German Gymnasium

"service lets it down"

"All German food boxes firmly ticked. Schnitzel and Weißwurst tasty and well presented. Building star of the show. "

"Decent brunch with family in upstairs restaurant; avoid Grand Cafe which employs uncomfortable, cafeteria-style seating."

"On 25th September 2021 we held a 60th Birthday event at German Gymnasium. The event had been postponed twice due to Covid restrictions and the organisation of it fraught with anxiety. As the final date approached my wife and I travelled from the Midlands to London to check agreed details for the event. Understandably, it was also important to sample the wine, prior to the purchase of enough bottles to satisfy 30 people on the night for the whole evening. This would be in addition to copious amounts of champagne which we knew our family and friends would consume. You might imagine our dismay when we were not allowed to sample the wine, despite offering to pay for a glass. The waiter was adamant that it was not possible to buy our chosen wine by the glass and despite pressing the matter, he would not move from his position. My wife started to become upset and so I decided to leave it and take the matter up with management when we left the restaurant. I initially raised the issue with the Events manager, James Furnell, who apologised and promised to pass the matter onto the General Manager, Olga Gay. The 25th came and went without event. We had booked a semi-private area, separated by wooden screens from the other diners upstairs and had paid for a range of canapes and champagne to be served at one end of a horseshoe balcony above the main downstairs seating. With hindsight I would not have done this. The very narrow strip across the landing makes it very difficult for guests to talk to each other and people are in constant fear of catching their ankles on a sharp-edged radiator stretching the floor length of it. The food was alright without being a fine-dining experience. The building is interesting and quirky but is fast losing its appeal, as it becomes encircled with a strip of unattractive high-rise buildings. It is also not actually situated in Coal’s drop yard and therefore lacks the buzz and vibrancy of that setting. Even after the event, I had to write to James and Olga several times to get a response. Initially Olga pretended that she did not realise I had required an answer or response. When I disabused her of that notion, she came back with an answer that indicated that the refusal to allow the wine sample was due to a poor employee, who had since left and that she was sorry about that. It was as if management had no responsibility for the actions/inaction of their employees. I complained to David Leowi, the Chief Operating officer of D and D group, which owns German Gymnasium and he wrote back with a series of corporate platitudes, relating to their commitment to customer service and feedback and the same empty apology that I had received from Olga. In my earlier email to Olga I had made it clear that I expected them to at least send my wife a bottle of wine or some other gesture for the distress that the incident had caused her. 6 months on and they are still refusing to rectify the disgraceful behaviour of one of their employees. Organising a large gathering is always a stressful task and frequently the best laid plans will go amiss. It is therefore important to be able to trust an organisation to put things right and to make any celebration a joyous occasion and one to remember. You need to ask yourself whether you could trust the D and D group/German Gymnasium to ensure that your overall customer experience was a positive one and whether you could trust them to act honourably if things did not run as smoothly as they should have done. Our experience is that it cannot be so trusted. You also need to ask yourself whether you would want to be associated with an organisation that would not send a bottle of wine to a woman in her 60s, who had spent several thousands of pounds of her savings, on her husband’s significant birthday. They occupy a site directly opposite St. Pancreas Station and it is clear that they think they do not have to try or otherwise expend any effort to retain customer loyalty. There are numerous better venues to host a celebration in London and we would urge you to choose them above this one."