Storyhouse Reviews Summary

Staff

Pros:

• "The staff cannot be forgotten they are great."
• "Unbelievably friendly staff."
• "Theatre and cinema assistants are always available in helping clients."
• "Staff very friendly and helpful, they are more than happy to stand and chat with you."
• "All the staff were incredibly helpful, friendly and polite."
• "Staff always go above and beyond in the library... We'll everywhere in the facility actually!"
• "Staff and volunteers here are very friendly."

Cons:

• "Hardly any staff to serve people."
• "Cute place but very poor customer service."
• "Trying to get hold of anyone by phone there or using a ticket machine there is a complete non-starter though."
• "A total joke. I visited for the third time looking for a particular book which is listed on their catalogue but again the staff were uncooperative in their attitude."
• "Nice place but some of the staff are blunt, rude and lacking in any conversational skill."
• "One girl said 'I can't serve you now, the till is busy'! She then disappeared into the back and never returned!"
• "The staff were friendly but generally unhelpful."

Venue

Pros:

• "The venue itself is truly fantastic with books here, there and everywhere."
• "Fabulous establishment with multifunction. Library, Café and theatre in one place."
• "What a fantastic venue - got everything you would wish for a city centre City lead community project."
• "Fantastic modern venue with friendly staff and extremely clean facilities."
• "The Storyhouse is completely in a league of its own."
• "An absolutely amazing venue right in the heart of Chester."
• "The best thing to have happened in Chester, cinema, theatre, library and much more."

Cons:

• "So disappointing. Travelled 2 hours... When we arrived they had decided to not show the film as no one else wanted to see it."
• "Only has one section in the Storyhouse that is quiet enough to study, but is quite a small area."
• "The first few rows are a little too close to the stage which is why is only got four stars, I got a stiff neck from looking up."
• "It's not very well signposted though so make sure you give yourself some time to find your seat."
• "The layout of the library and the noisy floor makes it impossible to study when you need to."
• "The building was too loud, there was no air conditioning and worst of all the layout meant that there were people walking through the library space to get to other parts of the building."
• "The layout is poorly designed, so you'll constantly have people walking behind you looking for books."

Food & Beverage

Pros:

• "The food, although nice is quite non-traditional and a few of the delegates were not sure what was what when eating it."
• "The food is middle-eastern/Levantine inspired, and is delicious."
• "We had 3 mezze dishes and shared a dessert, food was all good quality and great tasting."
• "The restaurant is surprisingly nice with a selection of Mediterranean food that perfectly accompanies a good book; tasty but light."
• "The food is tapas style and it was well cooked and tasty."
• "Food: breakfast and brunch menus. Impressively authentic Mediterranean/Middle Eastern selections."
• "The food was good, arrived quickly, the service was attentive without being smothering and the prices were very reasonable."

Cons:

• "Expensive food."
• "Prices are over the top - £5 for 2 x 330ml bottles of Coca-Cola is unforgivable."
• "It can be very expensive compared to other cinemas but this may be due to the event and we did get free bottles of water and popcorn."
• "Food was cold and disappointing."
• "Their food and drink is of good quality, perhaps a touch expensive, but on an occasion it's not that big of an issue."
• "Terrible service. Food order incorrect."
• "Come here for the entertainment and the library, but do not come for food. The service is poor and staff require better training."

Atmosphere & Design

Pros:

• "The feel and ambiance is great mixing modern with old."
• "Seating arrangement is nice and spacious tables for 2 up to a big group."
• "The interior design is really welcoming & very well thought out as a social space."
• "Great open spaces for adults and children."
• "quirky, vibrant, comfortable surroundings with a great atmosphere."
• "The atmosphere was fabulous."
• "It's a charming theatre, library, cinema and restaurant complex in the heart of Chester city centre."

Cons:

• "It's definitely NOT a place to study or do some work if you have to concentrate, music way too loud."
• "Lovely building but they never listen to feedback about reducing the level of the background music in the library section."
• "Mixing book shelves with the noisy and often busy restaurant was a terrible idea, and there's so much noise pollution."
• "Great spot for a coffee and a chat, terribly noisy if you're actually trying to work or study."
• "The rest of the buildings are loud and busy due to it being more of a place to meet up with friends than study."
• "Do not visit if you are short or disabled."
• "The entire layout, it seems, was designed to look cool, while averting one's eyes to more practical matters, such as WHO is likely to frequent the place."

Accessibility & Convenience

Pros:

• "The main auditorium is beautifully designed with a great view from every stall seat."
• "There are many human staff around the place to help otherwise."
• "Toilets are very clean and tidy."
• "The seating area is casual with large tables and you sit where you like."
• "The cinema screen is very good quality, sound is pretty good too... No faults there."
• "The view of the stage was fantastic from every seat."
• "Seats were comfortable plenty of leg room (and bottom room and seat)."

Cons:

• "The one flaw was traipsing through seated dinners to get to the theatre if you enter through the old entrance and nothing says you shouldn't."
• "Somebody decided to get rid of human beings in the ticket office. Tried to buy vouchers as Christmas presents. Machine not set up to buy more than one ticket."
• "It's bottles and cans only and the drinks in them were not to our taste and were expensive."
• "Had a bit of struggle to find the right doors for our seats."
• "Only small issue there are no table numbers. Got given wrong order twice, but got right one eventually."
• "Banking downstairs could maybe have been a little steeper but luckily I only had a little person in front."
• "Imagine his disappointment when we arrived for the event and were refused entry, being told that no under 18s were allowed."

Customer Experience

Pros:

• "Cinema is lovely only about 50 but extremely comfortable seats."
• "Fantastic first experience of this place. Took my 4-year-old to watch the dinosaur world."
• "Absolutely brilliant! Saw the touring Avenue Q production."
• "Highly recommended with babies and kids."
• "Best value for money cinema ever."
• "Staff are very helpful and it was a nice touch having the ice cream sellers walking about at the interval."
• "The theatre is excellent - a very intimate and modern space."