Toby Carvery Cocket Hat — Restaurant in Aberdeen City

It actually saddens me to have to leave this review but it has to be said. My wife and I are big Toby Carvery fans and have visited their restaurants all over the UK. This one however, used to be our “local” as it was the nearest to our home, and over the past few years we have visited regularly. Our visit yesterday will sadly be our last though, because we can’t ignore the poor service and dried up food any longer. I had turkey which was so dry it would have probably shattered if I had dropped it on the floor. It was only made edible by bursting through the skin on the gravy and covering it with it. As for the sides on the carvery deck… the stuffing was dry, hard and all congealed, there was a skin over the stewed onions, the sauce on the macaroni was very watery, there was sweetcorn (which I’ve never seen at Toby before), which was all dried up horrible looking, the peas were shrivelled up and the carrots were so dried up they were inedible. The roast potatoes, and cauliflower were acceptable. Now you may think this review is an exaggeration but believe me it’s not. We didn’t complain, because what would they have done…replaced the whole carvery deck just like that? We will just not come back and are leaving this honest review to warn others. In truth, this particular Toby has been slowly going down hill for some time now and we just kept visiting hoping it would get better, but eventually you have to admit enough is enough…

*My reply to owner response * Thank you for replying. I’m not taking up you’re offer because our experience of your restaurant wasn’t a one off. As I stated, your restaurant has (sadly), been going downhill for some time, and I don’t think it’s going to improve as a result of speaking to you on the phone. There is obviously some sort of staffing problem that’s not going away. Whilst trying to eat my meal I actually watched a member of your staff look over/poke with the serving spoons, the vegetables on the carvery deck and she did not remove / replace any of them whilst I was watching. If your staff cannot tell that the food on offer is all dried up and looking like it’s been sat drying out under hot lights for who knows how long, I’m afraid speaking to me is not...

Carvery was decent and we enjoyed the meal, good value for the price. Dined on a Saturday 6th Sept in the evening at approx 6.30pm and though we booked there did not appear to be a shortage of tables. Under 6s menu seemed a bit rubbish but thats a chain decision - Cost £8 for some nuggets, salad sticks and a fruit shoot. Thinking back I'm not sure if our toddler was also allowed to have stuff off the veg/potatoes but of the carvery for that price - the waitress did not explain if so? After a recent refurb, the place looks a lot nicer and more welcoming. The staff member seemed a bit inexperienced and was in such a rush they didn't really appear to listen very well. Entering with my partner and a small child, the waitress steamed ahead to show us to our table, only I managed to keep up as my partner was walking with our toddler. She then asked for our drinks order whilst my partner and child were still 10m from the table. I had to decline to order immediately as I didn't know what they wanted. It took her 10 minutes to return which was a tad frustrating as if she'd hung about another 30 seconds until we were all seated we could have just put in our drinks order. Later we had asked for her the bill, only for her to return 5 mins later and ask us again if we wanted the bill. I presume the place is short-staffed given she was in such a rush. We had asked her if the under 6 meal included a drink and she had said yes and pointed at the menu but we later realized it was not included - it did feel like she wasn't really listening. Otherwise her attitude was perfectly pleasant so I can only assume a lack of experience on her part and perhaps being short staffed meaning she was in a rush. Overall some issues I'm sure management could easily resolve with some training...

Myself and my family went to the Cocket Hat for our Christmas dinner.

First off, I have to say that the service was great and the waiting staff were really friendly and helpful. The food, however, was not great considering the cost per head.

The melon in the starter was hard and the peashoots were very wilted and dry, definitely not fresh. We only got one thin slice of melon, which didn't compared to the serving size of the other starters. The baked camembert tasted greasy like it had been fried rather than baked, but otherwise was okay. The soup was good.

The main carvery was good, however a lot of the sides were either undercooked (cauliflower in cheese sauce), or were cold and stodgy (potato dauphinoise and Yorkshire puddings). I would have loved to have brussel sprouts, but they had been cooked with large chunks of bacon and I'm vegetarian. I asked a server who said they could get me some cooked without bacon, but that it would take some time and so I didn't bother. The meat looked reasonable and everyone who had meat at the table said it was well cooked and tasty.

The desserts were a bit of a letdown. The icecream sundaes were basically vanilla ice cream with some fudgy bits, a wafer and a malteasers reindeer on top, the billionaires bar was nice, but teeth meltingly sweet (another table next to us didn't eat theirs after trying a nibble). The Christmas pudding seemed nice and the people who had that at our table enjoyed it.

Overall it venue was good, the staff were helpful and nice, but the food was subpar and I would have expected better for the...