Cafe Rouge – Pinner

I used to love Café Rouge, as a whole. Sure, some branches are better than others but generally, a solid menu with decent food that’s not the same as every other place.
The Pinner branch has always been one of my favourites (and, surprisingly, the nearby Ruislip branch one of the worst!) But I’m afraid the quality of both the branch and the chain overall has really gone downhill over the years. I’ve not been for around 6 months because I’ve been disappointed the past few times, but I thought I’d give it a go for lunch today.
The menu is much less diverse than before. There are literally 2 salad choices, for example. Today I went for the old standby croque monsieur.
The sandwich was bland, a bit underdone, and just not that tasty. No longer do you get your food on a normal plate, with a pile of frites and a bit of house salad. Now you have to choose fries or salad, and they bring it out on one of those stupid long thin rectangular plates, and the fries are in a naff metal holder. There was still a couple of lettuce leaves, but it wasn’t good like the salad used to be (I wonder if I would have just had more of the salad garnish if I hadn’t opted for the fries?) The service wasn’t good, either. I requested mayo for the fries and it came, and as he brought it I’m trying to ask the waiter for salt and pepper as well and he completely ignores me, talking to an acquaintance at a nearby table. My bill never came, my plate never cleared — I had to go to the bar and pay.
Oh well, my lack of service was reflected in the tip, and I’m afraid Café Rouge is staying firmly on my no thank you list for now.