I received a birthday email, offering me a free meal to celebrate. We decided to visit on Sunday 27th October, a couple of days after my birthday. On checking the website, we could see availability every 15 minutes throughout the afternoon so decided to drive over as walk ins.
When we (table of 2) advised we didn't have a booking, the guy on the front desk advised us he was very busy. He advised us that we would need to turn the table around pretty fast. He repeated he was busy and we would need to leave by 14:30. Not a problem for us as it was 12:30, but the greeting was not what we expected.
I told him that I had a birthday voucher, as the email advised to do so. This received no reaction. The guy grabbed 2 menus and ushered us to follow him to a table. We were not asked about menu or dietary requirements. We were not advised on any offers or deals or restrictions regarding the voucher we had.
The bar tender placed a jug of water on our table as soon as we sat down. I again advised that we had the birthday voucher and enquired about how to use it. He went away and spoke to the guy that would serve us. The bar tender confirmed we couldn't have the Sunday lunch on offer and needed to order from the a la carte menu. I checked the menu and couldn't see any allergy advice on the main menu, so made my way to the bar for a NGCI menu as gluten makes me ill. We both ordered from the NGCI menu, so I can share my wife's food (she is not gf) the guy that the bar tender checked our birthday voucher restrictions with, came over and took our drink order. Then he took our food order. A different guy served our food. No reference to allergy requirements was made up to this point. We ate and our plates were cleared by a lady, training another lady. She asked if we wanted dessert, we said yes and my wife confirmed the need for a NGCI menu for me. We ordered dessert with the food server and as he was prepping to bring it over, came to check the order as my wife's order was gluten containing. At this point I confirmed this was correct, as I was the only one with the allergy issue and the starter and main were ordered that way in order to share food. Once we finished our dessert, I asked for the bill from the lady who cleared our main plates but our dessert plates were not cleared at this point. It took 20 minutes for our plates to be cleared by our food server. Still no bill. Once the bill was presented, no birthday discount was showing, so I showed the voucher again. The lady seemed a little bemused by this, took the voucher code and went back to the till. She presented a new bill and advised how much had been taken off with the voucher. We paid and left. We interacted with 5 members of staff (not including the trainee) 4 of which were aware of our voucher. At no point was my birthday referenced. This was our 6th visit to Ego, 5th to this venue. We are unlikely to visit again due to the poor customer service outlined.