The Tramway, Cleveleys — Restaurant in Borough of Wyre

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE

Took my friend and his partner for lunch here today as he lost his dad this week and we wanted to treat him. He and I ordered what was described as the “Meat-free carvery” which being veggie we took to mean the vegetarian option, since we noticed there was plant-based chicken available and it was only a couple of pounds cheaper than the meat carvery option.

Went up to the carvery and explained we were having the plant-based chicken, openly and publicly mocked by the man behind the carvery about being meat-free, who then also proceeded to refer to the option as “wot, that weird fungussy substance” laughing away. He let the two of us fill our plates with veg and acted like he’d gone to the back to order our non-meat option. We stood around for ten minutes whilst the rest of our plate of food went cold. Only for some other man to come out of the back and say we couldn’t have it and the woman at the till should have given us a ticket. This went on for a bit with both men acting in an accusatory manner like we were in the wrong for not having something the woman at the till should apparently have got us. I said three times finally that as I didn’t work there I didn’t know what they were talking about. After clarifying that the “Meat-free carvery” actually consisted of just a plate of veg I said that wasn’t made clear from the menu and in that case we would leave it as that was really poor considering the meal was only very slightly cheaper than the main carvery meal, for basically a spoonful of peas and carrots.

I returned to our table, where our other two friends were eating. A small grey-haired woman with a pixie-cut came over and I learned she was the manager. She demanded to know what the issue was. When I explained why I wasn’t happy and that I wanted a refund, she seemed to use it as an excuse to cause a public scene and began arguing with me about what a non-meat meal should be expected to consist of. I repeated a couple of times that I just wanted a refund for our two meals and she carried on arguing the toss, even coming around to my side of the table to wave the menu in my face and demanding I read it. When I told her I wasn’t interested and could she just sort the refund as I was now really annoyed about being berated so publicly and condescendingly, she then had a go at me saying if I was going to speak to her and her staff like this she would eject me from “her” pub. I said I was not prepared to listen to her argue and repeated again I just wanted the refund, explaining too that it was proving upsetting and why we’d brought my friend for lunch so I just wanted a close to the matter. She then barged off to get it but kept turning to glare at me as she was walking away and the look on her face was deliberately aggressive as if she was trying to get me to react. It was really bizarre. She then returned a bit later, slammed cash down on the table and said sarcastically “there’s your refund” and stormed off. Again as she walked off she was doing the same odd, aggressive back-looking as before.

The whole thing was completely awful, and especially on a day when it meant much more for us all to be able to have a quiet meal together. It really upset us all. I ended up walking down to the local Wetherspoons with my friend and I was never more relieved to be away from somewhere.

They need to be clearer on their menu set out, the price needs to be fairer on the veggie option and the staff need to be more courteous. Overall though, that manager needs to not be in that industry. She’d be more suited to a borstal somewhere remote and uninviting. Awful woman. Judging by how empty it was at lunchtime on a Saturday it appears that perhaps she’s been sharing her people “skills” with other unsuspecting clientele in...

We go to the Tramway regularly for breakfasts and carverys. The food is always good, the bar & kitchen staff are lovely, smiling, happy and chatty, however this is not the case for the manager. Well I presume she is the manager as she talks down to people and the rest of the staff stay silent as she talks rudely to paying customers. Twice now she has made me, my wife and our family feel very unwelcome. The first time we simply came in, paid for our order at the bar and found seats. Towards the end of our meal she came over to have a go at us for sitting at our table, saying it was booked/reserved. The pub was literally a 3rd full with loads of seating, there was no reserved sign on the table and no staff had mentioned this, in fact they just said grab a seat. She was extremely rude and started explaining her rules for attending the pub, which no one else, even her staff by the looks of it, were aware of. Then again today. At breakfast the same women shouted at my wife infront of many customers and staff for using a clean plate for my sons waffle and syrup. She wanted my wife to use one that had had beans and sausage residue on it. She gave my wife a taking down to about doing something logical that had zero impact on cost as we had already paid for 3 people. These are extremely bad examples of customer service. It was clear to see in all faces in attendance that she has made everyone there feel uncomfortable, staff, customers and our family alike. I presume, due to the looks on staffs faces, that this happens regularly. Some people will just shrug it off whilst others it may really hurt. Maybe this women should put her petty pointless rules aside, go on a Customer Service course and learn to be kind. And as you can see from her reply that she is more interested in HER RULES which no one else knows about, not the customers or the staff. So unless you are a psychic with a rude demeanor you're not going to understand or accept this strange person. Shouts at and puts down staff and customers, doesn't even realise or accept that that's a bad thing, instead she bangs on about her hidden rules. There truly is no helping some people, but to show I am actually trying to help, here's an idea.....all these silly rules you have, why not write them all out and hand them to people as they come in? If they are unsure you could then spend 10 minutes explaining them thoroughly in an angry voice, telling them how wrong they are and how special and right you are, like you did to my wife this morning when she simply used a clean plate. I am confident this will help you as a person and...

We’ve been attending the Tramway sporadically for years, and I was a regular visitor as far back as 25 years ago when the soft play existed. Rarely had any issues until recently.

Firstly, the atmosphere was good. There were families and couples spread around the venue and the staff were polite. There was no queue for food and we were served immediately. There is also a car park which is plenty big enough and parking is free of charge. The venue offers indoor and outdoor seating.

However in the last 3 months we have attended twice. On both occasions the orders have been served to us incorrectly and with some of the food cold. The first time we informed a staff member and the cold food was replaced with warm food, albeit then served after others had finished theirs.

Most recently we ordered and it was once more served to us not as ordered. We ordered the ‘simply cheeseburger’ and asked for it plain and to ‘go large’. I saw the staff member remove the items when inputting this into the till and she even wrote just cheese as a note. The burger then came with lettuce, sauce etc when that wasn’t how it was ordered. We also queried the amount of burgers present as it had 2 burgers on it. The Simply burger describes itself as 2 burgers as standard and if you pay £2.00 to go large, you still only get 2 burgers. It makes no sense whatsoever. I’m not sure what we paid £2 extra for. When the plain burger did arrive 5 minutes later it returned with the original chips that were accompanying the original unordered burger. These were by that point cold and some were hard in the centre. The table beside us had the same conversation regarding the chips and chose not to eat them. We then queried where the side portion of chips were and whether we could have some sauces. The side of chips came a further 6 minutes afterwards and the sauces did not arrive at all sadly. In terms of taste, the food is very basic. Over recent years the quality has certainly dropped off. The standard of pizza and chips especially. The meat within the burgers were similar to what is typically served in a town centre takeaway.

There are other pub options in the area. The Tramway does offer a baby bowl at 99p, consisting of a Yorkshire pudding and as much veg as required. The pricing fantastic, as to be fair are the prices of...