photo by eosdude
date of visit: December 2011
Something I really, really hate to come across in anything pretending to be a restaurant is a laminated menu. Sure – it might be durable and easy to clean but for a start they get tatty really easily and secondly they show up just how unseasonal your menu actually is.
MP3 is a case in point. It was a warm summer evening and the menu had lamb shanks on it. Seriously, lamb shanks in the middle of summer.
To compensate for the limitations of such a menu MP3 has masses of specials – and not only does this (I suspect) confuse customers, I know from experience that it confuses the staff. At some point a restaurant has to realise that it’s impossible to please every single diner and to flood your menu with dishes in an attempt to make every customer’s mouth salivate is just not going to work.
I wish I could say that my little rant was over. But no, it’s not. We managed to score a waiter who was working her first shift. I’m firmly of the opinion that managers of any customer facing team need to make sure that staff are prepared for the moment they do face the customer. In our case, our waiter was not. On the night we were there, the menu offered two variations on salt and pepper squid – one was on the laminated menu and one was on the specials board. I didn’t know which one I wanted, our waiter didn’t seem to know the difference and once she had taken our order the manager had to come out and verify the whole thing. And he was pretty woolly on the squid dishes too.
It transpires I’d ordered an entrée sized squid dish. The squid itself was OK and it was served with a non descript salad. What totally ruined the whole dish was the fact that it was all drowning in sweet chilli sauce. That was not good.
We only had the one course and, using our Entertainment Card meant that it was a very cheap meal for four (after discount aobut $85). Cheap, but not good value.
Not one I’ll go to again.
MP3 Cafe DON’T ACCEPT THEIR OWN VOUCHERS!
Took the voucher to the cafe for a sunday lunch, 4 JAN 2015.
The menus have a number of lines which say “Discount NOT available on these specials”.
An oversight? NO!
The same thing happened to me on 18 May 2014. I communicated with Entertainment book, who investigated and advised it was sorted and wouldn’t happen again. MP3 are deilberately cheating by deceptive practice, offering discounts they won’t honour. SHAME.
This was my earlier complaint –
THEY DON’T ACCEPT THEIR OWN VOUCHERS!!
Went at 130pm Sunday, looked at the printed menu which had an entertainment sticker next to it on the front desk. These meals all looked like heavy dinner menu items.
Looked at the chalk boards, which were attractive lighter meals.
Noticed that “Specials” were written at the top of the main chalk board, and at the bottom of the board it said “no discounts or bartercard” Asked the man who said “correct, no entertainment book vouchers on all of them”
Went to order bacon and eggs (which were written on another board not headed “Specials”, and a main meal for my partner. Was told at the counter “No bacon and eggs after breakfast”. There was nothing on the boards saying this.
As I knew where I wanted to eat before driving to Brighton, I brought the MP3 voucher only, instead of the whole voucher book. We weren’t going to reward this business for their mean tricks, so we walked out.
Spoiled our day with this sneaky little deception.
This is very unfortunate to hear. Do follow up again with the Entertainment Book and if anyone else has similar experiences with MP3 I’d urge you to do the same.
I think it is very bad business practice to participate in a scheme such as the Entertainment Book and then to make it difficult for customers to use.