A la Colthard/The Ivy in The Lanes

I am getting more and more concerned by service and organisation of local restaurants which I have patronised.

At the Ivy in the Lanes yesterday evening the greeting was poor, my friend’s steak, ordered as medium rare, was virtually raw.

We had difficulty in attracting a waiter/waitress, the cocktails were expensive but of small measures.

All came to a bill for £113 for 2 with only one main course each.

On one hand, restaurants are making up for lost profits in the lockdown but – on the other – lack of supply, absenteeism and varied interpretation of Covid protocols makes the whole experience unsatisfactory.

In yesterday’s Telegraph a columnist wrote of the new phenomenon HOGO – (the Hassle of Going Out).

Gone are the cravings to go released post-Freedom Day, replaced by an institutionalised desire to stay at home generated by lockdown.

If the columnist is correct my recent experience is that restaurants are not helping themselves.