Sleepers Café Bar By Mike Richardson

Sleepers has always been a favourite eating place of mine so I decided to book a table for a birthday celebration. I knew it had been taken over by new management but had also heard that they had kept the same chefs, so was expecting the usual high standard of cuisine. I have to say I was pretty disappointed. We ordered at the bar as instructed, a mixture of starter and main courses.

I asked if it would be possible to order one of their 'side dishes' - a simple one at that - as a starter to eat before the main course. I was declined this rather straightforward request, which struck me as a bit unfair. I thought the customer was always right?

Our starter arrived which was crispy duck and pancakes. Instead of the usual crispy shredded affair, it came in rather large greasy chunks. The next course took ages to arrive, it must have been about 25 minutes to half an hour. When it finally arrived it turned out to be somewhat disappointing too. Fancying a curry, I had ordered chicken korma with rice and naan bread. The korma tasted just like a supermarket ready meal - not even as good as a normal Indian takeaway. The rice was bland (plain boiled, not even basmati) and the naan tasted, again, like one you would buy from a supermarket or God help us, Heron frozen foods across the road!

Others in the group were disappointed too, who ordered crispy chilli beef, salmon in cream sauce and spicy skewered chicken. None of the meals were very well presented and although I tasted the salmon and thought it good, the meal looked like it had been thrown onto the plate. It was around this time that I noticed a table near us were getting waitress service, whereas we had to pay at the bar! A bit inconsistent to say the least. Standards in Sleepers seem to have sharply declined. You can't argue that the poor service was due to them being busy, as it was a Monday and there were hardly any customers in.

I have heard that the previous manager had a reputation for being a bit of a tyrant and cracking the whip, but at least he got the job done well. Judging by this experience I won't be going back in a hurry.

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