Chefandbrewer Reviews

AVOID This review is for Chef and Brewer The Griffin Widnes

This review is for The Griffin WidnesWe arrived at 7 30 pm and we re seated immediately Good start and the ambiance of the restaurant was pleasing and the waitress pleasant and attentive Chose our starters but our main choice fillet steak was disappointingly not available so we chose a second dish and dessert but the waitress then returned to the table to tell us that our second choice of main lamb was also unavailable Even though there wasn t really any other main on the menu that we wanted we compromised and made a third choice The starter came which we both enjoyed but the main course of pie triple cooked chips and seasonal veg was awful the pastry was so hard we could only scoop out the middle and the so call triple cooked chips were infact insipid frozen chips which weren t even cooked properly the presentation of the dish was very poor the vegetables just being piled over the chips not in the least appealing My wife s plate when taken away was almost as full as it was when served and the waitress did comment and apologised profusely Dessert was also a disaster three scoops of ice cream which came in a sundae glass completely melted and resembled cream As if all that wasn t enough when we asked for and received the bill we had been over charged and it took over 20 minutes for this to be resolvedNeedless to say we will never frequent the Griffin in Bold ever again we are not ones to make a fuss and cause embarrassment at a venue but we thought you ought to know What astounds us more than anything else is the fact that we regularly call at the Bottle and Glass in Rainford and the standard of the food there is always excellent and consistent as is the presentation something going wrong at The Griffin we just wasted our money

The Peacock Owler Bar

Grumpy staff Card payments only There are much more friendly places to eat locally than this

Trading on the past good reputation for quality dining

Service was ok - no blame to the waitresses who were doing their best we suspected without any proper training on any aspect of the role Starters were good enough that was it though The quality of the meat was very poor especially the beef which was awful We had been looking forward to that part especially - it was grim Our dog at home enjoyed it but she quite likes a bit of gristle chunks of fat badly carved and very chewy meat occasionally The veg was abysmal and gave no pleasure whatsoever We were VERY disappointed and surprised as the low standard of the food and preparation It has dived - economies have been made and are being foisted on the trusting diner Most of the remainder on our plates went back - we would have complained but by that time we were dying to get out of the place Having started the meal and having struggled heroically with the meat our spirit was broken We are reasonable people and a decent tip was left as we always would - sweets coffee no ta We are not in the habit of delivering bad reviews but I feel I have a duty to entreat others to take a swerve or regret it

Very poor treatment of customers being

Very poor treatment of customers being moved from table to table as others needs to sit down too when pub is half empty making Me feel like second category person no hospitality poor communication very poor

Avoid Barley Mow Clifton Hampden

We went to Barley Mow at Clifton Hampden Abingdon for a diner We ve ordered 4 main courses 2x Duo of chicken 1x Signature burger 1x Vegetable grill Chicken dishes were tiny It seemed as if the chicken breast was sliced in 3 horizontally and you only get 1 5 pieces of it tiny portion of rice and one tablespoon of M S bought Kimchi I buy that Kimchi all the time so I recognise it anywhere Seriously a joke of a dish for 16 49Burger was dry and came with 7 small fries for 16 99Vegan vegetable grill was no better Grilled sage butternut squash steak was a lump of butternut squash from the oven flat field mushroom was drowning in slimy oil roasted onion was nowhere to be seen spiced sweet potatoes looked mashed charred courgette was oven cooked with no sign of being charred garden peas and grilled tomato was not grilled Random tiny pieces of red and yellow peppers were in the dish as well which makes me think that they repurposing some of the other dishes for 16 49I was embarrassed in front of my friends We went there because I had a lovely meal there few years ago What a shocker this time I ll never visit any Barley Mow chain again

Poor everything

Dog house frilford supposedly a Greene king pub but no Abbott ale IPA old speckled hen original Had golden hen which was awful no head flat and poor taste Woman who served us took a long hard look at it think she knew it wasn t right but did nothing From us all being seated to receiving our so called roast meals took an hour The portion of beef I had was not pink it was running red I could not cut it and I even had to remove one piece from my mouth as I couldn t even chew it What little veg we did receive was abysmal some watery stringy cabbage and two minute pieces of parsnip that I could barely see Potatoes were poor quality and not cooked properly soft and mushy and both these and the Yorkshire puddings were all dried up Even the side dish of cauliflower cheese was poor The amount of gravy was so small they may as well not have bothered The whole meal was poor quality poorly cooked and poorly presented The photo on their advertising showing peas carrots broccoli we did not receive any of it Nobody in our party of nine had dessert as they were all fed up waiting and the disgust with their meals opted to just pay and leave and vowing never to return

