The Green bar

[seanmlow]

I live in the new block of flats on East Dulwich road and sometimes go to The Green for a beer since it is so near.

I have always known the service is poor, hence I never order food. On saturday 13th my sister and I went there again, and she ordered pitta bread and olives - hardly the most complex of dishes. It took 20 mins to be noticed by the staff, and 30 mins for our food to come to us. In this time we saw a waitress spill boiling coffee on a lady outside, and proceed to make fun of her in French (not realising I understood every word!).

I wasn't shocked to realise that they also own Le Chardon on Lordship Lane - where I was told when I went in at 9pm that I could only have one course and had to be out by 9.45 since 'the kitchen staff were tired'.

Is it me, but can they really afford to provide such terrible service in such a competitive area? Has anyone else had a bad experience?

DON'T GO THERE

[Cassius]

Hi

My bad experience of The Green was quite a long time ago, but I've not been back. It was during one of those 'special offers' in conjunction with one of the National newspapers, where you collected vouchers and got a special menu plus a glass of wine for ?10 or something similar. OK - so we were not spending as much money as some of the other customers, but if you don't want to do these promotions don't. We were put in a small, cold back room by ourselves (presumably so we wouldn't infect the other full-paying customers with our stinginess), and basically ignored even though the restuarant was almost totally empty. The food we got was acceptable at best and the service was appalling. Whether or not I am paying ?10 or ?100 I am still a paying customer and do not wish to be treated with total contempt.

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Not such bad treatment in Le Chardon, but it is nothing to write home about.

[Thequietone]

I think they were upset about the rugby result.

Poor loves.

Paul

[seanmlow]

Exactly - it was almost empty when I was there so I was bemused as to why the service was so slow.

It has such potential too. They even do jazz on tuesdays. However, the staff are just so vile. I hate having to complain but when I was served a pint it was literally 1.4 of head!

[DG]

I find the staff are fine, very tolerant of me when I take my son in, and they always seem to give me a free drink if I go with a girlfriend.

We normally have breakfasts or a snack and find the service and quality and price is fine.

I don't know why others seem to have a problem..

[Michael Palaeologus]

I too live in the flats opposite - it would be nice to have a decent bar opposite, but .....

[SeanMacGabhann]

I tried more than most to frequent the place back in the day and still check it out from time to time... but they just haven't got things right yet. On a sunny day with the right people most of that doesn't matter and it is the perfect spot.. but one gets the sense that is exactly what they are relying on

To be fair to some of the staff, I have had met some lovely people working there - but they don't seem to stick around. I make no further comment than that...

[eccentric]

My one and only visit to this Facking French farce of a restaurant resulted in an argument with a French waiter about the contents of a salad nicoise. Mrs E can't stand eggs and requested said dish without. We then had a 5 minute tirade about where he had worked and in which towns in which countries and never did he see eggs in salad Nicoise............45 mins later up comes Mrs E's dish complete with boiled eggs.....off it went with a huffy Frenchman...back it came egg scraped out....unhappy missus.....we paid our bill, minus the optional tip and when questioned by the manager...."why no tip?"..told him the story to which he asked us which waiter, called him over to berate in front of us, best of all the waiter argued back in front of us......we left....nuff said......

Yes they are part of Le Chardon and Au Ciel in the Village. But it does go to show the amount of bad reviews these places get but still they trade on.

[zephyr]

We have been once and found the food good. What put us off was the price. Le Chardon is much better - a more down to earth restaurant (I know they are owned by the same person)

[Sue]

I've had both bad food and bad service at The Green in the past, and wouldn't go there again. It doesn't have a good atmosphere, either.

The worst (and last) time was one Christmas Day. My family decided it would be a good idea to go there for lunch. VERY bad idea, the food was appalling (AND expensive).

I also once had to wait over an hour for food at Le Chardon, but that was a long time ago .....

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

My two experiences at The Green were fine. In both cases I was being treated to lunch and it was a pleasure. Perhaps it's not so busy then?

[downsouth]

Used to go there about 4-5 years ago when I was in the Bellenden area, every time I went there they were without exception rude and displayed terrible customer service. Back then there weren't too many places like it so we kept trying - plus they did a really nice Eggs Benedict. Eventually I gave up and started to use the Cafe Rouge in West Dulwich as they have got to be the friendliest team of waiters around.

