thecriticalcouple
  • Home
  • The Food Blog
  • CC Cocktails
  • Wellbeing
  • Other Stuff
  • Contact

HIX Oyster & Chop House: good roast, shame about the bill

7/11/2012

8 Comments

 
Picture
Our last outing to a Hix establishment delivered a terrible customer experience, mostly due to bad service. Consequently, we voted with our feet and haven't returned. However, this week I decided to give the Hix group another chance and ventured to Hix Oyster & Chop house for a Sunday lunch.

My recent attempts to find a good Sunday lunch have not been overly successful, mixing up poor cooking with inadequate service to achieve an overall fail. For some places, the Sunday roast is a deviation away from their normal fare that is probably best not tried, but it occurred to me that a chop house run by a top notch British chef has the best chance of getting it right. 

The menu this Sunday lunchtime offered a fair assortment of appealing dishes as well as some other cryptic ones (Heaven & Earth - what on earth?). For starters, there are oysters of course, a beets dish, a mushroom dish and brunch style starters including a game bird hash with a Burford Brown fried egg, which I simply had to order. 

I did and at the time I was quite delighted with it. Only minutes ago however did I look at the receipt and realise they had badly over charged me. On the menu at £9.95, I was billed at £14.95 so now I'm a little bit upset. 

The blog was going to say that service had mostly redeemed itself compared to my previous visit, friendly, though with fluctuating levels of knowledge (the couple at the next table stumped the waitress by asking for a tawny port, but the waitress did know that the game bird hash consisted of mallard, partridge and grouse). Service being friendly and attentive, I was nevertheless happy with my visit at the time. Discovering now that I had been overcharged for this, it has once again cast HIX restaurants in a poor light for me and diminished my desire to return.

The main course itself was very good, the beef truly excellent. The Yorkshire pudding was decent and there was an appropriately sized gravy jug. Sides were excellent and the food plentiful. This was then a good Sunday roast. Just a shame then they couldn't get my bill right.

Post script: HIX Oyster & Chop House subsequently got in touch and have refunded the overcharged amount.

Picture
game bird hash with fried egg
Picture
roast sirloin of beef and Yorkshire pudding
Picture
roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese
Picture
mustard and horseradish
Picture
Picture
Hix Oyster & Chop House on Urbanspoon
Picture
8 Comments
Anon
7/11/2012 07:23:01 am

So they over charged you, no need to go on and on about, if u aren't smart enough to notice in the restaurant, Unlucky

Reply
thecriticalcouple
7/11/2012 07:25:51 am

brave and anonymous anon, I'm sure you're all smiles when you get overcharged. you are obviously a person with a heart of gold.

Reply
Ozzy link
7/11/2012 07:23:01 am

That's a rather glaring error on the bill!

Was "Heaven and Earth" a dish with black pudding, fried onions, apple sauce and mash? There is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmel_und_Erde">Rhineland dish in Germany</a> of that name.

Reply
thecriticalcouple
7/11/2012 07:28:06 am

yes it was, I think that was exactly it. nice one Ozzy.

Reply
Serena
8/11/2012 05:25:27 am

Ad Cod- great sunday lunch :)

Reply
Charlie
12/11/2012 05:10:38 am

Hi criticalcouple,
Good blog by the way. Did you contest the bill in the restaurant? I have had dinner at Hix restaurants a couple of times now and when I had a problem with the bill on one occasion they were all very apologetic and helpful (if a little crowding at the table). Did they put it right for you?

Reply
thecriticalcouple
12/11/2012 05:49:07 am

charlie,

thanks for following the blog. I only noticed the error when I got home and started writing the blog post. if I hadn't been doing the blog I would never have noticed. The issue is of course that the menu comes at the start of the meal and the bill at the end so spotting differences between the two is very unlikely. It's why it only revealed itself when I started to collect my thoughts back home and wanted to reference prices in my post.

Reply
Chris Parr
12/11/2012 06:40:54 am

We had a nasty price gouging experience at HIX. Asking for a glass of house Chardonnay the kind barman poured something at £35 a glass which only came to light when the bill was presented and the wine long gone.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Follow CriticalCouple on Twitter


    Categories

    All
    Bars
    Books
    Burgers
    Drink
    Fish
    Giving
    Hotel
    Places
    Pub
    Restaurants
    Seafood
    Steak
    Whisky
    Wine


    RSS Feed

We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. (Oscar Wilde)