General Chat

If you don't get a satisfactory reply, report them to your local Health authority, who must by law check them out.
Surely the manager of this establishment should be taken to task over the disgusting state of the menus. I would have walked out on seeing the menus in this state, as I would be wondering if the tables are like this, what the hell's the kitchen like?
Having worked in the catering industry, I know the importance of first impressions, and we would have been torn to pieces if our menus or any other part of the restaurant was in a disgusting state.

Good on you for complaining, but you really have to do it at the time, or take photos of the offending item, so you later have some evidence.

Interesting to hear their reply.
x

Errol, excellent letter, be interesting to see what reply you get. However, by saying it is a chain pub and not naming it is a little unfair to all chain pubs some of which are very good.

I would also say that within the chains there are good and bad and it is down to the local manager.

Ann
Glos

Hi Errol :-)

I remember a while back you posted you were involved in managing a pub in the North of England. I was just wondering whether you serve food in yours & what your response is or would be if you served food?

ie refund
partial refund
free drink
free meal??? etc etc

I was also wondering why you did not ask for your food to be reheated at the time. I can't think of anything worse than cold food. (edit - actually I can lol) Strangely enough I tend to eat food virtually cold anyway (slow eater) however, the food has to be piping hot to begin with otherwise i lose my appetite. I can understand your dismay.

We have won many awards for the pub, the beer and the food as well as the Britain in Bloom contest.
Over the past twelve months we have received just one complaint and that was because they mistakenly thought the herbs they found in their meal were hairs lol.
Everything is fresh and, wherever possible, sourced locally. We have six cask ales and absolutely NOT ONE BOTTLE of alcopops lol

I had an experience with a pub meal last year. A family get together I decided I did not want the carvery so opted for the steak.

BIG mistake.

1st steak came out - not cooked - now I like rare-ish steak but this was not even cooked in the middle.

2nd steak - was off! Distinct unhealthy taste and smell.

So by the time we had complained about this everybody else was tucking into their carvery lunches which looked lovely and I was still waiting.
After the 2nd fiasco said dont bother I will go without.

They then said they were doing me a favour by taking the meal off the bill - I nearly entered orbit with rage!

We no longer frequent that establishment and had great delight in telling others.

Edit - I have to agree with Ann - we would not ever not go to another pub with the same chain we would try it first (and hope that the same chef is not at that pub!). We have only stopped going to that particular local. T.

Ann, my experience of the larger chain pubs is that they are ok if you want fairly middle of the road cheap food which is very often supplied by other companies. There are occasional delightful exceptions of course.
In general terms and in my experience, independents (free houses) tend to be better although many are being forced out by the large pubcos because of pricing (cheaper is NOT better!) just as the leasehold pubs are due to phenomenal rents and the fact that their hands are tied when it comes to buying in beer.
I will let you know what the response is in this instance.

If I ever need to send a letter of complaint to anyone....I know who to ask for help lol x

Your place sounds lovely Errol :-) Is it run independently?

They don't do vegetarian food do they?

Don't worry,I wouldn't mistake herbs for my hair (long & red) lol

Errol, I agree. Unfortunately we have a dearth of independent pub restaurants in this area. have several B********s, Weatherspoons as I said before, B****** F****, H***** H****, H******** and other chains, off hand I can only think of a couple of independent. Mind you we have had very good meals in some of them.

Ann
Glos

Errol,I assume the Letter was sent to the MD.of the Company rather than the Manager of the Outlet.Hope so because it seems somebody needs a kick where it hurts. **M**.

Have had some good meals in Vintage Inns, some not so good but have also had awful meals at independents including one where we had a gorgeous steak and ale pie ruined by the fact it had been reheated in a microwave and came to the table like a damp flannel!....I will try most chains but not the one begining with a W...urgh

Ms Squirrel, yes it is independent - owned outright and we do cater for vegetarians too.
Merlin, I sent it direct to the head office.
Colin, what is a microwave?

lol Errol, its a fangled contraption that one uses when ones wife is working away!

Good for you Errol,the trouble is that lots of people will just not complain if things are,nt right. **M**.

Errol don't knock the microwave, they are very good for reheating Christmas Pudding!

Until recently my nephew was employed by a large pub chain in south of England. Although he was primarily head barman / relief manager, he often had to work (alone) in the kitchen. He is not a chef, does not have any food hygiene certs, and was never given much on the job training. The pub food consisted of steaks, pies etc. which were all shipped in and just re-heated, grilled or whatever. He said that, in some pubs, the actual chef left the kitchen in a filthy state and he ended up cleaning before he even started on the food!

I personally don't like chain places at all - we have a few very nice 'gastro' pubs around here - nice for a drink, but also with good restaurants, 'proper' chefs and an interesting menu - pricier, yes, but I'd rather have quality over quantity any day!

Unfortunately Merlin, sending a letter to the MD of a company does absolutely no good at all. All that MD does, without reading it, is pass it to the customer service or complaints department to deal with. After all, thats what he employs them to do.

A letter to head office of any chain will do the trick, as head office are not always able to keep close tabs on what their branches are doing at first hand, relying on reports etc. Errol did the right thing there.

Did you know that all these chains have 'secret shoppers' employed by their head offices to keep an eye on proceedings, so that will most likely be the next step in their dealings with the particular branch. Meanwhile it is very likely that Errol will received a meal voucher to compensate, and hopefully it can be spent in any branch of said pub chain, hopefully with a better experience.

These chains are run by managers, and a bad manager results in a bad branch, a good manager results in a good branch..

We must all visit Errol`s and check it out if he tells us where it is ,
Ros x

Hi Rosalyn,

In an ideal world, that would be lovely. However, if I were Errol I wouldn't like to give up my anonymity on this board to complete strangers. There's always people in life that would ruin things given the chance. They may not even post on these boards but they can view them and cause trouble.

He can pm his friends the address LOL
Ros xx