Beefeater The Woolpack — Restaurant in Ashford

We've stayed at the Premier Inn Ashford North on several occasions, and we usually get the "meal deal" for dinner and breakfast at the attached Beefeater. There is a definite difference between the warmth of welcome at this Beefeater - which is rather cold - compared with the Beefeater down the road at the Eureka park - which is friendly and efficient.

Arriving for dinner recently we had to wait at the "wait to be seated" reception for quite a while. We were eventually placed at a table very close to large noisy family party - we've been there done that, so we had to ask to be moved. Given how busy the place was the service was fortunately quite prompt, albeit somewhat brusque.

At breakfast the following morning there were no pleasantries, instead we were interrogated on our room number and whether we had any allergies. And this was after yet another extensive wait in front of the "wait to be seated" sign, while several staff passed by and completely ignored us, until there was quite a queue building up behind us. A simple "someone will be with you in a moment" would have helped.

Although the service left something to be desired, the food at the Beefeater Ashford North was pretty good. For dinner we both had rump steak, mine cooked medium and the boss well-cooked, and we were both very happy. Desserts followed promptly, and my blackberry and apple crumble was very good. The drinks were also very acceptable - I had beer and the boss had lime and soda. The following morning the full English was also very good.

In summary you will eat quite well at the Beefeater Ashford North but you may not feel...

Nice little cosy looking pub/restaurant on the A20 with a premiere inn next to it if you are looking for somewhere to stay in the area.

We are local and have Come to the woolpack many times with no issues. Unfortunately on this visit there were issues. We ordered the steak surf and turf combi. Priced at £23.99 so fairly expensive.

The service did seem to be slower than usual, but when we entered it did seem to be more busy than usual.

When our mains came the first impressions were very disappointing. Portions were far from generous, presentation was of a low standard and calamari over cooked. It was far from the price that was being asked. There is a picture attached.

I asked to speak to a manager. Laura arrived promptly. I simply asked if she would pay £23.99 for the meal served to me. Added to this we had waited around 35mins from starter to mains. She agreed that it was not up to their usual standard. She offered to have the meals re done.

I appreciate that sometimes we do not get things right but how can you make it better when something goes wrong. Laura dealt with the situation very professionally and promptly and the whole team worked together to get it right. Although I put 3 stars for food the replacement was 5 but the portions were still a little low.

I could not fault all their efforts, this experience would not deter me from coming back and I would still reccomend.

Keep up the hard work...

A tall guy with a ponytail who is a manager threw the chair down for a elderly disabled women because I ask for a chair for her while we queue for a table, when we got a table I asked the women waitress how long will the food take she said it will be ready when it's ready, waited so long I told the waitress I have leave soon, the manager came over with the food and threw the plates on the table at us and said rudely it's ready, literally threw the plates on the table and walked off, I said na no way, I said I'm not eating food from someone after treating us like this and walked out never again, repeated CCTV footage but apparently it's not available hmmm, area manager backing his staff, head office, haven't offered anything as an apology, and are simply trying to palm it off, to treat a severely disabled elderly person in such a way is unforgettable and for head office to palm this off is a joke, if I known I would have filmed the whole tthing, like I said to head office from the beginning, send me the cctv that will back up everything I have said, yet it's not available, and it reqeasted to speak with a manager from head office or an area manager yet nobody want to talk to me, you will be exposed.

Shane on you as a big company and shame on you for trying to cover your workers, this company make me sick the way they have handled this, like I said over the phone will post this...