Toby Carvery Bradford — Restaurant in Bradford

I paid for room hire for a special 18th birthday celebration, so disappointing. The service was bad, absolutely shockingly bad!

I requested a sit down meal, nothing was set up when I arrived, I spent the first 20 minutes dragging cumbersome tables that did not fit together, a young member of staff offered to help bless her, but she looked run ragged.

The tv in the room didn't work so we couldn't play music which made for a pretty stale atmosphere. They did not mention this when I booked or else I would have made alternative arrangements for music.

They got the number of guests wrong, name on the booking wrong, everything wrong. Nothing was set up for the vegans so we had to ask for something. We were told 'They can order from the menu or can eat the vegetables'. They did reluctantly bring some vegetarian potatoes and gravy when asked.

Nobody came in to take our drinks order so we had to go searching for people and they did not look happy about that. You couldn't get a more miserable looking bunch of staff if you tried. It really did put a downer on things and made people feel uncomfortable to ask. People had to leave the room and go to the bar to order drinks while their food went cold.

The customer service in general left a lot to best desired. Staff were curt and sullen and looked miserable the whole time. Couldn't be bothered, didn't want to be there. I understand you are busy but there are nicer ways to say things. We shouldn't have to hunt you down, and not in an empty restaurant. You're supposed to be providing a service.

Condements were brought in after we'd finished eating. Piles of dirty plates were left sitting on the table and were still there when we left. Not one person came in to wait on us the whole time we were there!

No ventilation in the room so the room was uncomfortable, hot and humid and more warm air was pumped in via a heater. We kept having to leave for air as windows don't open. I'd suggest investing in a fan which obviously we asked for one but were dismissed as 'The room gets cold'.

What they failed to mention is the function room gives access to the storage room, so staff were continually hurrying in for supplies and carrying jumbo packs kitchen towels etc above the guests heads. No words were exchanged like sorry or excuse me, or even a joke to lighten the atmosphere. The staff seemed annoyed we were there. I felt embarrassed by the whole spectacle. It was a total shambles!

After an hour I'd had enough and was ready to leave so I asked for the birthday cake to be lit and was told NO! We persisted. A different staff member kindly lent us his personal lighter. We asked for a knife to cut the cake, surprise suprise, 'No we don't have knives, you'll have to use a butter knife!'

The whole night was a shambles and embarrassing, the place is clearly not set up for functions. Despite all of this we made the most of our evening but we quickly left and made a vow to never return, not to this venue anyway. It's such a shame as 4 years ago I had a lovely birthday meal here and it was such a different experience. I know we're in a cost of living crisis but niceties costs nothing. I'm not sure this business will continue to operate in a year if things don't drastically improve.

Edit to add, I'm happy to see a response, albeit a generic one. But my number is on the booking (April 12th) and if you're serious about putting things right you could have reached out to me,...

Not great, when we arrived at the restaurant we were shouted at to go find was seat from behind the bar. We found a table and were offered drinks quite quickly. That's where the good stuff ended. We went for our carvery and it was dry dry dry. The veg was so overcooked I could have used a spoon. The decor looked like the staff had painted it as the window frames beautiful wood were covered in white paint. After taking our plates we were asked about desserts. We said yes we wanted desserts and the waitress said ok I will be right back. After waiting patiently for over 10mins she finally came back and we ordered. 5mins passed and she came back and said that they had no ingredients for my banoffee sundae as it's new on the menu. Surely that means they should have all of the ingredients. When my husband had finished his dessert it was a further 10mins before anyone came and asked if we wanted our bill and that was only because I was looking around and checking my watch. Mitchell and Butler's need to look at their customer service as it is so lacking these days. We were weekly visitors but it has been 3 months since we last came due to this and we probs won't be back. We now go to Frankie and Benny's and although it costs more it's a great experience every time.

So did what I was asked and called for 4 days but no answer, I decided to pop in and speak to someone but no-one even knew about this. What's the point in asking me to call then no one answering. When I came in they weren't even busy. We thought we would give it another go as sometimes things happen and that could have been a 1 off. This time we were greeted well but again this is where it went wrong. I pulled my shirt on a chair button with no cover and a huge chip out of my plate, photo's attached. My food again was mostly flat cold although my cauliflower was hot and not overcooked this time. The beef was fatty and the gammon salty. No one came to check on us until we had virtually finished our meals and all we were told was sorry. The server was lovely but I still had to eat my food off a chipped plate and ruined my shirt. I am not trying to be critical but surely there has to be temp controls in place even if they do order cheap and not so tasty meat. Maybe someone can let me know when a good time to call is cos no one has been answering my...

June 2018. Can't beat the price for what you get. And lots of it too. Tables and carpets could be cleaner. Toilets are pretty gross...avoid if possible..(. they rarely have soap). I frequent this place for a cheap but wholesome working lunch once a month. 3 starts given. Update . 14.3.19 dropped my score to 1 star I visited Toby again ...I usually visit once a month or so....I was appalled at my treatment today by the manager, a young man who was very rude and dismissive. My friend and I only wanted to have a portion of soup for our lunch but they only had one portion left so I had that and my friend had another small dish instead. That came as half a portion as they have run out of the product and I was served have a bowl of tinned tomato soup with two extremely tiny round pieces of very hard bread, which were not much bigger than the portion of butter, which shows how small this bread was. It was a joke of a portion - both the soup and the bread ..I took photos to show had a bowl of tinned soup to which they'd added cream, using the butter portion as a guide for size. I'm guessing the kitchen tried to bulk out the soup as tinned tomato soup is pure red (manager told me it was tinned soup). I returned the food, rejecting it on account of it being a total disappointment, to be told by the manager that it was the normal portion size. That's not true as my previous review photos show... the bowl in which the soup is served is a pretty small one by anyone's standards so to be served with only it being half full and 2 coin size pieces of hard bread is just ridiculous. I was really upset that the manager dismissd the fact that I explained to him I am a regular visitor and know what I have had before. he said 'i haven't seen you before'. Rudeness does not credit any business and only serves to upset and disappoint customers. The Toby Carvery maybe a cheap place to go for an easy lunch but even still, good customer service should not be compromised. I hope that the regional office sees my comments and cares enough to prevent this kind of recurrence...