Why Not Inn — Restaurant in Dudley

Came to the why not inn for a meal 23/03/2024 booking for 22 people and 1 child, pre-ordered food about 2 weeks prior to the booking, table was booked for 18:30 and everyone arrived promptly, my specific party arrived approx 18:20 and everyone else was already seated in the bar awaiting to be seated in the restaurant, we ordered drinks and sat down for the meal, on arrival we were ushered to the restaurant for seating however due to how staff arranged the seating we were unable to use 2 chairs so politely asked staff to re-arrange this for us , a young girl with glasses and dark hair who was very polite helped us re-arrange so we could all be seated correctly. Starters came out , soup was just blended potato with no flavour, the soup could’ve been used as cement to build a house. Staff did not come to clear the table from the starters so a few members of the party cleared the tables and took used plates to the kitchen. As said previously, all food was pre-ordered 2 weeks prior to arrival however food wasn’t served promptly and were still waiting for food at 20:40, members of the party had asked up to 3 times where food was and when it was going to be served and staff replied “soon, sorry for the wait”. Meals came out freezing cold, not cooked correctly, and multiple meals had to be sent back to the kitchen. Not once, throughout our time at the restaurant, was any of the party rude to the waitresses or staff. We reassured the young girls who were waitressing that it is not their fault and eventually stopped the rest of the meals coming out as members were past hunger and it was coming up to 21:00. During the couple of hours waiting for food, the chef was seen to be shouting at the young waitresses by all 22 members of the party and addition members of the public seated in the restaurant. One of the young waitresses became distressed and upset therefore members of our party tried to reassure her and again stated it is not their fault. The owner eventually came down to speak to the party and stated the food was delayed due to 2 fires in the kitchen, we asked why no fire alarms went off and if there were fires why were we not evacuated for safety reasons? The owner had no reply to this. Although we were given complimentary Prosecco for the trouble caused , it doesn’t excuse the rudeness of the chef and the way he treated the young waitresses serving us. I believe the young girls were serving drinks at the bar, serving food, plating food and supposed to be clearing tables. We asked for one of the waitresses to come over and explained to her again it was not her fault and they shouldn’t be upset , we tipped £25 between them for their hard work which they were very grateful for. When leaving the restaurant, the owner asked what he could do to improve his business… firstly , if you are aware of a booking containing 22 people and KNOW you cannot handle that many people do not book them in , hire more staff for starters and chef who can cook and be professional to other members of staff. The owner also replied to a previous review stating there have been good reviews for their “little” pub. Yes the restaurant is little so don’t you expect a group of 22 to take up a small portion of the restaurant. So why would this be a problem if you’re making money , which is what you want isn’t it ? There were still about 3 tables in our area of the restaurant who had members of the public seated , people in the bar were also asking where their food was . We have been numerous times to this restaurant and never had any issues...

Unfortunately this is not a good review, a party of 23 was there Sat 23rd March 2024 table was booked for 6.30, was still waiting on mains at 8.40 most of the food was cold and sent back, 4 of us didn't even have a main as the wait was that long, staff in tears and a chef (if he was indeed a chef) shouting at the 2 young girls doing there best, I personally had to take glasses and plates from the starters to the kitchen as it was very understaffed, I also attended 2 weeks previous to give them a pre order list of food. The owner appeared and gave us 3 complimentary bottle of prosecco for the trouble but like I pointed out to him nobody in our party drinks prosecco so what's the point, 3 ladies in our party took the prosecco home. To say I was disappointed as it was my twins birthday meal and my husbands is an understatement, I hope they see this review and make changes to what was a fantastic place to eat to now not. I was also informed there the fryers set on fire, another person in our party was told the grill went up in flames, no fire alarms went off and if there was in fact a fire the pub surely should have been evacuated due to safety reasons. Won't be going back thats for sure.

REPLY BACK TO OWNER: Wow you are a liar...all people were there before 6.30 got a drink at the bar and went to where we were to be seated, not everyone sat down as there wasn't enough room for people to sit because of how the tables were arranged, I approached one of your young ladies to see if we could change the arrangement and she said yes and then we helped her as in her words there's no one else booked in for those tables anyway. Your chef was shouting at the young waitresses and was witnessed by other members of the public in the pub, other people were also asking why it was taking so long for there food to come out, there was other diners in your restaurant apart from us so NO we did not take up the whole restaurant as you have stated, I did personally take plates to the kitchen and clear glasses from out tables, your chef snapped my head off when I asked to have some gravy to heat the meals up that were cold and low and behold the gravy was cold too. The long and short of this is......we were not rude to anyone, the one barmaid was crying because our night had been spoilt and she felt guilty, not her fault at all and we showed that by giving the 3 girls a tip and reassured them that non of it was their fault, if it sits right with you to lie then that's fine but what I will not tolerate is you making us out to be rude people when we are not. We have dined in that restaurant more than once and I had my 50th birthday there (another big party of people) and we had a great night, great food and great service.....you wasn't in...

Firstly it’s only fair to acknowledge that this is a rare mediocre review, with most other reviews being really good, so perhaps we just came on an off day.

We had a table booked on Friday at 18:30 which we arrived promptly for. Service was slow, and after receiving drinks and ordering food, we didn’t end up eating for another 35 minutes. It wasn’t busy at all.

The food was a mixed bag with my partner’s pie containing beef that was either tender and flaky or so chewy that it had to be removed and put to the side.

I had the sirloin steak and for the price paid, it was disappointing. Medium rare yes, but no sear on the steak and the taste was bland with no seasoning at all. It doesn’t take a lot to add some butter and rosemary to baste at the end of cooking. For £23, that isn’t a lot to expect.

Both of us had bland, boiled veg consisting of rather sad looking peas and plain boiled carrot chunks. Again, it doesn’t take a lot to add a little butter and pepper to enhance veg like that.

Homemade chips were very nice indeed and a welcome surprise.

I have to say we found the dining experience really disappointing given what we’d heard, but again go back to the point that it may well have just been an off day.

Staff were friendly and the pint of Guinness before we left was excellent. I might come back for drinks in future but unfortunately I’d be hesitant to try the food here again.

EDIT: in response to the owner’s reply, I do acknowledge her point about the other level of the restaurant and perhaps it wasn’t as quiet as I thought (although from our view there were 2, possibly 3 other occupied tables at most), but I stand by the fact that food of the quality we received should not take 35 minutes to arrive at a table. I’m well aware it isn’t microwaved, which is irrelevant anyway. I’ve worked in the food industry myself. A medium rare steak takes mere minutes to cook. Pre-cut chips mere minutes to fry. The point about the cooking of the beef chunks is strange too. If you cannot cook stewed beef evenly without having to check each piece, then you either need better quality beef or a better quality stewing pan or better...