The Clarence Social — Restaurant in Cheltenham

I write this review with a heavy heart. Six of us went to eat here. We had a bottle of Proseco at the bar but were told they needed to find some flute glasses ! ( Clearly the bar prep for a Saturday evening was behind the curve ?)These were produced having just been washed and not dried so they looked pretty grubby. I asked for them to be wiped again. Then a series of calamities was when the waitress had to apologise because they only had two menus ! which had seen better days and looked like they had been used by kindergarten kids such was the variety of stains and spots. We were saved when four more were eventually produced. The menu is 'confused" with what we were told were small plates in the mains part accompanied by a small blackboard indicating mash and carrots for £4 ! - each . Food took an age and when arrived was ..... not good. The Wagu hamburger was a tasteless mess in a bun , no seasoning and clearly any attempt to cook it had failed. Wine was served in some glasses ( Again a theme appears to be happening here) which looked like they had come free with with a few gallons of diesel from the garage. We asked for some different wine glasses when we switched to red. The waitress appeared ( The only one serving on the floor on a Saturday ?! clearly staff shortages ?) and informed us that they only had three ???!! - However this was not an issue as there were only three of us drinking red. What any other customers were expected to drink ? maybe direct from the bottle ? Having asked for the wine list one was produced which again had either had a bottle poured over it so that is was illegible. ( This was quickly taken away and one produced which could be read , which was helpful bearing in mind there is wine here from £30 -£220 a bottle so you do need to see what you are ordering ?) Clearing the plates etc was a step too far as this appeared to take a Millenia( Staff shortages ?) A bill nudging towards £200 , this was in every sense below average , confused , overpriced and poor, and for Cheltenham there are many other...

My review based on a Christmas meal this evening would actually be more like 3 stars but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt as it's also Cheltenham races.

It was extremely busy in there and very loud. Imagine trying to eat a meal in a nightclub. We were upstairs and quite a large group but they didn't have thought amount of places set so we had to squeeze up on added tables and felt squashed against other tables.

Food was decent. Starter was a bit basic but that's fine. Main course of roast beef was sublime. Cannot fault that in the slightest I loved it. Pudding was great too a very rich chocolate brownie.

Service was fine, a few drinks rerequested as forgotten but nothing to write home about although I am aware that one member of staff was rude to my friend however they did apologize and considering everyone has bad days then all was forgiven.

All in all I'd probably like to give it another shot to see whetheŕ this is a normal experience or whether it was tarnished by other events as it had a lot...

Very disappointing experience at the Clarence. Arrived at 7:15 with my girlfriend who recently passed her medical exams so we were looking to celebrate with happy hour cocktails. 25 minutes later we had still not been served and had seen four other parties (who joined the bar long after us) come and go with their drinks. At 7:40 after being ignored for the 5th time I intervened and told the bar staff we had not been served despite joining the bar way before other parties. This at last caught their attention and they decided to serve us. However, the staff told us happy hour finished at 7:30 and we were too late. I tried explaining to them we arrived well before that but they gave us no sympathy. I then asked for the manager (who I thought would understand) but she was also dismissive. I’m currently writing this review at Revolution (opposite) which so far has given me a much greater experience. Clearly the staff have been trained to treat their customers with respect unlike...