Billy Bob’s Parlour Skipton — Restaurant in England

Manager cannot deal with customers correctly at all!!

After a very close very recent family bereavement, me, my partner and sister in law decided to take some well deserved down time with the kids. We decided billy bobs would be ideal, how wrong we were!

Firstly we queued hoping to get a table but knew without booking chances would be slim and wouldn’t be disheartened if we couldn’t. When we approached the counter and asked we were greeted by a lady who seemed very abrupt about us not booking and seemed like she felt she had a point to prove.

We didn’t let this effect our day at all and continued to be up beat about our day considering the dark ones we were dealing with.

We sat down outside and took a look at the menu, after looking for a while we decided that there wasn’t much our 11 month old twins could eat due to intolerances. The rest of us (3 adults and 2 children) ordered nearly £70 worth of food and drink and we sat and waited. While waiting my partner got a small cheese pasta salad from her bag so the twins could snack while we ate. We didn’t think this would be an issue as we had already spent a significant amount and was willing to spend more at the establishment.

After a while the same lady came to our table and requested we put the sun shade umbrella down due to wind which was understandable, but as soon as she cast her eyes upon the pasta salad it was like a red rag to a bull! (This is no exaggeration) She immediately started raising her voice, shaking and making sure the other customers around us knew about it! She gave us no opportunity to explain or even speak at all for that matter. Making us feel so embarrassed and belittling us and it seemed like she created a scene purposely for her own satisfaction (weirdly). I mean I would totally understand if we hadn’t spent a penny, there was baby food available and we had set up the table with a Tesco meal deal each! But no this was a small container of food for my babies that weren’t catered for!

My partner barely had time to put one of the twins down to remove the food before she demanded again and told my partner to leave the area and feed the kids in the car! Making a comment like “I will make sure you go to the car park with the food” I assumed this meant she was going to escort my partner to the car? I could be wrong but again another weird comment to make.

We like to think we have respect and was willing to put the food away but her fixation and strange remarks about not leaving us alone until the food was away got to a level where I started to think that this was a serious power trip.

After this wave of abuse over a small pasta salad for children that are clearly not catered for here, we decided we had to leave before this lady made herself poorly! And before the whole of Skipton knew our twins had some pasta!

We requested a refund which was fortunately given!

I totally understand the situation but being a business owner myself I have learned there are ways to deal with customers whether in the right or wrong and this certainly was not the way to deal with this situation.

We are honest, respectable, hard working people and a simple word over the shoulder would have been great and we would have accepted the problem and dealt with it!

For anyone going to the establishment be warned of the brunette lady with glasses, her attitude towards us was horrendous and this is not how you deal with customers.

Side note: Billy Bobs Owner, please know this lady is not doing your business any favours!! For your reference the name on our refund...

Visited with my mum for the first time for her birthday and we've both said we would love to return again! Made a reservation online as wasn't sure how busy it would be, but arrived & there was plenty of space. Mistakenly made a reservation for the family area, but was offered a table in the adult area.

There was plenty of parking space provided, though as a disabled badge holder, I only saw around 3 spaces, but there could have been more. All areas accessible. I didn't use my wheelchair, but would have needed a little bit of help getting upto the restaurant itself as there was an incline, but nothing major.

We were greeted with a friendly smile and it was clear as to how we could place an order - either at the till or you can download the app from the comfort of your own table.

Whilst there are gluten free options available, I would have liked to have seen a wider range, though it was nice just to be able to get something gluten free! The downside was that dishes don't come with a side so you do have to pay extra for sides and the other thing is you can't buy a side on a standalone basis - my Mum did say that had she been able to do so, she would have ordered a side of chips, but the portion sizes were quite big and so we shared a basket. The food was absolutely delicious - would 100% recommend the chips as they were absolutely gorgeous!

Ice cream portions were really generous and there's a visible board by the parlour where you can check for dietary needs. Would have loved to try the birthday cake ice cream, but with it not being coeliac friendly I wasn't able to have it, my Mum did say it was absolutely beautiful though!

There were several American imported drinks available (would love to see Big Red added to the list).

The whole place was absolutely stunning in terms of decor, the fact that there's an actual American school bus that you can dine in is absolutely iconic! There are old style juke boxes, which were really interesting to see, petrol pumps which all added to the aesthetic of the overall look and feel as well as so many classic american songs.

Cleaning and the overall upkeep of the place seemed great, personally couldn't find any fault with the upholstery in terms of its condition or cleanliness, which shows the sense of pride the owners and staff members have in terms of how the establishment comes across.

It's definitely a place for children, as a kid I would have absolutely loved the outdoor playground and just had a little glance at the playbarn from the outside, which looked absolutely amazing!

The only thing I would say is that when using the downloadable menu I personally found it quite hard to read on a phone, but the physical copies are far easier to read.

Really enjoyed our visit and will definitely be...

I brought my five year old disabled son here one day in February and had a carer with me to help support him.

I’d booked a table online as per their policy and arrived on time (11:30) and let the staff know we were there. In my booking request, I mentioned that my son was autistic and had an eating disorder (ARFID) so I wasn’t sure how he would be and requested we be seated near the door in case an early exit was needed. We were shown to our table near the exit and my son within a couple of minutes wanted to leave as it was too noisy, I ordered him an ice cream and we took it outside so he could regulate. At this point, I mentioned to the staff we were having to go outside and explained why so they could use our table for other guests if needed (although it was rather quiet customer wise at this point). We paid the additional £3 to play when my son was regulated, stayed for about thirty minutes and then had to leave as he had reached his limit.

A few days later, I noticed that Billy Bob’s had charged me £15 in addition to our ice cream and play – I contacted them and asked why I had been charged £15 and was ultimately met with an aggressive rely from the ‘owner’ Mandy who claimed that she was entitled to do that because we hadn’t ordered a meal! I explained the whole situation and that I had not only attended our booking, we had made a purchase and paid to play. Mandy continued her aggressive tone and stance that she was in the right and then went on to question why I had taken my son somewhere busier than the restaurant - outside wasn’t busier and it was certainly more quiet, however, I owe no one an explanation as to my parenting decisions, especially complete (thieving) strangers.

There is nowhere online which states a minimum spend and when booking the table, it says you will be charged if you don’t turn up – which we did!

This place has absolutely NO understanding of additional needs, reasonable adjustments and thinks nothing of breaching the Equality Act. Other reviewers have commented how poor or (at best) average the food is and it is incredibly overpriced. The environment is hugely overstimulating and loud and I would advise against visiting this place at all but certainly out of principle for how it treats disabled children and steals your money!

AVOID! There are so many wonderful places in Skipton to take...