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Brunch at The Modern Pantry started off well with a lovely waitress and a delicious looking menu. The Japanese Mary cocktails were light and tasty and we thought we were in for a nice chilled Sunday afternoon eating a yummy, lazy brunch in the bright and airy downstairs dining room….wrong! Yes the brunch we began was yummy (aside from the streaky bacon being disappointingly only just cooked so the fat was still fatty and no hint of crispness, oh and no seasoning on the eggs but that could be down to taste) but we made the apparently heinous mistake of saying that the fritters that we had ordered as side dish seemed a bit burnt. They did look very dark brown and on trying them tasted bitter and overdone on the outside. We thought it was a simple enough and polite comment but the waiter who we had called over looked at our plate in disbelief, said not one word in response to us and instead picked the plate up whilst rolling his eyes and shaking his head as he walked off. We were a bit taken aback at this but continued eating and shrugged it off. We had heard a few swears and moans from the kitchen earlier and there was a stressed vibe coming across the pass which is open to the dining room but the place wasn’t jammed and regardless we really thought the fritters tasted burnt! The waiter came back out and we looked at him expectantly only to be completely blanked as he walked past our table. It took him another few minutes to come back to us and say " So we are going to do your fritters again but they weren’t burnt. Thats how they are done and if they do them any less they will be raw in the middle" We were not sure at this point if we had accidentally insulted his dead mother without realising but the level of attitude was quite horrible. We said in that case we didn’t want the fritters and he turned on his heels and walked off to the kitchen without out any further discussion or god forbid an apology. Were we meant to say yes ok give us raw fritters then or were we meant to apologise for having such terrible taste? We kept eating but were made to feel even more uncomfortable when I looked up only to see the waiter talking in the ear of another waiter and turning round and pointing at us. When they saw I had caught them doing this they went round the corner continuing to talk as they did. By this point we had gone off our brunch and decided that rather than getting upset any further by rudeness we would just ask for the bill and leave. Despite half my brunch being left on my plate it was cleared without comment or asking if the food had been ok. Even the greasy spoon up the road from me asks if everything was ok! A different waiter brought the credit card machine and only after running the card details through did he say “I am sorry about the fritters”. I said we did not have a problem with the fritters it was the staff member being rude, rolling his eyes at us and shaking his head in response that was upsetting. Oh I am sorry he said do you want me to take the service charge off? This was the final insult. No I don’t want to take the service charge away from the perfectly pleasant waitress and you might as well be saying you really couldn’t care less about this. He evidently knew there had been a problem and we had seen the waiter talking to other staff about us yet the implication seemed to be that we were the ones at fault and that they had no interest in trying to make our experience a good one. Never mind the fact that we paid nearly £40 for a brunch that we couldn’t finish because we felt too uncomfortable to be there any more. What a terrible shame that good food and a lovely setting are spoiled by rude and disinterested service. They must be doing awfully well in these recession hit times to be able to afford to treat customers so poorly.

update: received a mail from the manager apologising for the bad service and saying will pass the matter on to the owner. Very nice and fast response. Seems that they may have been having a bad day and after corresponding with the manager I am keen to go back and see if the food is as delicious as it looked.