I just wanted to reply to our latest review. It saddens me to be writing a 2nd response to another critical review. I have been at Imbibe as the owner/manager for the last 12 years and we have seen the business develop & grow year on year to the point where we grew 30 % last year. This has its positives and has its challenges, as sometimes like on Friday we were very busy, and we were turning people away.
I was working on Friday and I did speak with the 3 ladies in question and was aware of their wait. I totally understand their frustration and I also understand that people are under very tight time constraints these days, and on this occasion, I have to say, we were not fast enough and our kitchen did struggle given how busy we were.
As the owner, I do understand that sometimes a lot of people come in at the same time but what should have happened was each customer should have been spoken to and we should have explained how long the food was going to take. We needed to inform customers as to how long they could potentially have to wait, and on this occasion this should we should have made it clear when they arrived.
In response to your comments on our staff, i totally understand your frustrations but we pride ourselves very highly on manners and being polite and if on occasion we did not come up to expectation this is something I will be looking into to.
Finally I am very sorry that when you were trying to contact me I was in the kitchen trying to sort out your food. I was aware you had been waiting, and I understand your decision to walk out and I do understand your annoyance. If you may consider returning please do book a table by calling 0207 922 1223 between 10-19.30 Monday to Friday. We do get very busy and on this occasion were not good enough, we were too slow.
I can only apologise on this occasion and promise we will endeavour to better in the future and I hope that you will give us the opportunity to prove this to you and you’re your friends

I just wanted to reply to the email below. Having checked our system we received your booking at 23.20 on Monday night. As quiz night is so busy, we have 20+ teams every month, and we don’t open the bar until midday and then are rushed off our feet over lunchtime, we didn’t get chance to reply to your email. If booking last minute we do advise to book by phone to ensure that the booking is confirmed. Our reservations policy does require us to confirm your booking, as we do understand peoples plans can change and are not one of these bars who insist on a minimum spend or deposit that you forfeit if you are no longer able to make it along.

We take great pride at Imbibe to provide good service and be a welcoming and friendly bar as hopefully many of our reviews will confirm. It is with regret you did not have an enjoyable evening. Every Tuesday of each month we host a very busy monthly quiz night with on average 20 teams of 7. It is very busy and the people who attend do take the quiz very seriously and we would always advise if you do not want to participate in the quiz and are looking for a quiet evening, to really avoid Quiz night. We do advise that you check the online calendar which has all our events on it including when we are closed for private functions.

I was working all evening last night and was unaware of any problems, and believe our floor manager Maya looked after you and managed to find you a table and also invited you to join in our quiz night.

I have been the owner operator here for the last 12 years and have developed a very successful bar and I would be very confident that next time you book (best between 10.30-19:00 when Hannah’s in the office) you will have a great time.

Sam