Oliver's Pub And Kitchen — Restaurant in Broxtowe

Worst dining experience ever Where do I begin... there were so many issues!! My sister travelled down as I wanted to take her out for her birthday and saw there was a good overall rating so chose this place. Biggest mistake ever!!! We arrived, there was no acknowledgement, just stared at by the barman and people at the bar; had to say we had arrived for a meal and I had just called about it. Were taken upstairs, although they could see we had a baby had to ask for a high chair. Chair arrived wet and still dirty but this happens at other places so I cleaned it again. Then he came to take our drinks order and there was no drinks menu and he didn't know what all of them were and couldn't describe them properly. The 'fizzy' drinks were flat and one of them was tasteless. Asked for straws. None available. Ordered our food. The barman runs upstairs after a few minutes to say the chef has burnt 2 lots of the pork so only one left. The other starters didnt appeal so he said he'd give a garlic bread for free. After waiting ages, it all finally arrives. There was only one other table at this point and it was before 6p.m. The pork belly bites are still a bit burnt but covered up with bbq sauce, the tomato soup is raw and bland, and the garlic bread is passable. My 18 month old is starving by now so eats most of the garlic bread. I had already asked for them to bring her food out first and they didn’t. Mains arrive after another long wait. Fish fingers are hand made ones but completely burnt and the fish is completely dry inside them, hunters chicken bland, pasta passable, sizzling chicken is soggy chicken with raw garlic and a ridiculous amount of chilli in it... and I eat alot of spicy food. By now were all so hungry so we ate it but I sent my babys food back as it was not edible. The chef agrees its burnt and blames the breadcrumbs and ask if they can make it with batter instead and I say thats fine. After we finish were left for another 35 minutes waiting ignored by other waiting staff so I go downstairs to see where our waiter is. No sign of him, I then ask for the dessert thats part of the childrens meal we were told about earlier and everyone denies it comes with one and they dont know what I'm talking about! My sister really wanted to treat herself to a dessert but with their behaviour we decided we just wanted the bill and to leave. Only one person apologised who was the other waiter who agreed we had not had good service. I give feedback as per above regarding our experience and they call the owner over. I tell him how disappointed I am about the evening as per everything I've detailed above, I ask why we were given the wrong information about the childrens meals. He gives a watery excuse about 'transitioning staff'. I tell him then the responsibility is with him to train them. He denies the food was bad and says they've never had a bad review like this.( I then find out on reading details of other reviews later that he's just plain lying). I tell him that instead of being defensive he should apologise and he says 'I'm sorry if you feel disappointed but we know how good we are and pride ourselves on this'. At which point, I let him know that he was unprofessional and that was not an apology by any means! I also told him, the only professional person was the waiter who wasn't taking care of us that actually apologised as he realised we had been treated badly. I also reminded him that the chef admitted had burnt the food. I then tell him I don't want to hear any excuses, I just want to pay my bill and leave this nightmare of a place. I think they thought I wouldn't be able to pay it??? And was angling for free food??? Ridiculous. That was the point when he apologised properly. They took the drinks off the bill and 2 pounds off the 'childrens meal deal'.

My advice since you dont know what you might get on the day in terms of professionalism, food quality and hygiene... AVOID...

We visited Olivers Pub & Kitchen in Eastwood for a 30th Birthday meal. On arrival we arrived 10 mins early & had to wait until our table was ready. After waiting 15 mins or so, we were guided upstairs to an empty restaurant, being the first to dine. The waiter was very accommodating, & took good care of us. After giving us time to pick from the new seasonal menu, he took our order both starters & main course, & to our surprise he took our orders without writing it down, being able to remember it all correctly.

For Starters we went for Duck for one & the Camembert to share for two. Unfortunately the Duck was not what we expected, coming as a wrap just being diced duck & onions. The camembert was slightly better but lacked fineness.

For main course we went for the Messy Cow Burger, 8oz Silroin Steak, Diavola Pizza & Duck main course. So Ill talk about the Messy Cow burger first, due to this being mine & there being picture to see. All ingredients of the burger were cooked perfectly; from the beef patties, to the bacon, with it coming with a pot of cheese sauce, which could be poured over the burger or nachos, or even both! The 8oz Steak was cooked correctly, reliably being told, it was very tasty! Next the Diavola Pizza, the other picture, cooked & looked as pizzas should do, being tasty too! Finally the Duck, cooked perfectly & tasted yummy, however it could of come with additional veg, as it felt like it was just Duck & potatoes.

To finish, two of us chose the Warm Chocolate Cookies, these were warm, however it would of been good to have one more cookie, thus making three in total or either making them bigger. The other dessert we ordered, was the Chocolate Brownie, this could of been warmer, & have more of pack to it.

So, a pleasant waiter, however the food needs to have more attention to detail, keeping it simple, & focusing on a smaller menu for the size of...

What can I say... if you are conscious of covid and want to follow rules or try to avoid catching it... avoid this establishment at all costs. I am not normally one to grass on another hospitality business, especially in these hard times. But I honestly cannot let this experience slide. Firstly, the gaps between tables. To follow law guidelines, tables should be at a minimum at least a metre apart. The table I was seated at tonight was not that. Our table was a traditional park bench and the next table was back to back with ours with no gap at all! Not even 10cm. Secondly, we as bars are not to encourage shouting or loud singing off the top of people's lungs. At least twice this evening the DJ muted the music during very well known songs to encourage, and successfully I might add, the whole bar to shout and sing off the top of their lungs the lyrics to the song as though they were at a gig. Thirdly, smokers. As a smoker I was made to stand in a small area near customers tables and there was no social distancing enforced at all. The only rule enforced was if you had a drink you had to sit... which was highly amusing when you had 15 or so smokers in a 4 metre space no gaps whatsoever. They also had tables with over 6 people sat at them. One table in the smoking area had 8+ people sat at it all night. And finally, the marquee. By law if having a marquee, 3 out of the 4 sides should be open. This marquee had 3 out of 4 sides covered. And by 9pm the 4th side was covered, making this marquee technically indoors, breaking the law. Honestly my experience tonight has well and truly put me off Oliver’s. I will happily much prefer to spend time in a city centre “dive" bar. At least the city centre bars enforce the rules and care about their licence. Enjoy your fine when the police cotton onto your careless lack...