There was a sandwich board outside the premises which, on one side, advertised their Christmas menu - a little odd considering it was now January. On the other side their lunch specials were advertised - "Lunch specials £5.95, 12-3pm". The five foot advertisement made every effort to publicise this "special". We went in and there was a party of three in front of us waiting to be seated. The place isn't that big. We waited behind this party who left after about 5 minutes - we hadn't seen them be acknowledged by the staff once. Then it was our turn to be ignored by the staff. We stood for about ten minutes with waitress after waitress passing us without acknowledging our existence. I used that time to read the specials board inside the place, which was a chalk board with the four or five specials mentioned, surrounded by promises of "£5.95". I was torn between two of the specials but thought I'd look at the menu anyway and, after being ignored for almost ten minutes (it seemed to me like the place may have been short staffed), we were seated. I looked through the menu and, upon seeing prices which made me think I was about to have in a meal in a hotel, felt relieved that the place had specials (I've eaten some excellent evening meals in quality restaurants that were less expensive than lunch in this place). I was taking a last look at the specials board above my head when the witress arrived. As I began to enquire about one of the specials she stopped me to inform me the specials weren't available that day. It appeared to me that they had decided that because it was busy that day, they wouldn't be serving the specials and wanted customers to order meals off the main menu, some of which were almost twice the price of the specials. There were no exlusions on either the specials board out the front, or in the "restaurant". I was going to order something off the menu but decided not to - I'd rather leave and be mildly embarrassed than be conned. I don't know precisely what constitutes false advertising, but I know we were there on a day and a time that was eligible for the specials, as advertised on both boards outside and inside the restaurant. We left, went to The Other Place, and had an excellent meal, as per usual. So if you happen to see a specials board outside Springsteen's and are tempted to go in, beware that they might have decided to withdraw the specials that day, even though they are advertised out the front. How embarrassing would it be if that was the case and you were out on a date, soon realising that you could have eaten in The Other Place or Villa Italia and it wouldn't have cost you as much? read more