Freeman Arms — Restaurant in Borough of Spelthorne

I have been going with family and friends. For around 20 years. To the former Oaks pub. Usually once a week for lunch or dinner. Spending an average of £50/£60 Per visit. I knew all the previous staff and Managers.

Since the nice refurbishment. I invited friends for lunch, last month. Who have all been back since. Planning to meet a group of 15 colleagues. 27 November. None of whom have been there before. However after my bad experience 20 Nov. I have organised, another venue instead.

I went for an early family dinner. The food was okay. The food temperature could have been better. But it was okay. I ordered cappuccinos. To have after dinner. The coffee arrived. Regular black American style coffee. Tepid and tasted terrible. I went to the counter to ask for milk. Hoping that would maybe make a difference. The barman advised would be back in a moment. Still waiting 5 minutes later. The original barmaid came back. I mentioned how bad the coffee was. That we wanted cappuccinos black coffees. Which were now cold. The barmaid stated that I did not specify cappuccinos. So that was it! 2 conversations later. The employee made no offer of customer service. I brought the coffees back to the counter. Still no attempt was made to rectify. As we left disappointed with the outcome. The employee blatantly glared and spoke about us to the bartender.

I’ve travelled the world. Generally very tolerant. The thing that upset me the most! Not the money we wasted. On coffees left. It was the attitude and the fact that. I gave the employee the opportunity to resolve the issue. It would have been such simple task! There were options! Either refund us. Or give us the hot coffees we paid for. Such simple options!

Working in customer service industry over 40 years. I’m familiar with customer satisfaction. To ensure repeat customers business. Sadly in this case. For the sake of a few coffees. The Freeman’s Arms has lost my custom. Plus family, friends and colleagues. There are plenty of establishments in the area. After 20 years plus. I won’t be returning there.

I hope the Manager reads the reviews. If so I suggest your train your staff. On customer...

This place has improved immensely. Staff are friendly and there food is good. Good value for money.

02/09/2020 - Revisited.. It was my birthday, and decided to give this place another go.. And how disappointing it was.. The owner was clearly in a bad mood. My son and his wife and i, should of really turned around and walked out. As we walked in, we stood behind the line, only to be greeted and told to stand right back, in a rude manner, then we were asked if we had been in there before.. He seemed surprised when i said i had, and that i had made a booking.. If looks could kill then we would all be dead! Not to mention the food poisoning, i got from eating there that night! I have never been so ill! We were rudely told to stay away from the bar. He lead us to our table and told us the rules they had set out for the social distancing. We had to download an app to see the menu, and order and pay via the app. I was a very limited menu. I ordered Sirloin steak, buttered potatoes and a salad. And was charged full price in which i paid. When i received my meal, i was gobsmacked. 1 small piece of RUMP steak? a mouldy looking jacket potato? and some lettuce. No tomatoes or onions rings, nothing. I was told they had sold out of the things i had ordered and payed for. The lettuce was covered in a sour tasting sauce.. The lettuce was yellow! My son and his wife were given there food, they had burgers, but none of the trimmings they were expecting. I complained to a member of staff about my meal, and asked why they couldnt of told me that the food i had ordered had not been in stock. He just grinned and shrugged his shoulders! I was not offered a refund or anything. I felt obliged to stay and eat this poor meal, as i didnt want to disturb my son and his wife. I was actually scared of the manager! Just a word of warning to others.. The sauce on my lettuce apparently was Caesar dressing. It was so sour, i didnt realise it was off. I will never return there again. Worst...

We went for a last minute meal with our friends and all of our children; 4 adults and 4 children. It’s been a while since we have been but not sure we’ll be rushing back. We waited to be served at the bar for quite a while each time we went to order food or drinks, even with a few people serving behind the bar, but not very organised with covering the whole bar fairly. I understand we can order on the app as we were told this at one point but we couldn’t do this at the time (through no fault of Freeman Arms). There was a good selection of drinks and once we got served the member of staff behind the bar (a young girl) was friendly and efficient. Our food came out and had hairs in 2 out of the 4 dishes from our family, one of the dishes was almost more hair than food, when we raised the point to a member of staff he examined the plate as though we were lying, he saw the hairs and said he’d take it and replace it but we were concerned everyone else would have finished their food by the time a replacement was ready but this was disregarded, a replacement was made, luckily it had been through a strict hair removal procedure but this time the dish wasn’t complete with all the garnishes and seasoning; by this point everyone else had finished. The tables outside were very sticky and hadn’t been cleaned or cleared, attracting wasps, not trying to be picky as I think they need a deep clean. The toilets were clean and they had a massive screen to watch sports on out in the garden which was appreciated! Most importantly a really good group of people that were there at the...