For a few years up to 2013 I ate dinner at The Waterside Inn 2 or 3 times a year and regarded it as my favourite restaurant. For the last 7 years I've lived in Tokyo and been unable to go to the Waterside. So,...having recently moved back to the UK, I was looking forward to reacquainting myself with the restaurant and chose it for a special dinner with 2 of my Japanese colleagues and my wife. Sadly, the experience fell far short of my expectations. For 3 Michelin stars the experience has to be perfect. My memory of The Waterside Inn 7 years ago is of exquisite food, flawless service, a serene (but not intimidating) atmosphere and an incomparable location. Only the last of these remains. The food was of good quality but there was nothing extraordinary about the taste experience or the presentation. But my main disappointment was with the service and atmosphere. I realise that Covid-related restrictions have a negative effect on these. However, they do not explain all of the reduction in quality. The restaurant was full and felt very busy. There seemed to be more tables than previously. It was certainly noisy, making it difficult to speak to my guests. Our table was ridiculously small for 4 people, with barely enough room for the wine glasses. There was no clear organisation of the service staff and they seemed to be rushed. We were served by a number of different staff with no consistent standard of service. There was little sign of warmth or passion and some were just brusque. The advice from one sommelier was meaningless. Our main courses were served to the wrong people at our table. If this bad experience was due to some one-off problem on the night I would have expected the maitre d' or one of the staff to quietly apologise before we left but we got nothing more than a cursory goodbye. So I have to assume that this is now the normal standard. Based on this experience, I cannot see how The Waterside Inn deserves to retain its 3 Michelin stars (or even 2). This represents a tragic decline of what was a great restaurant.More