Beefeater Millers Barn — Restaurant in Broxtowe

The experience at this restaurant on Christmas Day was nothing short of a drawn-out disappointment, marred by inefficiency and subpar service. From the moment we arrived, the cracks in their organisation were glaringly evident.

Having booked a table for 12:30 pm, we arrived shortly after noon and informed the staff of our presence. Despite reiterating—both at the time of booking and again at payment—that we required a ground-floor table due to elderly family members with mobility challenges, we were initially directed to the top floor. This oversight began a two-hour ordeal of waiting, during which updates were sparse and the promised accommodation never materialised. While the offer of apology drinks was appreciated, it did little to compensate for the frustration of such a long delay, with our party only being seated at 3 pm—nearly three hours after our scheduled time.

Once seated, further issues arose. Despite our insistence on a table with step-free access, we were eventually led to a location requiring navigation of stairs. This compounded the difficulties for our elderly family members and set the tone for what would become an increasingly disappointing meal.

The food itself left much to be desired. Starters arrived sporadically over a ten-minute period, forcing diners to eat at staggered intervals. Lukewarm tomato soup was a low point. The main courses, while served promptly, were lacklustre. Roast potatoes resembled burned, grape-sized nuggets, turkey slices were bland and uninspired, and accompanying vegetables were overcooked or burnt. Even the Yorkshire pudding—a quintessential element of the meal—was clearly frozen and reheated. Sauces were an afterthought, with no apple sauce available and no alternatives offered.

From this point forward, service deteriorated significantly. Plates were left uncleared for nearly 20 minutes, drink service was nonexistent, and we had to resort to the bar for refills. Desserts followed the same disjointed pattern as the starters, arriving over a ten-minute span, leaving little opportunity for our party to dine together.

Perhaps most frustratingly, the promised fourth course of coffee and mince pies was not delivered as described. Upon requesting them, we were met with apparent hostility from staff, and only four coffees were brought out, with no mince pies at all. The staff, clearly overwhelmed by the volume of Christmas bookings, showed signs of strain and frustration, which was unfortunately evident in their interactions with guests.

Efforts to escalate concerns to management were met with resistance, culminating in a particularly unprofessional interaction where a manager dismissively snapped their fingers and walked away with the comment, “Class dismissed.” This added insult to injury, solidifying an already disappointing experience.

After spending over five and a half hours in the restaurant, we left disheartened and determined never to return. A refund was eventually issued, but only after a lengthy wait and insistence on our part. While the gesture of comped bottles of wine was appreciated, it could not redeem the day.

The underlying issue appeared to be a lack of preparation and support for staff, who struggled under the weight of too many bookings. While we sympathise with their plight, the outcome was an exhausting and unsatisfactory Christmas dining experience that left us questioning how such fundamental mismanagement could occur on a day meant for celebration.

Christmas Day is a time when expectations are naturally elevated, and every moment feels especially valuable. Poor customer service on such an occasion is particularly disheartening. While customers have countless options for where to spend their money, it is crucial for businesses to acknowledge when they have fallen short and take meaningful steps to learn from...

Interesting experience

I attended this restaurant after a works training in Beeston and myself and some other members were staying in the adjoining hotel.

Start with the good things- food was nice, meal deal is good buy.

Now the negatives- the hostess who took us to our table was extremely rude to us when one of my teammates asked about the included drinks in the meal deal. She put her hands on the table, swung her head around to him and rudely went I was going to get to that when you'd finished. She then took our drinks order and left. Our waitress came over and asked for our drinks order, showing a lack of communication. Our starters took an hour to come, once we'd inhaled them, noone came to take our plates despite our looks and little arm waves to get their attention. Then our mains came, whilst our starter plates were still down, so we had to stack the plates ourselves to make room for them. Again the food was inhaled as we'd been here for at least 90 minutes now. We then stacked our plates to highlight that we had finished after again noone came to take them (atleast 30 mins) I then went up and asked a supervisor for a menu so we could look at pudding and that was when the waitress came over. Funny timing. Who concluded we didn't need more than one menu and walked away. Then when we ordered I asked for the sundae and was told they'd ran out but she'd check and then I was served my backup choice right before another table who ordered after us got the same sundae they'd ran out of served by our waitress. After over two hours, we asked for the bill and waited for the card machine that never came. Again we had to do it ourselves so we got up and went to the till to pay (we were paying about £4 all together as you pay the meal deal upfront at hotel reception) the waitress then told us (the customers) that she had a headache and can't wait to go home. Shoddy service in all and we will not be...

Potentially THE WORST restaurant experience ever.

Used to come here every year for Christmas Dinner however standards have dropped dramatically. Went for the Christmas menu in which once we waited an hour to be seated we were given a list in which no roasts were available. Understandably supply issues is not the restaurants fault but would have been nice to have been told before being seated. Ordered a drink and had to ask for it twice before it was chased up by a manager to be bought over. Ordered the pulled beef Yorkshire pudding as a starter, for it to all then come back cold as if it has been sat on the side for 20 minutes. Then ordered 2 steaks and fish and chips as none of these were on the long list saying they were unavailable. After waiting around 15 minutes a member of staff came over to say they were out of fish and chips and made us hastily choose something else. Therefore the festive beef burger was ordered. Mains arrived after a longer wait for all food to come out again, lukewarm at best. The burgers were burnt, no veg, no bacon, no tomatoes. Was highly disappointing. Whilst attempting to eat the food the staff decided to start setting up breakfast around us - bearing in mind it was only 9pm. Lots of commotion, toasters being bought out, cereals placed down, tables being moved etc. With this, none of us had an appetite anymore and when asked if the food was okay we explained the  abysmal service we received.

The manager who came over did apologise and didnt make us pay for anything due to the horrific evening. However the entire night from the moment we stepped through the door was lacking good service, nevermind warm food or a choice of food.

Will never step foot in the...