The restaurant opens at 10:00 pm. We arrived at 9:50 pm, three of us, with a hungry, fussy 9-year-old child. We were told that we only had 10 minutes left to eat because the restaurant was closing. But in the meantime, the tableware had already been cleared. So you can't have a normal dinner. There's nothing to choose from, and in 10 minutes I have to grab some leftovers that I can still steal from the staff. A good competition - am I faster than the staff taking them out?
If the restaurant is open until 10 pm, it has to receive guests until then. They can't start taking food out until there is a guest eating. At 10 pm, they close the door, you can't go in, but you have to serve the guests who have come in before then. (Of course, this does not mean that the guest has the right to stay in the restaurant as long as he wants. For example, at 10:30 pm I would ask if he wants anything else. If not, I would ask him to leave slowly because we would be closing.) If this creates a problem, for example with the working hours of the employees, then I would suggest modifying the opening hours. It could be possible to officially close at 9:30 pm. But this can create ambiguous, uncomfortable, and embarrassing situations, as in our case. We have been returning guests at Ensana for several years, and we have always been satisfied with the service. This restaurant incident was not in keeping with Ensana's reputation.