Toby Carvery Carlisle — Restaurant in Carlisle

Decided to go for dinner there on a Sunday evening. Upon arrival there were customers walking out saying 'never again'. I wish we had taken that advice. The place was very tired but the waitresses were well mannered and seemed happy to help. The queue was so incredibly long it seemed unfair to be offering people seats to dine as no one should be waiting that long stood in a queue. The chefs seems very disorganised and all of the food was literally sub standard.The people infront of me were told there were no Yorkshire puddings left ans they would be 20 minutes. How can you make thay sort of statement in a place like this, why werent they put on sooner? I asked for the vegan option and the carvery chef asked me to repeat myself. I said may I have the vegan option and he said 'oh, veggie'. Let me tell you that a vegan person is not the same as a vegetarian. He handed me a different plate to everyone else like I was about to be served the vegan option that is on the menu. This was not given to me and I had absolutely no idea what foods were vegan as there are no labels on anything. I decided to go for some roast potatoes and cabbage. The carrots were very sad looking, like they had been sat in the steamer for far too long anyway but still served. The counter was an absolute mess. Granted it may have been busy but a busy restaurant does not give an excuse to not be clean and hygienic. The rest of the food looked so badly cooked that I was terribly put off what little food I had on my plate. I walked over to the gravy and there was no sign for vegan gravy. I would again have to assume whether it was vegan or not. The gravy counter was a terrible mess with gravy absolutely everywhere and the pots were all empty. The condiments were also all entirely empty. There are no amount of customers that should make a place run like this and it is a massive shame to see the chefs not doing the job they are there to do. I left my plate by the gravy counter and waited for my family to eat before reluctantly paying. The cooks need retraining. There are ways to cook food and times you need to discard food because it isn't up to standard and the time I was there everything was not up to standard. I was a chef before I turned vegan and I know exactly how a place such as this should be running and I can't believe they are charging nearly £15 for that atrocity. Absolutely filthy food counters, disorganised chefs and absolutely no signs regarding allergens. This place needs to watch out it doesn't make somebody ill. They could have done a better job and missed the mark by a long shot at every...

I had no intention of doing this as on the evening I declined to complain. However, on arrival I was asked if I'd received a call from the restaurant regarding them running out of carvery meats, and that there was only gammon left, as only two of us don't like gammon we decided to just order alternative items from the menu and to proceed with the meal as planned. I asked if I could substitute sausages for meat on my plate and that of my daughter which was deemed acceptable by staff. We proceeded to order 5x carvery meals and one kids meal of heinz tomato soup followed by chicken nuggets (expecting chips with those as she isn't keen on "Sunday veg"). My heart sank when I actually got to the counter to be offered a Yorkshire pudding that was frankly more like a coffee coaster than a Yorkshire pudding, flat under cooked and miniscule. We all continued to eat and despite its failings, the food was indeed tasty and acceptable. My child's meal arrived, the soup was wrong, we still have no idea what flavour it was, but it certainly wasn't tomato. Then her nuggets arrived, six miniscule nuggets on an empty plate, upon inspection off the menu it seemed our error so we went with it again. My daughter only has a small appetite, so was happy with just the nuggets. Desert time, only my two youngest daughter's elected to have desert, profiteroles and a cookie dough ice-cream ordered. Profiteroles and a plain vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce delivered.

At this point I've had enough and went to pay, I presented a voucher for 50% off main meals, I was told my remaining bill was £54 and change I corrected the error on deserts forgetting the soup, and lack of carvery on the meals, the bill was now £48 and change.

If I'm honest I feel quite cheated and that the price paid does not reflect good value for money. The discount voucher gave us £19.50 discount I was told, with that in mind we had spent £28+ on drinks and two desserts, one of these drinks was a glass of water, another a soda and cordial. I am quite frankly disgusted at this, the staff on the night tried hard to look after us, but we're clearly under pressure and there was only two servers on duty, we never saw the host again...

Visited Toby Carvery Carlisle this evening at 7 pm with my partner, and unfortunately, the experience was disappointing. Staff—including off-duty employees(blond hair,medium build and commonly spoken)—were openly gossiping about the chefs in an unkind manner even though the chefs were trying their best , which felt highly unprofessional. Not a single team member was smiling; the atmosphere was blunt, rude, and lacking any warmth or professionalism. If there are internal issues, they should be handled discreetly, away from customers.

The meat server was visibly unhappy, making us feel like an inconvenience rather than valued guests. As for the food, it was underwhelming—bland, with standard fare that hardly justified the £15.49 price tag. The carvery portions were minimal, with meat that was either tough or overly stodgy vegetables and gravy that lacked any real flavor. There also wasn’t enough food available at a time, leading to guests leaning over others to access items, making the dining experience uncomfortable.

Overall, the lack of service quality and uninspiring food left much to be desired. Improvements are definitely needed to create a more welcoming and enjoyable experience. Given the sheer number of staff present, there’s no excuse for such poor service. The owner may want to rethink staffing choices or provide proper customer service training to ensure guests are treated with care and professionalism. Improvements are desperately needed to make this establishment a place...