The Beehive - JD Wetherspoon — Restaurant in Crawley

I honestly don’t know why I had any expectations at all about this place. It’s a JD Wetherspoon at Gatwick. It truly was a soul sucking experience.

The katsu curry was somehow bland. I don’t know how anything so bland can’t constitute a curry but here we are. I mean, what business did we have ordering katsu at Wetherspoon at the airport. Probably a life lesson in there somewhere.

The coagulated tomato and cheese pasta looked as if it had been in the warmer since the morning.

I’d say we should have just stuck with fried foods but my onion rings may very well have been in the fryer from the day before.

Fortunately, there is beer. We ordered two drafts and received a large bottle and a can but it’s beer.

Finally, the coup de grace. Having booked a room at the hotel, we were entitled to a discount. We mistakenly forgot to put in the discount when ordering through the app. I explained this to one of the bar keepers and they spoke to another keeper, the manager in this case. He mumbled something and I was then informed that there was nothing they could do to rectify the situation. Nothing. No way to modify the bill once it had been processed. No comp with another beverage. No reprocessing at all.

Bewildered by this denial for a simple rectification, I told the bar keeper I’d take it up with the manager. The manager then proceeded to completely ignore me, avoiding eye contact and choosing to perform any other tasks then to converse with another person.

Finally, I asked another barkeep to speak with the manager and he finaly spoke with me, providing various excuses as ‘the till would be off’ and ‘I’d be at a loss’. Ignoring the fact that this is a service industry and generally any business may have to sometimes absorb some costs, I was quite shocked at how dedicated this man was to making sure the airport Wetherspoon was running tip top financially. I would hate to know that I was hurting the bottom line of a small business like Wetherspoon. We all know that these mom and pop shops like Wetherspoon don’t benefit from economies of scale and need all the support...

We went there as the other restaurant was no longer serving food at that time (2100). We ordered a salad, katsu curry and 2 ramen bowls as my dad was having epigastric pain and thinking a warm soup should help it out. The food arrived and with my surprise the katsu curry was like a kiddie meal, my mom was all good with her salad but my dad was not able to eat his’ as the soup was too spicy for him. As we are about to leave because we need to catch the train, we decided to go and my husband took the ramen bowl and unfinished salad to the bar and told the lady that it will be “to go” and she said just yes. A few minutes later the lady approached me and asked what will she gonna do with the food, I told her to pack it as take away. She went back to the kitchen and there was some chatting so I went to the bar and explained that my father was having an upset tummy and can’t tolerate the spicy soup so it is technically untouched food and we want to take it home, then she told me that they don’t have a container to put the soup as take a way. Disappointed about it but what will I do if a restaurant doesn’t have a take away container for a food that they are selling, so I just ask for the salad. The lady told me that my husband did not say anything- he just left the food on top of the bar so they thought we are done and threw the food. I commented “ so technically I paid the food for nothing”. The lady did not even apologised, she just ask if they could make a new ramen and pack it as take away with no soup. What on earth is a ramen without the soup? Haist! I think the manager was there (if he is the one) but he did not even talk to me to explain or apologise for what happened. Paid for £14 for salad and £14 roughly I think for the ramen which was both gone. Thank you for the...

I made the mistake of not looking at the other reviews first...I didn't think I had to, it looks busy enough and nice enough. I only came here because I had 20% off with Bloc hotel. Still overpriced for what you get even with the discount. Food wasn't terrible but wasn't great either. Service is awful. I feel bed for the people that work here. It seems like they hate their job and I really wouldn't blame them. The bartender was incredibly rude. I didn't know it was a kind of self-service thing (almost like a nicer cafeteria I guess?) and when I finally figured it out I went up to order omg...he asked for my table number and when I pointed to the table someone else sat down at it and it was no longer mine. I was by myself and I certainly wasn't leaving my belongings there so no one would take the table. I told him I'm not sure what to do now and he was soooo incredibly defensive and rude "well, I need a table number to take your order" ok...not helpful really considering I don't know what the other numbers are and also what if someone else sits down while I'm ordering? I absolutely love techy self-service stuff but this is not a good concept in my opinion. Unless it's very obvious I guess. What seemed to be the manager came over and asked how my food was and I said good cuz it's inbetween bad and great. That's why they got 2 stars instead of one. Won't be coming again. Read the other reviews and make a choice if you think it's...