Useless online hotel booking management

Useless online hotel booking management system - needed to cancel a booking went online to do so but continually met with error messages day after day Then sent an email to cancel and this was bounced back as email unknown Eventually got through a stupid AI voice generated rubbish phone answering system and spoke to a real person hours of wasted time how pathetic are these clowns Never again

Awful Sunday Lunch

Went to the Chef and Brewer in Baldock The George IV for Sunday lunch yesterday with family members Not only did they get the drinks wrong put ice in all the drinks instead of just two the roast dinner was very mediocre My brothers 7 hour slow cooked rib of beef on the bone was tough as old boots and fatty the trio of roast beef pork and turkey was ok but the crackling was like rubber and you couldn t eat it We ordered dessert x3 Bramley apple tart with ice cream and the other 2 with custard and a sticky toffee pudding They tried to give us x2 Bakewell tarts we didn t order We finally got the correct desserts but the one with ice cream also came with custard The tart had obviously been microwaved and the pastry was really soft and didn t looked cooked The manager came over and I said the tart pastry looks like it s been microwaved and he said it s because it s Vegan pastry and it s supposed to have that texture Which is a load of rubbish I cut into mine and the pastry was not even cooked It was definitely raw My sister and I are both cooks and have made pastry dishes for many years Vegan pastry does not look like that when cooked X2 of us didn t eat it yet they tried to charge us for it even though we complained before we got the bill They only took x1 of the pastry desserts off the bill after I said I wasn t paying for something that clearly was inedible The manager shouldn t lie to the customer and the staff need more training and listen to the customer so customers get what they actually order Really disappointed

Spoiled Birthday celebration

Booked a table at Garden House for my daughter s 30th birthday When my husband got there he waited to be seated but no one came He asked a man whom he assumed worked there but he just pointed in the direction of where our table was without showing him to his seat and no apology Me and my children including the birthday girl arrived shortly after and again there was no one at the booking desk so we just walked until we found my husband We sat and waited and no one came to take our order so we went to the bar There were only two waiters and neither of them seemed like they wanted to be there The older waiter I think his name is Richard came over to take our order and all was well We ordered 3 fish chips 2 pork bellies and one beef cheeks The fish chips and beef cheeks were fine but the pork belly was abysmal and inedible We told Richard and even showed him that my knife couldn t cut the meat He had the nerve to say it s supposed to be like that with a smarmy look on his face What he didn t know is we are Garden Hse regulars and every time we go my daughter always has the pork belly and she has always enjoyed it so we know what it s supposed to be like Anyway Richard said he ll get them changed but what he brought back was even worse Clearly the chef and I use that title loosely didn t like the fact we complained and decided to be spiteful and give us slices of bland white pork with no crackling again not the pork belly my daughter knows and loves It didn t even resemble the description on the menu After Richard delivered the two plates of food he disappeared He didn t come back once to check if all was okay It was apparent that all they did in the kitchen was swap the pork because the rest of the food on the plate was now either cold or lukewarm My daughter and I couldn t eat the food and we were both upset because it wasn t what we ordered Worst still he still charged us for the 2 pork bellies even though when he collected the plates he could clearly see we hadn t eaten the meal This is the first time I ve had to leave such a review for Garden House My Tripadvisor reviews have always been positive The two stars given are for the fish and chips But the fact it was my daughter s actual 30th birthday and she left her birthday meal hungry and dissatisfied with no apology is unforgivable If you want fish and chips you won t be disappointed but avoid the pork and don t rely on the staff caring about you or the quality of the food Customer satisfaction isn t something Garden House Chef Brewer cares about I even sent a message ahead of our booking to tell them it was a special occasion and that we also wanted to thank our daughter for all she s done to support me my husband during his recent cancer treatment Shame on you Chef Brewer Chef Brewer thanks for spoiling what should have been a special occasion We couldn t wait to leave