Signal Box — Restaurant in Coventry

We visited Signal Box on a hot Saturday afternoon 12/7 for a quick lunch with my wife and dog who is trained as a therapy dog. We were staying in a local hotel and just wanted some fresh air and enjoy the sun.

We found a quiet table outside in the corner so we didn’t disturb anyone, we wasn’t particularly hungry so just went for the sharing platter. I went inside to order and spoke to Rhys, he said we can’t serve food outside. I said ok, can we bring our therapy dog inside to eat. He said unless you have paperwork then no, I said she has her official lead and harness but we left the paperwork in the hotel as we didn’t think it was needed. I called the night before and spoke to an automated system that said dogs were allowed in the garden

I then said ok, can I order the food sat at a table in here on my own (it was very quiet) and take it outside to my wife when it arrives. Again he said no, I said is there any compromise on this whatever and guess his reply? No. I’m not sure if it was Rhy’s first day and he was absolutely going by the book, or perhaps he doesn’t like dogs? Either way, this has massively put me off the Hungry Horse franchise, we have visited several in the past and none of them have had issues with us taking other dogs inside (even non service dogs). To be so obviously awkward was incredibly frustrating, I was very polite through and was having to bite my tongue. Rhys needs to either find a new career, preferably one he doesn’t talk to customers or needs to go on a comprehensive training course on customer care. I very very rarely write negative reviews as frankly I normally can’t be bothered, but his attitude has really bothered me.

I understand my dog not being allowed to go inside completely, but to then not allow me to just take food ordered inside outside there isn’t an excuse. I think I even offered to take the plate and glasses inside for them (which I always do anyway) so they didn’t have to come out.

It spoilt a really nice afternoon in Coventry, but not to worry we found a much nicer dog friendly pub and they even brought a bowl outside for her. That’s what you call a dog friendly pub and embarrasses yours, don’t say it’s dog friendly when it clearly isn’t.

Disgusting from The Signal, your reply which will probably say “We will pass your feedback on, sorry about your bad experience” or whatever is completely pointless and I won’t be able to reply unfortunately. It’s really put me off visiting any of your franchises which is very...

Visited Coventry for the weekend as my wife's birthday and our son is in university in the area. Visited the Signal Box as we've gone to hungry horse chains and always had first class food and service but this came to an end last night. We had a table booked but when we arrived there was just a sign that said find a seat and come to bar to order. Not a major problem as there was a table for 4 with a reserved sign on so assumed that was our's. Decided on our food and went to bar to order, the young man behind the bar had v little in terms of customers service skills, brought 3 of the 4 soft drinks ordered (far from full) then asked if I wanted ice, I replied yes please to which he rolled his and let out a sigh, I replied if it was a problem or they didn't have ice then it was ok, his reply was we've got it but I've got to carry your drinks back over there now. Drinks back on bar, I had 1 regular coke and 1 diet so asked if he knew which was which and reply was, I don't know I've mixed them up if only you hadn't asked for ice (Not impressed). Anyway after waiting over half an hour for our food a poor waitress was sent over to tell us that they had just run out of rolls for the pit burgers we'd ordered and would we mind having bread instead or a baguette, as we'd already waited quite a while and were really hungry we just went with it instead of changing our order so my son opted for bread and me a baguette. Another wait of half an hour followed and the food arrived. My wife and eldest son's were acceptable but when the burgers arrived we were then told they had run out of pulled pork too so had given us 2 onion rings instead. 1st bite the Mac and Cheese could have just come out of the fridge it was freezing, but we'd waited so long and were so disappointed we just got it down and left. Went to a different venue for our dessert (delicious desserts I believe it was called) and food and service were 2nd to none. As for the Signal Box I would unfortunately avoid like the plague and if I could leave a score of 0 I would.

as a side note a group of women arrived after us absolutely hammered and language was certainly not family friendly even though a man was sitting on the next table with his children a couple of whom were young, so on a Saturday night it appears not even a family...

Had a family meal here today. (25/6/22) Total shambles from start to finish. If i could give it a zero i would. Start with the service, Guy that took the meal order from the bar was miserable and didn't want to be there, he put our order on a random table number as he could not find our table on the system. He asked the woman who was on the bar with him for some help and she helped him as much as should could and dropped the comment to the man that was serving me "yea steve the manager cant be bovered to put all the tables on the system" I had to repeat the order twice as he was struggling to find items on the system cause they was under different names and locations to the menu. I then tried to pay with tesco vouchers i had, that annoyed him even more, when it came to the total i don't know what went on here as it came to 45odd quid and I tried to use 39quids worth of vouchers and when I went to pay the odd he asked for 12quid, when questioned and asked for a receipt he didn't know and moved to next customer. While i was putting my order thu they was two couples behind me that just turned round and walked out. Everyone seemed stressed, didnt care and didn't want to be there.

The food eventually turned after 30/40mins up cause of the random table number mix up it was vile. My full monty mixed grill was a mix of burnt and cold it was also missing items and when question it was a flat "it doesn't come with them" despite showing the menu saying it did. The lad said he would go and check, never to return. My partners meal was wrong she ordered chicken strips rice and tortillas. She ended up wit chicken strips rice and chips. The lad stated she ordered chips when she didnt. The chicken was burnt and chips/rice cold. The black plate they was on was peeling with the bits sticking to her food. (Shown below) My little Lad flat refused eat his sausages cause they was burnt and my daughter said her chicken burger smelt funny.

When asked to speak to someone no one was interested. I will not be returning.

The service was s*t and the food was pss poor.

UPDATE 2/7/22

They have since changed their response to the review from asking to email them to sort this out to the usual generic reply asking to...