The Strafford Arms — Restaurant in Barnsley

Lovely looking pub with plenty of outdoor seating and large car park, very close to Wentworth Castle Gardens. Interior, though of very smart and modern decor, I found to be dark and slightly depressing as it is all 'greige'. Some staff were polite and pleasant. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options available. The chunky chips were reet grand, most enjoyable, but I found the 'Panzanella salad' very overpriced at £10.95 for what was basically a green salad. It looked nicely presented but £11..... There was a wait for my order to be taken, a wait for the food to arrive and, as seems a common occurrence from other reviews, no one bothered to come and ask if everything was ok, while bar staff were chatting and laughing together. I was sat in a corner and felt a bit forgotten about. I had been told by the chap at the 'pulpit lectern' at the entrance that my table was needed by 6pm. So I found it somewhat rich to be chivvied along and told my table was needed. I stated strongly that the only reason I was still sat where I was, was because of the long waits between service. If anyone had bothered to come and check, then they would have been informed of both the chipped platter and the waiting. The affable young barman (with quality tattoos and nice smile) did proffer, unprompted, to knock the price of the dessert off my bill, so that was handled satisfactorily. It's nice to give bouquets not just cricket bats in reviews, I like to be fair. What I found really unacceptable was the large white chip in the black bowl that the salad was served in, and it wasn't the edible kind of chip. It was a good centimetre long, was glaringly obvious and no way could it be missed by either the chef arranging the salad, nor by the shruggy waitress who served it. It seemed like a case of, that'll do, she won't notice. Wrong, it does not do, nor is it right, at any price, (never mind the pricey end) to serve food in chipped broken crockery. I felt the bowl would just be going back into the system, back into the washing up. Some staff need to be more attentive and need to change their shruggy response, paying a cold, unsmiling, mechanical, lip service apology which came across as arsey and insincere. I ate the hot chips first and then tipped the complete salad into the chip bowl as I was not eating out of a badly chipped bowl. Though the dessert I had was a miniscule portion with fresh berrieS (plural), it came with one raspberry and one strawberry cut in half (for £7.95!) but hats off, it was absolutely delicious. I could taste it the whole one hour drive home, totally yummy lemon and blueberry cheesecake. And, it has to be remembered that though overpriced for the size, I was given the dessert free of charge due to the waiting times. The chips and the dessert were pretty amazing, just a shame about the other issues, little things that need to be tweaked, but I still rate it 4 star. And the barman with the tattoos was a lovely, polite young chap. Get rid of the broken crockery and never assume that it will do or be ok, that's just lazy, serving a customer with that - even charity shops through away chipped,...

The Strafford Arms, looks like an upmarket pub/restaurant, and the menu is upmarket pub. Predominantly steaks. Quite pricey. I visited on a midweek night, having booked in advance. We had to wait by the front door as the staff were too 'busy' to address us. The first meet and great sets the tone, its essential you give it your all. These people set the tone alright. the tone was at best - you, the customer isn't important. We were shown to our table next to the serving hatch. A table for 2, Fi and me. With just one chair. The lady on the next table offered us one of their chairs. Remember this is an expensive steak restaurant. Yes remember, EXPENSIVE. I had a view into the kitchen. The chef had beautiful long blonde hair, flowing down her back. Not tied up out of the way. We ordered wine. When it eventual came the waiter sloshed it into our glasses and across the table. He made no effort to clean up the spillage. I watched a waitress 'nick' a french fry off a plate that was waiting to be served. Remember this is an EXPENSIVE steak restaurant. We ordered cheese for dessert they didn't have any. We moved to the comfier bar area to enjoy an after dinner Port and Baileys. We were told they had cashed up so we would have to pay cash as they couldn't take our card. The music was turned off just after 9pm. Some of the lights were turned off around 9.30pm. We finished our drinks and left when our taxi arrived, around 9.45pm. The only remaining visible staff member appeared to be the team leader, who was browsing on her phone in the corner. Remember this is an EXPENSIVE steak restaurant. Conclusion, the staff really don't want you, the customer, to waste their time by showing up in this restaurant. So do yourself a favour and head to the nearly Wortley Arms, in Wortley, where the staff are dressed smartly, are welcoming and the food is far...

Booked a meal for 6 people as part of my wife's 60th birthday celebrations, someone had kindly gave her an £80 voucher for the restaurant. We couldn't fault the servers or the dining room. The first problem was that we asked if the blue cheese risotto could be substituted for parmesan, which they said was not possible which, to me, suggested it was pre-made. I ordered the Gammon at £22. When it came I was hugely disappointed , I would estimate the size to be 8oz and to be fair it was cooked nicely, it was served with one garlic mushroom which was so dry it was inedible, French fries (skin on), which were not particularly appetising, cherry tomatoes, and an unbelievably limp pile of rocket. No egg or pineapple option. My wife had the steak which was cooked well but again, poor fries and the same inedible mushroom. The lamb cannon was good but the jus poor. Fish and chunky chips was overcooked, Beef stew - average and the hake loin (a little fishy) and crab cake was again a little disappointing. We mentioned to our server about the mushroom and rocket, which she said she would mention to the chef but we received no feedback. All in all the meal came to £260 (with 4 drinks each). It didn't warrant not paying for everything or asking for a discount but it was pretty close. We did leave a £10 top for out server as she was very polite and efficient. The blame lays entirely at the chefs and management for sending obviously substandard food out and not being accountable. The Keys at Hoyland and the Boatmans Rest in Birdwell offer much better food at significantly lower prices. I'm quite happy for the management to contact me for discussion. Unless things change we won't be visiting the...