Coach & Horses — Restaurant in England

Appalling! Upon arrival we were told that we hadn't booked. Showed email confirmation to be told "Oh, You booked today, our system doesn't update that quickly" I thought that is what booking online is for! Decided what we wanted to eat (some items were already crossed off the menu which was fine as we knew they were unavailable) and went to the bar to order. The starter my husband had selected was unavailable so he decided just to have a main course... Duck leg with sides of baby potatoes and cauliflower cheese. I was told "We don't have potatoes or cauliflower cheese as we are changing the menu and just to let you know, there is a 45 minute wait for food ( the restaurant was not overly busy so dread to think how long the wait would be if it was!) Totally disappointed and frustrated we quickly finished our drinks and approached the bar to pay. The server told us how much we owed whilst chewing his way through a packet of sweets that were placed in full view. My husband paid for the drinks without so much as a 'Thank you' from the server. I cannot believe the apathy, attitude and complete disregard for any customer service. Basic training in hospitality wouldn't go amiss. This was our first visit to this establishment and will come of no surprise, it will be our last.

Thank you for your response to my review. It doesn't really matter how good other customer's experiences were as it is ours that matters to us: atricious. We were made to feel like an inconvenience that we had dared to book a table on the same day, as your system is incapable of recognising the booking. Have never received such appalling customer service. I notice you haven't commented on the server eating whilst taking our payment, is this becauseyou condone staff communicating with customers whilst chewing on a mouthful of sweets. Amateur in the extreme! Why on earth...

Really disappointed, we waited about 40 minutes which in itself would not have been a problem as they appeared short on staff. I ordered the special chicken, leak and cheese pie which I think may have been really nice if not for the issues. All the other meals ordered had barely warm veg and chips ( the waitress did offer to take back and heat up but none of us fancied a microwaved plates) and said we'd just eat it. I then realised my pie was still in grease proof paper after a bit of humming and hawing the others said just tip it upside down out of the paper, which I did to find the bottom of the pie not cooked at all. I took it to the bar and tried to get someone's attention rather than carrying it round to the main bar in front of all the other customers. The lady there saw me and ignored me for 5 minutes. Looking at me and looking away, no acknowledgement I was there at all. Eventually she told the passing waitress I was stood there . I explained to the waitress the problem and she did offer to order me something else by this time my companion's were more than halfway through their meals so by the time anything was ready they would have finished and be ready to leave. The response my friends got when they said one meal was to be taken of the bill was very curt. I understand the pressure businesses and staff are under but neither myself or any of my friends were offered anything like an apology or even displayed any regret over the issue. We have previously enjoyed this establishment but in future we won't drive, to eat in their case luke warm food, in my case...

We have frequently visited the Coach and Horses over the last few years for evening meals and Sunday lunches and found both the food and service to be of a fantastic standard.

Sadly this is not the case under the new management. We popped in last Sunday for a drink at 12pm and were surprised to find most of the tables empty where before you would need to book in advance to have any chance of being seated... This should have been a warning sign.

We returned this week at 2pm - again, virtually empty, and ordered a roast beef and gourmet burger.

The very meagre looking roast arrived, followed 5 minutes later by the veg with the extra gravy I requested in a jug plonked on top of the peas. Undercooked roast potatoes, dry tasteless veg, stringy fatty beef... Not great. The burger was overcooked, dry and poorly presented.

We would have complained but at no stage did anyone check if all was well. Not as if they were too busy, trust me!!

After finishing the landlord arrived to clear plates, asked how it was, when I explained our poor experience, rather than an offer of discount or any form of compensatory gesture, I was told that he was very surprised as they were doing 'great business' 'very busy' and had 'great reviews'.

I can assure you, great businesses aren't empty on a Sunday lunchtimes, and the great reviews on here are for over a year ago.

We...