Yesterday was a day I’d be worrying about for a while, it was ‘distance week’ for G’s Swimming group, where they all try and get their next badge. G’s last attempt wasn’t successful, and I was really worried she wouldn’t do it again this time. I think I was more nervous than she was – on the drive to the lesson she said ‘Oh it’s ONLY 5 lengths, that’s EASY’ – I admired the confidence!
Cut a long story short – SHE DID IT! It was actually TEN lengths of the pool, she really struggled with the final one, but we screamed encouragement from the viewing area! The deal with her getting a swimming badge is she’s allowed to have lunch wherever she wants, it is normally ‘The Queen B‘ in Chelmsford, but today, she wanted to go to ‘Back Inn Time‘ in Chelmsford.
G had been there several times before, but I’d never been, despite it being in Chelmsford since I was tiny! I rang up and booked a table and we made our way there. The waitress that led us to the table was a bit grumpy, we hoped she’d ‘warm up’, we settled in to the menus and picked some food. Again the waitress was very grumpy taking the orders, no banter, no interaction with the kids, just ‘painting by numbers’ waitress-ing.
The food arrived in good time, and all of us LOVED it, I had a steak with a delicious sauce, some great fries, and nice salad. The food was definitely making up for the dire service, Loz was happy with hers, and G destroyed her plate of ribs, all good in the hood.
Then it went a bit wrong,
Loz had to change J’s nappy, no problem, family restaurant, it’ll have a Baby Change Facility. Right?
No.
Nothing in the Male or Female toilets to change a Baby on, no Disabled toilet with facilities either. What did the staff suggest? Changing him on the floor of a quiet bit of the restaurant!
So, as the poor child was covered in shit, we had to do it, there weren’t many other options! I’m just grateful the restaurant wasn’t busier! It’s probably for the best there weren’t facilities in the toilets, G described them as being pretty grim..
‘They have GOT to sort out those toilets’ she exclaimed having visited them. You know when a child moans about toilets they’ve got to be pretty bad, right?
The bill came, and our grumpy waitress marched past several times, seemingly ignoring the Credit Card sat on top of it, in the end Loz took the bill to the bar to pay so we could get out of there. It was such a shame something that was meant to be ‘nice’ was turned so sour by moody staff and very few facilities. The food was great, I’d definitely go back for that, but anything else.. No.
So if you’re in Chelmsford with your baby and feeling a bit peckish, Back Inn Time is probably one to avoid.
I used to work as a waitress in a pub/restaurant that was a really old building – you know, the kind with uneven floors and low ceilings. People always complained we had no baby changing facilities and to be honest, being young and childless, I couldn’t understand what their problem was! Still, I never suggested people use the floor – we had sofas in the corner of the restaurant so we let people use those.
It’s always disappointing when you go somewhere and find it’s let down by its toilets. Especially if you’re all relieved to find they have baby changing facilities… but they’re grotty and nasty and you don’t want to put your baby anywhere near them!
If I were you I would have complained to the management to be honest – but then by the sounds of the place, I doubt the management would have listened!