The Potting Shed Café & Restaurant — Restaurant in Bromsgrove

I visited the Potting shed a few days ago with my son and friend. Upon arrival we were not initially acknowledged by staff however a lady with her back to us, working on a laptop turned round and greeted us. I asked if there was availability for 3 and she replied yes just sit anywhere. She then said the menus at the front of the shop and there are specials on the specials board at the back of the shop. Although plenty of seats we were then told we couldn’t sit where we wanted because they were closing off part of the shop for cleaning. This was at 2pm on a Saturday. Not close to closing time. We sat down and after getting our own menus we sat for around 5mins deciding on food. I went up to the counter first ordered a “Turkey club sandwich “ and asked what lattes they offer. The lady then said the coffee machine was broken so all I could be offered were a filter coffee or tea. Why were we not told this on arrival? I also ordered my son cod and chips off the kid menu. When it came it was chicken strips so had to be send back. Then my food came. It was a turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, Brie and salad on a sandwich. This was not what I expected a “Turkey club sandwich” to be. Maybe a festive turkey club sandwich ? If that was what it was called I wouldn’t of ordered. I don’t like cranberry sauce or Brie !!! After already sending my sons food back to the kitchen I just ate my chips and left the whole sandwich.A young waitress took our food when we finished. She returned to ask if there was anything wrong with the food. I said that it wasn’t what I expected maybe it should of been advertised as a festive sandwich as I thought calling it a club sandwich was totally misleading. The girl simply responded “oh ok” and reported back to the kitchen. For this I give this place two stars for service and food! The fact we were asked to find our own seats and pick our own menus threw me as when I’ve been in the past you were always seated by staff and they were very friendly and attentive. If I’m honest it’s been a year since I last visited only because the time before we were rudely turned away and it put me off. I thought after a year maybe it would have been different buh I was sadly very disappointed. This isn’t a cheap place to eat if I was visiting a Wetherspoons I would expect to sit myself and pick my own menu. I also thought we should have been made aware the coffee machine was broken when we arrived although we weren’t even properly attended to so for those reasons I won’t be returning. Such a shame it used to be a properly run business with friendly and enthusiastic staff. I don’t normally leave reviews but hopefully this will encourage them to take action and make it a nice place to...

So, first time here, went for lunch with my friend for my birthday as we don’t get to catch up often. I shall not be returning, my take away from this place is rude management. I asked for a cheese and pickle sandwich (asked for the ham not to be on it) came out and they had added chicken. I told them I was vegetarian so could they please make me a fresh one with just the cheese and pickles that I had originally ordered. Waited 25 minutes for a replacement and when it came it was again not what I had asked for. Gave me vegan cheese, hummus, beetroot and pickle. I bit into it and it was horrible so I asked the waitress for a refund as it had been made wrong twice now. She was very apologetic and offered us a free drink as an apology and a full refund (only for my sandwich) when we went in at the end, the manager came over and said it’s not their policy to hand our refunds when I’d messed them around and had two sandwiches. When I pointed out that I had chicken put on that I did not want or ask for her reply was “well did you even tell us you were vegan” I again said, I am not vegan but vegetarian. She said well if you do not inform us then how should we know. I asked for a sump cheese and pickle sandwich and she was insinuating it was my fault they’d added chicken aa I did not tell them originally that I did not eat meat. She said that she would not refund me anything aa it was my own fault. The poor waitress then told her that I had said I was vegetarian and she walked away just leaving us standing there. She came back about five minutes later and said, I’ve spoken to my manager and on this occasion we will refund the sandwich but we will not do this for you again because you have messed the kitchen around. I asked how I had done this by just ordering a simple sandwich and the kitchen got it wrong. She was rude and quite passive aggressive with us. She then looked at the waitress and, in front of us said, and I’ll be having words with you once they’ve gone, highly unprofessional and I felt so sorry for her as she was trying her best to be kind and rectify their mistake. I dread to think how she was treated after we’ve left. Awful experience and will 100% never set foot inside there again. My friend actually has a booking for a large group this weekend but is cancelling because of the treatment of us by this lady. Maybe some training in customer service and basic human compassion may...

Date visited 7th February. Arrived on time for our afternoon tea to be greeted by a lady (blond hair in pony tail) who marched over to the stand with a miserable face to be abruptly asked “have you booked” No hello or friendly welcome. When I said we had she looked on her screen huffed that she needed to lay a table and walked off. Once she had laid the table she pointed to the table with her head and said “you can sit there”. Now if I didn’t have two afternoon tea gift vouchers I would have walked back out because this lady had a serious attitude problem. So really I was stuck there, having to use up the vouchers. A dark bobbed hair lady approached, marginally more friendly and asked if anyone had asked us what we wanted to drink. As no one had she took our orders. After a 25 minute wait our afternoon teas arrived. Well we were both underwhelmed. Vegetarian sandwiches were two fingers of egg mayonnaise (I bit into mine and first bite found egg shell. Horrible!) and the others were made up of different cheeses. Surely the cook could come up with something more imaginative. Scone warmed through but as it cooled was quite clearly stale. All the other cakes we not pleasant. Orange cake which also tasted of almonds. Not a great combination. Biscuits and chocolate slice with mint icing on top. Again not nice at all. Mini flapjack was the best. I ended up taking the leftover cakes home but couldn’t face eating them so they ended up in the bin. Luckily my gift vouchers paid for the meal as had I had to have paid the teas would have gone straight back with a complaint. Poor experience all round and I will not recommend nor return to the potting shed. I feel sorry for my friend who paid for the give vouchers as she clearly...