Hand & Spear — Restaurant in Elmbridge

We booked the diner for Christmas day dinner . There were 5 in our party and each one bemoaned over the meal, the lack of care , the stubbornness of the staff and a general disinterest in the whole event.Firstly the wine glasses were disgustingly dirt, retrieved,not replaced, a discussion was started with a member of staff with my daughter over a vegetarian option which compromised of entirely of vegetables ,nothing else ,on a sparsely filled plate which consisted of around maybe 8 various things .The debate over the starters resulted in a Luke warm soup being dished up to my other daughter which she could not finish as it was terrible .my own choice of main was nice but it was wholly not enough to be called a main dish. Everyone commented on the lack of decor in the diner ,no table decorations , very little in house decor ,making it feel unwelcoming and hostile .When we asked about the lack of vegetables in the main meal we were met with the reply of each meal had enough on it, we which was not the reply we wanted to hear .The only time anyone came over to see how it was going was to ask about whether we wanted more alcohol .looking around the diner ,we noticed it was no more than half full , which we found interesting as everytime we asked for something different it was met a resignation look of" are rushed off out feet" attitude .Honestly we rarely have Christmas day dinner home, we usually spend it in different parts of Southern England or the West End .We have been married 42 years and quite frankly your diner made us argue amongst ourselves as we thought it was a day of celebration and a culmination of a tough year for us not only ruined Christmas day but questioned whether we really need to spend £120 per person on a rubbish starter, main and dessert on a place that doesn't deserve a one star review .We had intended to stay for at 3/4 hours at the place relaxing with either coffee or wine but left after 90 minutes .How in God's name I gave you £59 gratuity is beyond me . IF the staff, almost to person did not want to be there , why did you open .In stark contrast we had the Boxing day meal at The Oaklands park Hotel and difference was staggering in attitude ,service and most importantly food and the portions . Sorry about repeating myself but you Christmas day, and I for one will never...

Long boring detailed essay below but for the summary:

This establishment is overpriced whilst offering mediocre food. Some staff are decent (bar staff), some are a bit meh and some even a tad abrasive.

On balance, wouldn't touch this place or any other Young's pub with a bargepole.

Firstly to be clear, the manager reduced the bill by removing the muscles and reducing the rest of the food bill by 20%. At this point we feel the money charged was just about reasonable - nothing more but am of course grateful for this.

7 of us dined. 3 burgers, 3 pulled lamb flatbreads & 1 muscles.

The muscles were tepid in temperature at best. I was asked after eating a couple of french fries if I was happy with the meal - at this point I didn't realise the muscles weren't hot. The french fries didn't even fill the small stainless steel 'tumbler'. £18.00 per dish.

The burgers are small. Cooked well but nothing special. £16.50 each.

The lamb flatbreads consisted of a small bit of bread, some lettuce, 4 or 5 pomegranate seeds, some tzatziki and some dry bits of lamb which again were tepid in temperature. The amount of lamb was close to insulting. £16.00 per dish.

The young lady who served us was polite and no complaints re her.

After voicing some dissatisfaction when asked again by our server as plates were being cleared re portions and the temp of some of the meals, she kindly apologised.

I spoke with the manager later on. He struggled to understand that our complaint was about the rip off pricing/very poor value by Young's as a company and a bit re the temperature of food (bear in mind legally we can pay whatever we believe is a true reflection of the meal received but in no way would we be going down that route, nor did I mention that legality). He continually said things like, well we can't change that. I agreed several times but did explain that he can feed it back internally.

He did sort it as mentioned above but I believe in fair value. I'm happy to pay any price if the food represents value. This establishment is a million miles away from this. Frankly, Young's should be ashamed of themselves.

My tip... AVOID!

All that being said, we had a cracking night but that was all about...

We booked the restaurant for Christmas day as we had been twice before.

The service was poor as we weren't asked if we wanted drinks until we had to go to the bar ourselves after which we were only asked once.

The starters were not great.. I had ordered the veal which looked like it was just slapped on the plate and my partner had ordered the scallops which were dry and tasted like they had been cooked hours before and left under the heat lamps.

It took an age for the mains to come out after the starters.

The same was with the mains....! The potatoes were not crispy and felted heated up in a microwave and my beef was so fatty and under cooked as I had trouble cutting it. It also came out luke warm. The turkey was dry and when turkey and gammon were ordered together, only 1 small slice of turkey was on the plate in comparison to the cheaper gammon. The turkey was extra dry where it had been kept warm under the lamps and there wasn't any stuffing... Shocking!!

The desserts were just as bad! The Christmas pudding came out cut into quarters rather than individual portions and I even made a comment to the waitress "Where is the rest of it". Which was totally ignored....

After this we were still charged 12.5% service charge each for poor quality food and poor quality service. The only positive experience was the young lady behind the bar.

I can definitely say we will not be going back especially when we were charged £100 per person plus the service charge for something I would be reluctant to pay as much as £25 for... Very, Very disappointed....

I have responded to the requested of the manager and sent her an email, but just like the service on Christmas Day, the reply from this establishment is...