Ella's Kitchen Weeny Weaning Restaurant - REVIEW

 This week for a few days only Ella's Kitchen Weeny Weaning Restaurant popped up in South West London. We were lucky enough to experience what the 'worlds first sensory restaurant for babies' had to offer! To say I was excited to visit would be a bit of an understatement!
On arrival Eliot and I were met by the Ella's Kitchen team who showed us where to 'park up' before leading us down to the sensory play zone.

 The Weeny Weaning Restaurant concept involves babies experiencing  sights, smells and sounds so they are able to explore food in many different ways. There were songs to listen to (see video clip at the bottom for Eliot's dancing!) which Eliot wasn't too sure about at first but once he'd settled in, the music was definitely one of his favourite things!

There was play food and real food for babies to get to grips with to touch smell and taste, as well as flash cards and wooden books with pictures of food to look at. Eliot thoroughly enjoyed his experience in the sensory play zone and I think this is a brilliant way to familiarise babies with various foods by stimulating different senses.
Once Eliot had got his taste buds tingling we took a seat in the tasting zone.

 

Using a tablet, babies (with a bit of parent assistance) were able to choose their main and dessert. First I selected what age best suited Eliot (from 10 months). Next the tablet showed six options for a main and then six options for dessert. The one's that Eliot tapped the most were ordered. Watch the video at the bottom to see how the interactive menu was used.

 

 The Caribbean and Chicken and Mango pouch arrived very swiftly for Eliot to get stuck into. He  particularly loved the lid that covered the tablet and the tablet itself so they were a bit of a distraction for him. He continuously picked up the lid and swiped the screen with his messy fingers, hence the smeared screen above! Eliot enjoyed his Caribbean Chicken and Mango  but didn't finish it all, he's very nosy and was very interested in what was going on around him.

 

 

For dessert Eliot had chosen 'Berry Yummy' yogurt. He does have a sweet tooth so he made sure he finished his pud even though he was constantly looking around to see what everyone else was up to!

 

Funny face!



We had a great time at Ella's Weeny Weaning restaurant and I think this is a wonderful concept to get babies excited about food. There is a gap in the market for such restaurants, so I personally think they should pop up permanently in the future!

The Ella's Kitchen team will also be analysing what babies chose using the interactive menu and I'm very interested to see what they find!

 

 

Would you like to see Ella's Kitchen Weeny Weaning restaurants across the country?

 





ALWAYS CHECK THE LABEL!!!



I've been sitting on this post for a while now because I waited a long time for a response to a complaint. I then escalated it further by contacting the CEO. Please share with other parents! Here's why you should always check the label...

On route to our holiday last month we stopped off at a Harvester restaurant for dinner, the Harvester in Beaconsfield to be more exact! I've always found them family friendly, certainly not gourmet but not a rip off for the food they sell.

We ordered our food and a jar of baby food for Eliot. We wanted to eat quick and continue with our journey so a jar seemed like the best option for him. Our meal arrived but there was no sign of Eliot's. I asked the waitress who apologised it hadn't been warmed and she bought the jar in some hot water to the table. And boy am I glad it wasn't served out of the jar! When I went to open it I happened to catch the use by date, March 2014. We were now in APRIL!

I'll continue via the complaint I sent via Harvester's online form...



Myself, partner and nine month old baby boy visited the restaurant whilst on route to our holiday destination.

We ordered our meal and asked what baby food options were available, there was only one.

When our meal arrived there was no sign of the baby food and I had to mention it to the waitress. It had not been prepared so it was brought to the table in a cup of hot water and my hungry son had to wait. As I was about to open the jar I happened to check the use by date which was 03/2014. As well as being served food after ours, my son was served food that could potentially make him unwell. I told the next member of staff who came by and asked to speak to the manager. When the manager came over several minutes later he didn't appear too concerned about the matter. He apologised and when asked, said there were systems in place to check the baby food and he would sort some more quickly.

The waitress who served us came over and also apologised. We could then see her searching for more baby food. It was apparent there wasn't any and after some time she returned to apologise again for not having any more baby food available. She said that not many people order baby food so they don't stock much. As a chain of restaurants that won an award for being family friendly in 2013 I think it's poor to say the least that there was only one jar in stock. One that was out of date! You cannot have staff giving that excuse to customers when baby food is advertised on the kids menu and you hold a family friendly award!

We ordered some pasta off the children's menu for our son to eat, who had obviously then been waiting a long time.

The manager came over and said he would take half off the bill, then later said he would take care of the whole bill. I'm fairly satisfied that the situation was rectified as well as it could be in the restaurant.

However,I would like to know what systems as a company you have in place for keeping on top of sell by dates of baby food? Why was there only one jar available when the menu says something along the lines of 'choose from a selection'?

 I expected to get a response pretty quickly, even to just acknowledge they'd received my complaint. A couple of days passed and I hadn't heard a peep. I called Mitchells & Butlers who manage a range of brands including Harvester to follow up my complaint. The first time it was the weekend and I spoke with security. When I tried again I was told the Harvester customer care team were not in and to call back later. I was annoyed to say the least so I attempted to find another way of contacting them. I'd already discovered they didn't have a Twitter account but found a page on facebook, so I sent them a message.

I was told my complaint was being investigated by the area manager and that I would hear from someone soon. I left it at that, intrigued to find out how long it would actually take for them to get back to me. A week passed...nothing.  It had been over two weeks since I'd sent my original complaint, I was fuming. Was my sons health and that of other babies of little concern?! Ok, Eliot didn't eat it, it didn't make him ill but the fact was it could have done, not to mention they would have been in breach of some sort of health and safety regulations.

 So  I wrote another message via facebook asking them to give me the CEO contact details (which I'd already found through the wonder of the web, I was just curious to see their response) as I felt my complaint hadn't been taken seriously.

Shortly after I received this response...

                           

No mention of the CEO's contact details as expected! Then another response... 

I'm assuming Julie got in contact with the relevant people with a bit more haste as an hour or so later I received a phone call from the area manager.

To cut a long phone call short...He apologised and took full responsibility for nobody getting in contact with me sooner, he told me what measures had taken place since the incident and I was told I would receive some gift codes if we chose to visit a Harvester in the future.

I still felt unhappy that it took so long to get back to me, I felt unhappy that I didn't really get a clear explanation as to why there was out of date baby food in the restaurant. Was my sons health to the value of a Harvester meal?

Prior to the phone call with the area manager I already knew I would be contacting the CEO of Mitchells and Butlers, Alistair Darby.  

The only real positive I got from this was how long it took for him to respond, he was very swift! But all he did was pass it back down to the people below to deal with.

 I understand he's the 'big fish in the pond' but I'd specifically asked him questions that were directed at him. Questions that required his personal response but he didn't answer them. No 'sorry' was received either. It's an utter disgrace that a CEO couldn't apologise that Eliot was served out of date baby food in one of their brands. Ok, not his fault but sorry doesn't cost a thing!

 The fact that Harvester has won an award for being 'Best Friendly Restaurant 2013' is a joke considering how we were treated.



Have you ever experienced something similar? I'd love to hear your thoughts!