The Pig & Sty — Restaurant in Ashford

Phoned in advance to book a table for 2 ppl on Thursday for 7:30 was told, really abruptly, by a male that it couldn’t be guaranteed as they had a lot of large table bookings & we may have to sit in the bar We took a chance & turned up as bar area where I’ll be fine for us or we didn’t mind sitting outside etc

Upon arrival car park & restaurant very empty with loads of free tables inside and out. In fact, throughout entire evening place never got more than half full so no idea why the man had tried to put us off on the phone earlier and wouldn’t allow us to book?

Staff shortages maybe or just didn’t want a full restaurant on a Thursday night as they had a couple of 8 ppl tables so would be busy? No idea???

We were seated in the main restaurant and waited a while to be served a drink then a further hour to get our main meal eventually at 08:50

Food was great if a tad over priced but very tasty

We asked to drink our coffees outside at one of many free tables & got told by the tall man who we’d spoken to on the phone earlier that we’d need to pay for the entire meal as they get loads of ppl running away without paying which was more a little awkward…. But we asked for the bill & a 20% discretionary charge for service at nearly £8 had been added so we asked for its removal much to the man’s disgust!!

We paid and gave £10 cash tip and asked the man for a fiver back which we didn’t get. We had to ask a young female waitress for our fiver again when we was leaving which was embarrassing as he clearly wanted to keep the whole £10 tip dispute doing his best to make us feel unwanted guests from the initial phone call.

Maybe a 10% surcharge might be more in line as the food is pricey or give the customer the option to pay a tip based on the “service” received which in our case wasn’t great… the man made us feel very unwelcome and didn’t seem to enjoy his job at all

I’m pretty sure a lot of people would not have just turned up on the off chance given his off handed phone manner when we tried to book which he refused to do on the phone. This man is the reason for my low 3 stars & needs some customer care training for sure. He’s in the in hospitality industry so a smile...

Rather disappointing, really. We were sat in the bar area as we had a dog with us. We ordered our drinks at sat at the table (that was actually quite small and was very deep underneath, meaning it was difficult to get your legs under). We had to order our second round of drinks ourselves as no one came to ask if we wanted more. Someone came and took our food order. We had to go and order our 3rd round, including wine ourselves as waiters didn't enter our area. Starters came and were very nice, fresh, good tasting food, it must be said. Two of us orederd the roast dinner for mains and two ordered non roast food. The mains took a while to arrive, which we didn't mind as we weren't in a rush. The roast was very good in flavour but unfortunately not even very warm and with a cold yorkshire pudding. I would have told a member of staff, but they never came back around. The other two mains were excellent and made us wish we hadn't had the roast ( which at £22 we were expecting to be amazing). Had to go order more drinks ourselves, and we had to clear the table as well, as staff were non-existent. I then had to go find a member of staff to ask for a desert menu. After a while, I had to go back and ask for someone to take our desert order, at which point I asked if they were short staffed as the service in our area had been appalling. Whilst waiting for our desert, a staff member did come to the table and apologised for the lack of service. Deserts were very good. Overall we did have a good meal but just rather underwhelmed with the service, when 4 people have booked in for lunch and spent £340, one would have thought that being a bit more attentive wherever they sat would more appropriate. We're not sure if it was because we were in the bar area as we had a dog that waiting staff don't come to the table there or not, as no one said otherwise. Generally just a bit deflated as our expectations were high after having eaten here before and being very impressed. It must be said that all the staff we spoke to were very nice and all were very friendly.

Update. I emailed you as...

We booked a Botanical shack for Mother’s Day, which in itself was lovely (aside from it being dirty with food and cutlery on the floor but it was a busy day). We had booked the shack for 7pm and was seated and drinks ordered really swiftly. We ordered our starters and mains and all our starters were incredible, so delicious we all enjoyed them. This is when it went downhill for us, our Mains arrived just gone 9.15pm which is very late with a child in our group. The steak was ordered well done and it came very rare, the blood oozed out onto the plate. We were offered another one which was the same one cooked more which was great only to cut it and it was very pink. Completely put off one of our party. Steak meal remained untouched. Then the gnocchi, wow it was horrendous! So tasteless, cold and like chewing rubber. Only a small amount of the meal was eaten. With it being so late we didn’t bother ordering dessert with was disappointing. We weren’t charged for the Steak meal nor the gnocchi but they weren’t touched anyway. Overall we were gutted as it was Mother’s Day and was meant to be a lovely treat but so disappointed. Didn’t receive the Mother’s Day gift each Mum was meant to either. All of that being said the Staff were amazing and so apologetic, the shack is a great experience and the Chapel down wine was incredible. Pubs really do need to learn to execute what they are advertising and not overbook themselves out so much that the kitchen can’t cope. The knock on is on...