Bath, so that should be good.
"I just hope others don't have the same bad experience as we had."
Mr Wright wrote a scathing one-star review on TripAdvisor after his meal there.
Another customer also gave it a one-star and said it was a 'shambles' with unhappy customers and long waiting times.
The Bathampton Mill has a 3.5 star rating out of five on TripAdvisor.
Bathampton Mill's general manager Marc Richardson said a number of staff were off work due to sickness and he apologised for how the meal panned out for these customers.
"It is with regret that at Bathampton Mill, on Christmas Day we were left extremely short staffed, at very short notice," he said.
"Three of our front of house team were unfortunately too ill for work, and this left us with no choice but to try and look after the guests we had booked in, whilst not wanting to cancel and spoil their day.
"This had a huge impact on our guest service, and whilst I appreciate it has spoiled their festive lunch, we gave the guest in question a full refund and are truly very sorry for the inconvenience and disappointment this must have caused to their group.
"Whilst we have no memory of service staff arguing with kitchen staff, as all of the team were trying their best to deal with a very difficult situation, we have spoken to the team member about how her comments would have come across to this guest, and are sorry if the guest was upset by them.
"We will be contacting this guest to discuss further and try to make amends for this poor experience."
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