Malt Shovel — Restaurant in Bradford

I was one of a party of 24 people having our group Christmas lunch yesterday. We had booked several weeks earlier for 1pm and provided details of our choices from the menu. 21 people were having the turkey dinner. 2 the steak and 1 person a pie. You would imagine therefore, that it was not a difficult task to provide the food in a timely manner at the right temperature. The starters should have been brought out at 1.15 when everyone had drinks and were seated and waiting. Instead, after several requests, we were presented with them around 2pm!!. Things then went downhill from there. The turkey dinners finally appeared around 3pm but they were cold and several of the items were overcooked. The three people who had ordered steaks and a pie, of which I was one, were kept waiting even longer! How long does it take to grill a steak for goodness sake? I had to go and move my car, which had a two hour limit on the parking, and when I returned, my meal had still not appeared! I had an appointment at four so rushed the food down so I could leave at 3.35. Other people were left finishing their desserts until 4pm!! Incidentally, these desserts were woefully substandard too. Do you think it it appropriate to leave 24 people waiting for around 2 hours for a meal that was booked well in advance? Do you think one person working the bar and waitressing as well is adequate staffing? Finally, has the person in the kitchen actually got any catering qualifications or experience? I am booked in once more with another group on the 20th December. I am in dread that the same situation will happen again!!! Please address these totally preventable...

We are not regular visitors, calling perhaps three or four times a year. When we called a month or two back we were told they were not serving food - it seems the reason was they had a big order to get out?

Called today (just before 12.30) and requested the fish platter. Was told they had to check it was still on as it might be frozen - it was still on but it would be half an hour. We changed the order to the cumberland sausage - I was not informed there would be a wait for that as well.

After half an hour I queried the delay with our second choice meal. I was told it would be another ten minutes! It wasn't particularly busy.

We asked for, and got, our money back.

It's a shame as we have enjoyed a few meal there...

A lovely quaint little place. I'm in baildon for a couple of weeks and I'm glad to find the Malt. I'm taken with this place very quickly. A very warm welcome from Will behind the bar. He is a very genuine and welcoming host along with a lovely mannered young lady behind the bar. Have been here a couple of nights and the meals were lovely and nicely presented. I think they will see a lot of me in next couple of weeks. A well run place by friendly people. Absolutely worth a visit......( Chris..table 11...