I really despair when what was once a fantastic small business fails to keep up its own high standards.
I've been going here on and off for 3 years now and from the very first visit fell in love with the food and the service!...Alas, neither are up too much now.
Last time I was there late last year at least the food was half decent, but was let down badly by the service, and when leaving that time I took the owner to one side and pointed out a number of issues (staff related) that were costing him money and that would cost him customers in the long run.
Well, things have only gotten worse since then. I attended this evening ( a party of 4) to celebrate a birthday. The owner was planked in the middle of the lounge seated with family/friends around largest table in the room drinking and watching the rugby on TV as were most in the lounge with one group eating a meal, perhaps 4 adults amd 3 or 4 children.
We were shown to the smallest table in the room, which is really only suitable for 2, and given menus amd a drinks order taken.
We waited 20 mins until someone finally bothered to come and take our food order (only 2 waitresses working) and appeared to be a large group celebrating a birthday in the adjoining restaurant/annexe.
We ordered 3 starters and 4 mains, myself and the wife opting for what I have always said were the best Ribs I've had in my entire life that simply fell off the bone - this is no longer the case and that should of been an early warning sign of things to come.
We all opted for Steaks for.our main course, my brother and his partner the 8oz Sirloin (£26), my wife the 10oz Sirloin (£28), and I went for the mouth watering 16oz T-Bone (£38) - so few places do a T-Bone so I wasn't missimg the opportunity (Wish I had!).
The 3 steaks were ordered, Med, Med, and well done, my T-Bone Med/Rare.
Brothers Med 8oz was mostly grizzle, the girls 8oz well done and 10oz Med were bland and all 3 were quite thin and my T-Bone was simply badly over cooked.
I gave up trying to catch the attention of a server to discuss and had to go looking for one who immediately agreed it was overdone and took it away to get it replaced.
By the time the replacement ame back, everyone else had finished their meal, and my sides had gone cold.
I quickly tucked into my steak, and the server asked if it was OK, I had just made the first cut and things were looking better, but unfortunately, as I got stuck into it it was clear the steak was woefully undercooked and at its thickest part was bleu!!
I ate what I could, and when the server returned to clear our plates made no mention of the fact 3 of the party of 4 ate less than half their steaks!
I simply then asked for a desert menu....surely they could mess that up.
They quickly brought the desert menu, but alas, 20 mins later, they had not returned to see what we wanted, so we got up and made our way to the bar to pay for our meals.
The rugby was over by now, and the owner was behind the bar, so I asked him for the bill (£153), he asked if everything was OK with our meals, to which I replied "no, not really" exprcting him to ask what went wrong, but he didn't seem to care as he simply took payment and said have a nice night.
Throughout the entire service, I must add that every time anyone came to the table with plates, cutlery, food, or drinks, the staff constantly leant over and across us, even with food infront of us leaning across our plates to place something else in front of someone else, this is extremely bad service and bordering on rude behaviour.
I'm sorry Golf Club, I gave you the benefit of the doubt the last time, but once bitten twice shy, I and my family/friends will not be returning again.
2 pieces of advice for the owner:
1. Focus on your business, your staff, and your customers - if you want a pint or to watch the sport on TV, do it elsewhere.
2. Remove the T-Bone from your menu until the chef learns how to cook it properly, as for the other steaks stop with the Char Grilling as it simply ruins the taste and flavour!More