Canteen restaurant

Hello Rebecca and welcome to this forum.
I don't think people are meaning to have a go at you, and it is clear that something about Canteen has really upset you.

However, it's not totally clear from your original post what this is, and what your specific complaints about the restaurant are, particularly in the second paragraph. Also, are you speaking from the perspective of a customer or as a current/ex-employee?

Perhaps if you could clarify???

We went to Canteen on Saturday night, around 7pm and there were plenty of tables free. The waiting staff were very friendly and the meal was really good. I had pie, mash and greens (very reasonable, at £9) and Mr Mac had maccaroni cheese (£7 I think). I had the blackcurrant jelly for pudding. It was a little 'solid' for my liking but had a nice strong blackcurrant taste. The place started filling up at around 8pm. I thought it was a nice atmosphere, good food and reasonable prices. I would recommend it and will go again

I ate there last night and like Mac had the pie (mutton, very good). The service was pretty good too even though we sat outside in their lovely big space set back from the road.

But oh my, hideous chairs - well, they're not really chairs in that the backs are about 2" high. Very dangerous IMHO, particularly after a bottle of wine or two and one becomes rather theatrical and expansive or you just want to lean back and relax. A nasty accident waiting to happen, methinks! For that reason, I doubt I shall be returning - shame!

We ate at Canteen last night. It was OK, but not great. The food was fine, but our waiter had an awful BO problem, which is really off-putting when eating. The staff are also quite 'green' but I know they have just opened so I'll forgive that. The worst part of the food was our £3 tomato salad. This consisted of a small bowl of tomatoes cut in half with olive oil on them! They've obviously had people asking about it as the waitress said "yeah I know, it's just tomatoes" !

I went for a breakfast meeting there yesterday and wasn't impressed. The staff were friendly and meant well but weren't overly helpful and didn't understand the menu.

The breakfast was over priced for what it was (there are cafes that do better).

The coffee was run of the mill and the orange juice from concentrate. Only small things, but not what I had expected from Canteen.

The person I was with had welsh rabbit which was hideous - the waitress laughed and confessed some people liked it but most hated it. Not a great sign then!

I wouldn't rush back that's for sure which is a real shame.

If jw's breakfast companion did have Welsh rabbit, I'm not surprised it was hideos, especially if they didn't get all the fur off. However if it was Welsh rarebit then perhaps it wouldn't have tasted quite so bad...

Friends of mine dropped into Canteen on Saturday afternoon, ahead of going into the Anthony Gormley exhibition, for which they had timed tickets. They went from having loads of time for a quiet, leisurely drink to having to throw it down their necks and leg it after waiting staff took around 45 minutes to complete their order for 1 beer and 1 glass of wine. Apparently, there were loads of waiting staff on duty, keeping busy by doing everything except wait tables. After 10 minutes being resolutely ignored by the "waiters", Friend 1 went to the bar to order, and spent 5 minutes trying to catch the eye of several barmen/women who were also keeping busy by doing everything except serve customers. Then, my friends watched while Friend 1's beer was poured and plonked on the bar for 10 minutes to warm up before the waiter brought it over, and only then did anyone bother to tell Friend 2 that what she had ordered was unavailable. 10 minutes later, her replacement drink arrived at the table.
"Never again" was their verdict.
There is statistical evidence that recipients of good service will tell one or two people, while recipients of bad service with tell something like six or seven. My friends told three people (incl. me) yesterday, and now I'm passing it on. If it doesn't sharpen up, Canteen will be out of business by the end of the summer.