23/08/2026
BENGAL ROSE — A LITTLE HONESTY FROM US ❤️
On behalf of my staff and the business, I wanted to share a little about what happened this weekend — and one particular incident that kept me awake until 3am yesterday.
Firstly, I want to apologise to any regular or new customers who experienced delays being seated, waiting for food or a takeaway, being told we were fully booked, or unfortunately being declined a takeaway this weekend.
We had over 100 customers on Friday & Saturday despite having only 58 seats. The majority of our bookings were before 8pm, so it was extremely busy.
By the time we arrived at 4:50pm, we had already completed the laundry, organised staff and stock, fuelled two cars, prepared lunch for six staff. Two more members of staff arrived at 5:40pm, by which time we already had 28 customers in the restaurant and eight takeaways.
I quickly checked the booking sheet and opened the booking app, where I realised six new bookings had come through but had not been accepted.
The confirmation customers receive is confirmation that the booking request has been sent — not that the booking has been accepted. This is something we are already working to fix.
But somehow, amongst the 87 booked customers, we still managed to accommodate those extra tables.We did it. 🤦♀️
One family arrived at 6:30pm and showed me their booking confirmation. I explained the online booking procedure, apologised and offered them a table at 8:30pm, with drinks on the house to make up for the inconvenience.
They returned at 8:30pm and placed their order.
They asked for a few items to come out first for the children — poppadoms, a cheese naan, rice and chips.
I personally took the naan to the table and asked the waiting staff to follow with the remaining items.
At the time, I was dealing with orders, phone calls, payments, checking tables, correcting mistakes, checking drinks, going into the kitchen and generally trying to keep the whole restaurant moving.
Unfortunately, the rice and chips did not arrive with the naan.
The gentleman came downstairs visibly frustrated, punching his fist into his palm and asking what was going on and how long he had been waiting.
I apologised and asked him to please lower his tone. I explained that the kitchen had become confused and that we had made a mistake.
The meal was then served.
I went back upstairs, apologised again and explained to the family what had happened.
A few minutes later, the gentleman came downstairs and asked:
“Who’s the boss?”
I explained that I was the manager.
He told me I had embarrassed him in front of his family.
My response was simple:
“I was trying to explain that we had made a mistake and apologise to you.”
At this point, another customer who had been sitting nearby and had just finished their own meal actually stepped in and said:
“Excuse me, we’ve had a fantastic time. Yes, there was a wait, but there was no need for that tone.”
The gentleman said he wanted to make a formal complaint.
He then said:
“I’ve been nice to you people.”
That sentence stayed with me.
I remained calm and asked him to enjoy his food, explaining that we could discuss any complaint afterwards.
A couple of minutes later, I went back upstairs because I did not want the atmosphere to become uncomfortable for everyone else.
As we always do when something has not gone right, I told him:
“The meal is on us.”
He chose not to eat and left, while the two ladies stayed and finished their meal.
Then something happened that genuinely upset me.
The two ladies came downstairs with tears in their eyes.
They were his sisters.
They apologised to me.
They explained that their brother has a highly stressful job and had taken his frustration out on me, my staff and the family.
That meant more to me than anything else that night.
Because our staff are human beings.
Yes, we make mistakes. Of course we do.
We are busy — sometimes extremely busy.
But we will always try to put things right.
If you have waited too long, if something has gone wrong or if we have made a mistake, we will offer something complimentary or sort something for you as a gesture of goodwill.
That is our policy.
What we will not accept is our staff being shouted at, intimidated or abused.
And for anyone who thinks running a restaurant is not stressful because “it’s just serving food”…
Our job includes:
• Making sure every customer has an amazing experience
• Checking food and drinks
• Looking after birthdays, celebrations and special occasions
• Stock control
• Kitchen control
• Staff management
• Booking management
• Laundry
• Customer service
• Food safety
• Health & Safety
• Environmental health
• Invoices
• Social media
• Business and corporate customers
• Waste management
• Online, telephone and text bookings
• Quality control — every dish is checked by me
• Seating plans
• Payments and deliveries
• Takeaways
• And, perhaps most importantly, checking on the mental health and wellbeing of our staff
The list could go on.
But I am sure most people understand the pressure involved in running a restaurant.
I am sorry for the long message.
But I give 110%.
And my staff give everything they have too.
Being Number 1 restaurant in Ulverston means a great deal to us. We have held that position for three years.
And now we are Number 1 Indian restaurant in the whole county.
Why?
Because we give our best.
We provide excellent food, excellent service and, most importantly, we genuinely care.
Unfortunately, yesterday, that was not the experience for one family.
To that family — and especially to the two ladies and the children — we apologise.
To everyone who waited this weekend, thank you for your patience. ❤️
To everyone who supported our staff and understood how busy we were, thank you even more.
And we will continue to give everything we have to make Bengal Rose the best it can possibly be.
Bengal Rose
Jac