[boosboss]

Been there a few times and must say I've not experienced any of the problems listed above! I've found the staff to be friendly and polite and the food good. The only time I was less than satisfied was when they were very busy and as such service took a bit longer than I'd have expected (me being a grumpy ole git!). Having said that though, I haven't been for a while now! :)

[peckhamboy]

Been for lunch a couple of times and had no problems yet! Food was pretty good, service was good once and slow once. IMO, it's not a bad spot to have a long sunny lunch and a coffee and watch the world go by (if you're not in a hurry). On the other hand, if you're part of the world going by and only want a 15 minute lunch then you're better off somewhere else.

[betsy]

We too have had terrible service in Le Chardon and also The Green. The staff are incredibly rude and off hand.

[citizenED]

I hope the people from the Green don't get to read this Forum all that often - every time it gets a new thread the place gets a right royal pasting. ....... On second thoughts, I hope the people from the Green DO read this Forum regularly.

[Spangles30]

Have had 2 horrible experiences here and have not gone back - a shame as the food is OK and so is the ambience. The service though, as has been said is dire. I went there first for a celebratory event which cost me a lot of money! The manager went ballistic when, quite by chance, a member of my party ordered champagne. He was surprising us - as is often the case when it comes to champagne!

The manager said we hadn't ordered it in advance (I am amazed that he could be so uppity when we were spending good money - even if it had been sprung on him) and thus they didn't have enough champagne flutes. He proceeded to dole out flutes 3 and 4 at a time, so none of us were able to toast together. Then (after I had left) some of my party decided to stay behind, and were lambasted by a waiter who told them in no uncertain terms that I hadn't paid the bill. I had!!! I was so angry I complained to the overall manager of both the Green and Le Chandon. He gave me a free meal as compensation, but actually I felt uncomfortable going back so left it a while and then went for Sunday lunch.

This was a disaster. Again the manager told us that, even though we had booked, as we were only a party of two, his bigger groups took priority - could we therefore wait 45 minutes for our lunch????? Er, no!!!!! After kicking up a fuss, the manager finally acquiesced and came up with the lunch within 15 minutes BUT ONLY BECAUSE WE MADE A FUSS.

I daresay he Spat in our meals and we haven't been back since.

[snorky]

Its expensive and doesnt warrant it.

[tiddles]

we had a hilarious visit there one sunday for lunch. We asked if they had a table but as we were being lead to it, another waiter started berating him as they obviously didn't want us! Usual thing, long wait for menue, very snooty waiter took the order, - one of our party (french) asked for a glass of champagne (on the menu)however the waiter said that he didn't want to open a bottle, and you shouldn't drink champagne at lunch time. We actually found this rather funny and realised that our being in such good humour really cheesed them off. We spent a pleasant 2 hours enjoying our one course meal (sans champagne) being horribly cheerful and not, of course, leaving a tip

we've never been back since

[tommy]

Do you think the management would take notice if their attention was drawn to this thread - or if anyone printed this out and posted it to them ? For people living nearby, or wanting it to change it might be an idea

I think it worked for Green and Blue sometime back

[tiddles]

I think the green and blue thing was a genuine one-off mis-understanding. Reading the posts about the green, this is a long and sustained campaign of crummy service!! I wouldn;t be surprised if they had their own sweepstake on their awfulness.

[flong]

I refuse to go back to the Chardon now, despite some good times drinking calvados till the early hours there with (since-departed) staff, many years ago.

Several bad experiences there of late, and my last meal was just abominable. My girlfriend and I had the cheapo lunchtime express menu, and from the outset we could tell that since we weren't spending much money, they just couldn't be bothered with us. The steak was so disgusting that we asked the put-upon and bullied-looking waiter what cut it was, and he scuttled off to ask the chef. He came back, and told us "The chef says he will not answer to me - he is French and angry."

Put simply, that place deserves to fail now, and I wouldn't shed a tear to see it go under.

[seanmlow]

Well I live opposite, so what I may do is go there, have a pint, and leave these comments on the table when I go.

Maybe then they can get their act together. Perhaps they will offer everyone who is part of this thread a free drink! And pigs may fly!

[SeanMacGabhann]

pro-action.. like it Sean

[Spangles30]

I agree with the comments made about the supercilious, snotty behaviour from certain waiters at this establishment. It beggars belief! I honestly thought this place would have got its act together; in my opinion, it's such a shame as it could potentially be a really nice place if the service, and attitudes of certain members of staff, weren't so BAD.