Sump — Restaurant in East Staffordshire

We have visited the Sump Newton Road, Burton on Trent, DE15 0TT many times and have always been impressed by the food and the staff and service. However on this occasion myself and my family are deeply disapointed, We booked a table under the name of Thorp nearly a week before we visited on Mothers day for 1/1.30pm we arrived early and all the tables were nearly empty there were only about four or five that were occupied this very young man in a grey T shirt behind the bar pointed us to our table which was the one right in front of the fire place by the toilets and the kitchen and right in front of the the open propped door where we came in with the draft blowing through, Now my Mother is 87 years old and is always cold so sitting at this table simply wouldnt have been acceptable when we asked if he could move us to another table due to my Mother he said that they were fully booked with the attitude of take it or leave it he seemed more intrested in chatting up the female waitresses so at this point we left I mentioned this to my Brother in law Mr Steven Taylor who is the local councilor for Burton and South Derbyshire and he advisted me to contact The Sump which i did on Sunday evening and left a telephone message asking for the landlord to contact me but he hasnt seemed to of bothered hence my reason for contacting Marstons. Neither myself or my brother in law could understand why it would have been an issue for this young man to of changed our table, when we made the booking we werent given a table number and I presume no one else is when they book To say he was less than helpful is an understatement and my own opinion is he could do with taking a course in customer relations very...

My wife and I (both in our mid-sixties) visited here for an afternoon late lunch/early dinner. We'd previously been a couple of times for an afternoon drink. On previous occasions, we enjoyed our visit and bar staff were very friendly and helpful with the drinks competitively priced. However, this time our experience was different. Hoping for a quiet relaxing afternoon meal we were subjected to loud rock/pop music which the staff did turn down slightly when asked. However, it was still impossible to hold a quiet conversation. Staff, though not unhelpfiul, were not as pleasant or engaging as on the previous occasions giving the impression they were somewhat brusque.

To summarise our impressions of the pub:

Positive points:

Excellent value food and drink Food quality acceptable - typical chain pub fare Truly superb location by the river with plenty of outdoor riverside seating and pleasant conservatory area inside with views to the river Tables clean and tidy

Negative points:

Music too loud inside for a quiet afternoon meal or drink Choice of music inappropriate for relaxing dining Staff attitudes are variable. Those on shift this last time gave the impression of just "doing a job to earn a living".

We'll certainly visit again in the warmer weather for an afternoon drink sitting outside by the river but won't hurry back for a meal indoors. A final note: there were not many other customers there at the time we visited - we were quite surprised given its location, value prices and easy parking. Perhaps, like us, others have some...

Unfortunately excellent location but that's it. Went Sunday as it was nice weather so decided to eat out for a change. Unfortunately we picked the wrong place to go very disappointed Went to order our food 2 mixed grills to be told they where sold out & as we where there early I was quite surprised. The person that served us was quite rude when I questioned what they hadn't got from the mixed grill to a quite sarcastic reply everything we've sold out to which I replied already it's very early and very few people here. So then we asked for a roast dinner to be told they no longer do them only in the winter so had to make do with fish and chips to our annoyance but it was OK. The staff apart from the owner or manager not quite sure what she is where excellent. However she needs to get some customer service training. My advice to anyone who's visiting for the first time is excellent location next to the river but it's pot luck with the menu if you get what's in the menu if you don't mind then that's OK the fish & chips to be fair was excellent but not the...