Porto & Fi

Unfriendly to mothers.
Tried to visit twice, only admitted once(!) Won't be going again...
Basically, staff very unobliging wrt babies/buggies and, to be clear, on a late Tues am, not peak time.
Wrt food, seems quite good.
Please don't visit here if you are a vulnerable new mum -stony-faced waitresses may make you crumble.
Had to laugh when was leaving after final visit, a husband and wife were entering and she was obviously very pregnant, thought to myself that this would be one of her last visits here too!

To summarise the overly long comment below:

"My adorable child — and if only you could see him you'd agree he was adorable — had been screaming and using the cafe as his own playroom for at least a quarter of an hour, when inexplicably I was asked to keep him under control."

If I'd had been there I'd have been delighted to see them kicked out. Score one to those of us who fail to find delight in other people's pampered children.

I have not written a restaurant review before but thought I would on my quite unbelievable treatment in Porto and Fi (Newhaven) last week. I live locally and have probably visited Porto and Fi 5 times in the last year. I had previously found it to be a perfectly acceptable place to eat, somewhat pretentious, but nice enough. This visit was somewhat unexpected as I had received a call from my Mum who was babysitting my 18 month old son and had ducked into Porto and Fi for a coffee to get out of the rain. She asked me to pop along with an umbrella for them at 17:30. I arrived within 5 minutes.

As I arrived my mum was finishing of her coffee and my son was just finishing a banana whilst sitting in his buggy. As we were sat by the sofas and the buggy was blocking him in I let him out for a bit and he started to run around the table. Being 18 months old he let out the odd war cry or 2, nothing too loud though just over exuberance. To set the scene within Porto and Fi there was a table of 3 mums with 3 babies and 2 other couples in for early dinner. At this point my mum popped off to change her wet top and I began to get my son ready to go in his buggy as we were about to leave and had paid the bill. With him only being little he doesn't always like this and at this stage he began to let out a few screams. Never the best, but as all parents will understand and remember in these situations as a parent you sometimes have to grin and bare it.

At this point to my endless surprise a waitress came up to me and said, "I'm afraid if you can't keep the noise down I am going to have to ask you to leave". I was a bit taken aback and was not quite sure I had heard her correctly at first. Once I had managed to get my son into his buggy I and the warning had sank in I realised I was far from impressed. My son is in general a lovely smiley little boy, who loves being out and around people in public. But he is 18 months old, and it would be fair to say has thus far failed to acquire exemplary dining etiquette. To be honest he is just learning to speak so no matter how politely you ask him to, "be a good lad and sit quietly" he is unlikely to understand. I was beginning to be glad he hadn't smooshed banana into the Porto and Fi sofas.

I decided to ask to speak to the manager, not in any way to cause a scene (I was once a restaurant manager myself) but to pass on my concerns that they had basically just asked an adorable 18 month old to leave the premises. So up from the cellars came a pleasant chap who at first seemed to instantly share my concerns. Sadly he then decided to trap me on a technicality. As my initial complaint to him was that we had been asked to leave his investigations proved that this was technically incorrect. We could stay if my son was quiet. So technically we were not asked to leave. He then informed me at length that they have to cater for all their customers (obviously excluding me and my boy) and that he had himself heard my son from down stairs. I explained that they seem to accept children, and that this 'noise' is just part and parcel of the child rearing experience. He said he had himself heard the noise for some 15 minutes now. To my amusement after I said I don't think it was 15 minutes he offered to get the CCTV tapes to prove it! Unbelievable - where was this leading I wondered had he tripped the silent alarm on his way up the stairs to inform the appropriate prosecutors. I realise that CCTV footage has been used a lot in courts in England recently but felt myself and my son deserve to be treated slightly better than the looting hoodies. I also realised that the manager was not really on my side, so I laughed, patted him on the shoulder, told him I had decided to take none of what he had said personally but that I wouldn't be coming back. I appreciated hearing his point of view, and the policy of the establishment. In reality I was offered no good reason to ever go back to Porto and Fi, no apology was forthcoming, no belief that they were perhaps being a bit heavy handed, no sense of understanding that my child is not yet 2 years on this planet and not always able to judge what should be considered acceptable in polite company.

So there you have it, that is my story I have no idea if my son and I are barred from Porto and FI, but needless to say we will be choosing a place which lets children be children and not one that will only accept an 18 month with a superior knowledge of fine dining. Porto and FI advertise themselves as being child friendly, but as anyone with children will know, taking little ones into restaurants and coffee shops is not always the most straight forward or relaxing of experiences! In general you go to places that have high chairs and claim to accept the thrills and spills that go along with young children. Porto and Fi have high chairs, so it would be fair to assume they allow children in. I believe myself to be a considerate father, I wouldn't head to such a place at dinner time with my son, but for him to be asked to leave at 5:30 is just not on. Thank you for reading.

I popped in here today for the first time after passing several times and thinking it looked nice! When I entered it was (unexpectedly) bustling but there was still a seat for me.....thank goodness! I had quiche (mull cheddar, chicken and mushroom) which came with a spoonful of delicious coleslaw and a lovely salad! faultless!....a foodie oasis in an odd place.

I look forward to returning for a stornoway blackpud breakfast roll!
yum diddly um tum tumshush! and a shop below which i never went to....will do next time, and there will be a next time! cpx