My memory of the evening was not at all bad, and I certainly don’t blame the skills of the chefs for my not liking the olive oil. It could easily have been a one-off occurrence, and I know I am a picky taster.
My friend did return to The Only recently, and messaged me while she was there to inform me of a particularly decadent cake of the chocolate variety that I must try – so I certainly will be returning, and soon (although I’m sure I will find something to like even if the dessert is no longer on the menu).

As for the reservation, I will know better next time to call if there are any last-minute changes, and I am sorry if/that patrons were turned away because of my oversight.

I was the one who served you that evening, (I remember you taking the pictures, and bringing over the Hendricks Gin).

I’m very sad to hear that your experience wasn’t all that you had hoped for, and that you were upset before you had even sat down. I don’t remember you mentioning to me that you were dissatisfied with some of your courses (perhaps you did) and I’m hoping that you would consider giving us another chance.

A note about party numbers changing last minute: We are very thankful to our patrons for making this restaurant so successful, and we are very glad that we are still filling up each night. However, we only offer two seatings each evening, and we can only accommodate approx. 30 people each seating. As a result, we must turn away people on a daily basis and usually have a cancellation list (on weekends this list could be 20+ people long). I’m sure that you understand how it could be frustrating when there are last minute changes in numbers, and we end up having empty seats when we’ve already had to turn people away.

That of course has no bearing on the fact that you felt upset about how this was communicated to you.

If I remember correctly, your party just happened to be the third that evening to arrive with less people then booked. When you can only seat 30 at a time, even 4 or 5 people missing can hurt, especially when there were guests on our waiting list who would have loved those seats. I don’t expect people to know that when they book. We do call each person who has reserved with us the day of their reservation just to confirm numbers for this reason

All in all, I just hope that your memory of the evening isn’t all bad. I believe there was a woman in your party (if I’m thinking of the right person) who I have served several times since, and I hope that she would speak in our defence…

(If I’m thinking of the right person, she dined with us a short while ago to celebrate graduation)