After 12 years of business, it's rather sad to hear of the closure of premier restaurant On the Hill. The virus seems to have gotten the better of it. On the Hill was Michelin-rated, a rarity in this part of the world, and its closure leaves something of a gap. It seems that On the Hill cannot operate economically in a distanced world.
Of course, it continues with chilled ready meals as prepared in sister building Small Plates but eating at home isn't the same. On several occasions, we've tried it (not from On the Hill, though—although we attempted to use them) and the food's lovely but the experience is less so: there's no atmosphere and you tend to bolt down the food far faster than in a restaurant.
On its own, you'd think nothing of the young-people-and-starter issue but when you consider other problems, it's almost as if you booked into On the Hill on their terms and not the customers'. None of these actually put us off dining there, though: you couldn't argue with the quality of the food.
On the Hill was also a rarity in gaining a full 5/5 on Trip Adviser/Advisor. Others get four-point-something or less. We've never had a duff meal there and we've been many times, as a family, as an extended family, as a couple, with friends, with work colleagues...
But, On the Hill also had its downsides.
- One was the fact that its locked down chilled ready meal required a bank transfer, as they steadfastly refused to take a simple card payment. Not customer friendly. That doesn't seem to have put many people off but it has us. So, we have supported another restaurant for the three meals we have ordered for home consumption during the height of lockdown March to June.
- Once one of our party had a dodgy pint of beer and it was replaced but not really with good grace.
- And, eight years ago, we wished to book a large-ish party to celebrate a significant birthday. All went well till we discussed the life-threatening issue of one of the party having a nut allergy. Admittedly, this was before restaurants were much more obliging on this score but, in this case, On the Hill was anything but. It was actually quite shocking. It goes without saying we enjoyed a meal elsewhere, although we returned when we could.
- And then there was the bad press On the Hill received over 10 years ago, for the way it treated a party of young people who booked in and then wanted only a starter each. True, this sort of thing isn't profitable and On the Hill would have been better if they'd let the table to people who take the full starter-main-desert option. It was still something of an own goal, though.
- I also felt that they were less likely to book a table for two and they would hold out for a larger number of people. Fair enough, I suppose. The two of us certainly couldn't get in on several occasions, in spite of early booking. On one, at lunchtime, I failed to get a table for two but turned up on spec anyway on the Saturday in question to find not one but several available...
At some point, sister Small Plates may reopen and we look forward to that. It was equally difficult to get a booking and the fact that you sometimes had to wait weeks was a rather good sign.