We are old and regular customers of this restaurant. Originally it was wonderful with fantastic food, a welcoming atmosphere with a really pleasant and efficient waitress. We have visited this restaurant on two or three occasions this year and unfortunately the previous waitress has left and been replaced by a young man who is dreadful in both his manner and as a waiter. He has literally zero customer service skills, no personality and will not greet customers, say thank you or even say goodbye to them. For example, last night we arrived at an empty Salt n Pepper restaurant, only to be greeted by absolutely no one. The place was empty and for over five minutes while we waited and questioned whether the establishment was actually even open, we seated ourselves, two of us went to the washroom and gathered up our menus ourselves from the serving station.......next to an unattended till which presumably had ready cash inside. We eventually had to ring the bell for attendance and as soon as the waiter in question arrived on the scene, it was obvious by the surly look on his face that we had intruded in something more important than making money and looking after the business of the restaurant.
The food was as usual really good and there are certainly no complaints there. However, we had to approach the waiter yet again to get the bill. We always take our left over food home, When we asked if we could do this, we had the containers and bag left on our table for us to empty our own plates and do it ourselves. I was stunned and by the time we reached the car outside to go home I was furious.
So, we won't be going back. There are plenty of other Hakka restaurants to choose from within the immediate area and as paying customers we would prefer to be treated with a little bit more respect in future.
Added to that the carpet in the front of house area is fllthy and either needs to be cleaned or replaced. Not a very good example of great hygiene within a food establishment.