The Country Girl — Restaurant in Birmingham

Utterly appalling General Manager.

Wish I could talk about the quality of the food or drink, but we never even got to sit down...

Knowing it can be very busy after the Bourneville lights switch on we"d got a group together and booked ahead far in advance...a table of 8 including 2 high chairs as we have toddlers; booked and confirmed... Or so we thought.

We turn up in good time to find indeed we're correct to have thought ahead, all the tables are reserved. Worryingly not a single table of 8, or high chair in sight.

After a couple of laps of the pub and trying to keep pushchairs out the way, it's obvious our pre-booked and confirmed table doesn't exist. We ask at the bar about it...

The GM grabs the tablet and from the look in her eye it's very clear there's been a cock up and our table has been forgotten about... rather than communicate this she walks off and walks round and round clearly trying to will tables into existence... Two attempts to ask what's going on are ignored as our toddlers; tired and hungry begin to kick off.

At the third attempt I'm rudely told it's not her fault, clearly someone has sat at our table and removed the board... Interesting considering there's no such table of 8 at all. I ask politely why she doesn't simply tell said (non existent) table to politely move, because it's a reservation, and moving the board doesn't change that.. this is something I've had to do MANY times in my 18 years in hospitality...

I'm rudely and in a raised voice, in front of my partner and under 2 year old son, told it's not going to happen, that this happens every day and I have no idea how this actually works (clearly not aware I've run bigger premises) and I'm the problem and HOW DARE I ASK WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE TABLE WE ADVANCED BOOKED AFTER BEING IGNORED FOR 20 MINUTES.

She then literally turns and walks off. No attempt to sort it out or even apologise... Just leaves.

Now I can see she's stressed so when I finally re catch her eye I attempt to apologise (despite doing nothing wrong), I understand to be human is to error, but no, this non existent table of 8 including high chairs is definitely being sat on by non existent customers who cannot be asked to move and me asking about it is proof I am absolute scum, or so I'm made to feel...

At this point my partner points out that if removing a reservation sign from a table is fair game then surely we could and should do the same...to which said GM sweeps the nearest sign and shrieks FINE SIT THERE before storming off a third time...

By this point it's very clear we're not welcome and far from apologising the GM decides to shoot daggers from her eyes at my partner and little boy... Well I'd had enough, I told her I ALSO did not like being spoken to in such a way (again all I'd done is ask where our pre-booked table was and why it wasn't honoured) and that frankly , the situation had been appallingly handled.

Had she simply told us: I'm so sorry, we've missed your booking, here's maybe a free drink at the bar or some form of apology and compensation, again something I've had to do many times in my 2 decades in hospitality, then we'd have accepted.

Instead I was blamed for her mistake, shouted at, and embarrassed in front of my friends, partner and child because she'd very clearly made a mistake.

Non of us will be going ever again... I am appalled at her behaviour and insulted.

If you can't manage, you shouldn't be a...

The steak in the mixed grill was so overcooked I could not cut into it even with a steak knife so it was left on my plate and not eaten. There was also a man very drunk shouting at the woman he was with, he had to be asked to leave by the staff. With the man’s behaviour and the steak I couldn’t eat not the best of evenings. No one bothered to ask how our food was either, plus it was a birthday meal we were out for that evening.

Decided to give the pub another chance and went back last week on 26th March 24, as the not so great experience I had here previously was December of last year so thought probably just a one off but sadly No. This time 2 adults (myself included) and my 12 yr old son who is Autistic went in around 6-6.30pm for Dinner. The meals came out all together but young waiter was very confused insisted they were not our meals, then when I said they were ours he then said no they can’t be there’s no cutlery I pointed out it was in front of him on the table he then put food down and stared into space before apologising saying he didn’t know what was wrong with him today. My curry I had ordered was cold so took it up to the bar and was told sorry it would be replaced- within 5 mins I had a curry brought back out but Not a fresh new one but the same one I had started eating before as I could see where I had torn a piece off the naan bread to try it, the curry had chicken in it yet staff thought it perfectly fine to reheat it twice which call me silly is a potential health n safety risk🤔. I ate the curry as I had paid around £40 for the meals with drinks and didn’t want to upset my son as with my boy being Autistic things like this can irritate him and cause him to have a meltdown. Roll on 24 hrs later and I suffered a very upset stomach 😬. Not a great experience at all yet thought it would be better this time as we had not been back since last December but sadly it was worse. Such a shame for a lovely looking local pub but I won’t be giving it a third chance, in future will take my custom to the Red Lion or...

The pub itself is lovely and in a nice location. However everything else leaves a lot to be desired. I understand there are nationwide food shortages I work for a pub company working within stock so I am fully aware However the experience here was not good. We ordered a chicken wrap, to be told that they had no wraps (something easily bought from local shop) however when we asked if we could have this on a sandwich instead we were told this wasn't possible. So we changed the order and returned to our table. Cutlery and sauces were bought out, a minor thing but1 starter and 4 meals on the ticket, 3 serviettes bought out. Wings came out and then when these were cleared within seconds our mains were bought out. This to me means that these were sat under the hotlights waiting and not made fresh. The carbonara is a tiny portion with no garlic bread on the side, so if you order this make sure you have a starter or order garlic bread. The steak sandwich, was asked for medium and this was closer to well done, again highlighting the fact that these were left under lights. The buttermilk chicken burger was awful! The bun was burnt, the chicken was burnt and was horrifically dry to the point that when you broke it up it pulled off in stringy strips. We finished our food, daughter left over half her burger, there was no check back after food received, we sat for 15 minutes after finished and used the toilets before leaving without plates being cleared or any further contact with staff. The place was steady but certainly not what I would call busy and mainly customers were drinking as opposed to eating so this lack of service is highly unacceptable. Extremely disappointing with such a nice location and a really good menu offering to experience such poor service, or actually lack of any service and disappointing...