Bedford South (a421) Brewers Fayre — Restaurant in England

On our way home from elsewhere, we decided to stop off here for our Sunday lunch. Admittedly we hadn't booked but thought we would see if they could fit two of us in. We were greeted by a member of staff who asked if we'd booked, which we hadn't, she explained that they were booked up and wouldn't have space until about 2pm (the time we went in was around 12.20pm). There were a lot of empty tables but we understood they were waiting for people to arrive. Once back in the car, I had the idea of looking on their website to see if I could book a table and sure enough, there was room for me to book a table for two for 12.45pm, so, back in we went. Asked if we'd booked, I gave my name, we were shown to a table, I'm still puzzled now as to why we were turned away the first time, during the whole time we were there, there were many empty tables. It did seem as though they were short staffed. When we ordered, we opted for the two course Festive Menu, choosing a starter and main. Our mains, we chose the Festive Turkey, which on the menu said 'with all the trimmings'. Our starters came, we ate, we waited and waited and waited, after 45 minutes no sign of our main courses. Eventually I went to find a member of staff to let them know we were still waiting for our main. She came back a few minutes later and told us we needed to get it from the carvery, so basically, our 'Festive Turkey' was just the regular Sunday roast, no trimmings. When we ordered, nobody told us we were to get the main course from the carvery, nor were we given a ticket for getting it as is the case with the carvery. I'm assuming this was implemented for today given that it was a busy Sunday which I do understand, however it would have been nice if we'd been informed of this when ordering.

Take-away tip, if you haven't booked in advance and are turned away as a walk-in, go onto their website and quickly book a table as we did. Secondly, if it's a busy Sunday and you opt for the Festive Turkey, ask when you order if this is brought out to you or if you need to get it yourselves, it will save you an awful lot of time. I don't know how long we'd have been sitting there if I hadn't...

Honestly this place is the worst place I have been to for a while.

Went here for a family birthday meal. When we arrived we had to wait to be seated as there was a sign that stated this, however the place was near enough empty and no one came forward to seat us. So I had to go to the bar to inform the person there to come and assist.

Eventually we got seated. Here you have to go to the till to order food and drinks which is fine. We went up and ordered food then waited about 30 mins for our food to come out.

So our nan got fish pie with peas. The fish pie wasn't cooked and the peas were never to be seen. Presentation was terrible. Looked horrible so we changed this for another dish. Nan ended up eating on her own as the food took so long to reorder.

I had steak and so did my wife. The steaks were mixed up and although it was meant to come with onion rings, both dinners had none. We asked for these and they brought them out. The chips were cold.

Another one of our meals was the chicken and rib combo. However the chicken and ribs were cold.

On two of our other dinners the steaks were also mixed up and the onion rings absent again.

Although we were a big table, some of us got our food first and the others waited for about another 10 mins which wasn't good considering there was not really anyone else around in the restaurant.

At the end I complained. During the complaint the member of staff at the bar (the manager) wanted to go and get the other waitress as there were people at the front door waiting to be seated. She left the bar, opened the kitchen door and shouted the girls name and said get your arse out here. Great way of talking to your member of staff and customer service skills!

We did raise our complaints and she gave us a full refund however we felt that it had ruined our family birthday evening.

So to anyone who is thinking of going here, I really wouldn't bother. There is no coordination within the restaurant and with the orders being wrong etc, I felt that the staff there really couldn't care less. It...

Booked a table for 6 at 6:30. Unfortunately 4 couldn’t make it as car had broken down on way. We explained that there would just be 2 of us. Straight after ordering our meal the rest of our party who were broken down called to ask if we could pick them up as they had 2 children with them. Thankfully the person behind the bar gratefully refunded our money as nothing had been cooked so far. My husband asked what time they stopped serving as once we had picked the others up we would be back. We were told 9pm for last food orders. I then arrived at around 8:25 with another adult plus 2 children. Firstly we were ignored whilst standing at the “please wait to be seated” sign. I then approached someone to be told they’d stopped serving. I explained that we were in just a couple of hours ago and were told by staff that the last orders were 9pm for food. I was then told “don’t know who told you that but they shouldn’t have” she then proceeded to say “it might say 9pm on the website also but it’s not right” oddly enough you can book a table online for 9pm in the restaurant for food!!! So they happily turned 2 children away without being fed after a stressful journey which the staff were informed about. Despite what their website says they clearly just make it up as they go along. My advice, go to the Maypole farm across the road. Really lovely people in there, very accommodating and even came over to our table before the food orders closed to see if we wanted to order meals for the other 2 people we were waiting on. Very different attitudes on how to serve customers, brewers fayre needs to take some lessons. We have been since told by Premier inn that they get a lot of complaints about the Brewers fayre even people with meal vouchers getting turned away so...