My visit to the Birdhouse Tea Company was infact a bit of a disaster but Im still giving it 5*, heres why. The place itself is lovely. I adore that its not a chain, its off the beaten track and something good has come from a run down building. We ordered drinks, me and my sister chose a lovely gin infusion with elderflower. They'd ran out of elderflower so that wasn't to be!. We then ordered our food, it was a tough choice as everything being delivered to the other tables looked so good! My kids had the full english and the adults both chose the pancakes. We'd been waiting for probably 20 mins+ when a waiter/manager came and apologised for the delay and would we like a round of drinks on the house? Yes please, thats fine. Another 20 mins and he was back again, they'd ran out of flour so the pancakes were a no go!! I won't lie, i was slightly devastated as they looked so good, especially after id been let down with the gin!! This time we were offered cake for the 4 of us by way of an apology. The food came and it was lovely, we then all had cake which was also lovely.
Now yes, cock ups were made. However, the staff we're so incredibly lovely about it, owned up to their error, apologised, offered drinks and cake as compensation (free cake - whats not to love?!?!) You couldn't be angry with them, people make mistakes, its how they handle them that matters I think and this place handled them really well with honesty and a smile, you cant argue with that!
In the end our bill was really small as not only did we get free drinks and cake they also didn't charge us for the 2 breakfasts that they couldn't honour, they really couldn't have been more fair about it.
Bravo Birdhouse, Heres to more quirky, individual coffee shops/restaurants, especially in parts of town that need some life injecting into them. Ill tell my friends to visit and Ill definitely be back again!!.