The Boat House

Went for lunch downstairs. Ordered GF chips with meal but waitress came back to say Chef could not guarantee they were GF as he just came on shift and they were cooked by morning Chef. One would hope that they had a separate GF fryer where the potential for mistakes were minimised.

We went here for my brother's birthday last night; it's a nicely decorated restaurant with a fantastic view and good atmosphere. My first (GF) impressions weren't great when the maître d' didn't know which dishes had gluten in. The server who took our order was very confident and said that the two dishes I wanted were gluten free (scallops to start and pollock for main). A second server actually brought my dishes, announcing them as gluten free. So, 3 front of house staff knew that I was coeliac and I'm assuming at least *some* of the kitchen staff... Anyway, as I tucked into my main I noticed that there was a fried, breaded item on top of my fish. I almost ate it, because of how confidently server 1 told me that the dish was gluten free, plus I didn't want to have another awkward coeliac conversation! I decided to play it safe and question the item anyhow - it turned out that it was a fricking lump of gluten! To make things worse, server one just told me to take it off my fish and continue, to which I obviously refused. He offered no apology and when I asked how it even ended up on my plate he shrugged and said that there must have been a mixup in the kitchen. So, by the time my replacement meal arrived, everyone else had finished their food and I was left to eat a miserable meal alone. The meal cost £140 for the 4 of us (with a bottle of wine) so was by no means cheap. A restaurant has one job - to feed people without poisoning them; when you're paying this sort of money you expect that they will at least get that bit right.