Gordano Gate Brewers Fayre — Restaurant in England

A distinctly poor experience, with serious issues with almost every meal. Starting with the chips, none of the chips we had were cooked through, some almost raw inside (across three meals). The loaded chips and bacon had clearly been sitting in the sauce so long they were both not fully cooked, and somewhat soggy, which I wouldn't have believed possible. My daughter, just having Chips as a snack, only found three in her portion remotely edible. The rest would have made her I'll. One meal came differently than I ordered and we had to justify our order to the server to change it. I myself ordered cheese Nachos, and when they arrived, they had no cheese on, and we're instead covered with a (road sign yellow, plasticky) 'cheese sauce' When I asked politely whether I had the right meal; 'I'm so sorry to disturb you, may I check please as I thought this came with cheese'), the server told me the cheese was 'inside'. It wasn't. They then bought me a new plateful, with just enough (somewhat bland and luke warm) cheese to cover maybe 10 Nachos, leaving me with another 30 or so to eat dry with the (quite nice veg) This portion for two to share was £8. We discovered about the chips after this (the different meals arrived in stages over a period of ten minutes) and had lost hope that returning then would make a difference.

None of these things on their own would ruin a meal, but taken together, it was a disastrous experience. A bit like a parody. Staff were friendly, as were we, but seemed worn out and beyond caring. We arrived at 2pm on the 25th Feb.

Although smaller things, half our plates were collected, and the rest (mostly uneaten chips and nachos) forgotten about till our desert was bought, when we had to pick them up so the desert had somewhere to go and the swap them with the server. Although it wasn't busy, our food (chips, loaded chips, Nachos, soup, and two starters as main meals) took around 40+ mins to arrive, and desert around 20, which made our quick lunch with my parents on the way north, a much longer affair.

They were so disgusted, they're writing a letter to the manager with their concerns. They are local, and won't be back. When we've eaten here twice before, it's been ok food, in a convenient location. I can't imagine a good enough reason to...

Thought we'd try Gordano Gate as we hadn't been there for a long time. We used to go there a lot when our daughter was much younger (she's now 18!), and she used to love playing in the soft play. It used to be a great place to go for the family and was always full of people. Sadly, last night we got there about 7pm. We walked in and it was quite empty (maybe a handful of tables taken). We were asked if we'd booked and we said no. The girl said she didn't know whether she could fit us in!! Really?! We had checked the outside seating area before we went in, and there was no-one sat out there, as we had thought it would be nice to sit out there, as it was a lovely warm evening. We were told though that they weren't serving food out there as they were short staffed. As there was only the three of us, she found us a table! She sat us in the curved area down near the soft play area. She informed us that there no chicken dinners, no fish, and no rice. She had informed us that the soft play area shuts at 4pm. There was also a family of 4 with 2 small children eating near us. The table we had was disgusting sticky! We ordered our food and drinks. The food eventually came, which we couldn't fault. We decided to have desserts so ordered and paid for them. After 40 minutes we still had not received them so I went to check where they were. There were a group of about 4 men waiting at the bar area, but no sign of any staff anywhere! Then one of the girls came into the bar area and served them, and I spotted the other girl coming out of the kitchen. I went up to her and said we had ordered our desserts over 40 minutes ago and wondered where they were? She asked whether I still wanted them! I thought, well we've ordered and paid for them, so yes! To be honest, we had thought if they didn't come out within 5 minutes we would cancel them and get a refund. Luckily, they did come out quite quickly then. There seemed to be only two staff on, and whoever they may have had in the kitchen When we left, no tables had been cleared from before we got there, and there was food on the floor. I feel sorry for the staff that were on as it's their jobs that are at risk, but come on, a Saturday night with only two visible staff on! Seems as though this place is being run into the ground!...

Best avoided. From the sticky tables to the slow service and forgotten orders, you might be better off venturing elsewhere….

Being marooned on a residential training course I would have liked to have had the opportunity to work my way through the sumptuous menu of sizzling bites and mouth watering meals. Instead it was more a pot luck of what’s available, substitutions and varying quality.

It’s always nice to be greeted at the door with ‘Have you booked?’ and then being presented with your cutlery wrapped in front of you in a paper napkin, plonked at a random table and told ‘order at the bar’. I know the Brits love a queue, but with only one member of staff serving, there was an inevitable delay. I always took my menu with me as there was plenty of time to make my meal choice, change it, go on my phone, make a few calls, read the news, twice, then look at the menu again before ordering. I learnt to always have at least 3 back up choices for each course.

Then the fun begins. As you wait, and become bored finding which part of the table is the stickiest, a second favourite pastime was guess the meal, because they certainly didn’t resemble the menu picture. But you need to stay more alert than the fiercest predator, slow reaction to your meal being quickly deposited means you’ll miss the opportunity to ask for any added sauces. If you’re successful then your prize is a sachet or two.

The food is palatable, it’s not great, and has that quintessential ‘straight out of the freezer’ texture and taste. I would also avoid the main course and sweet course combo, you’re generally forgotten once you’ve had the main course. The staff are fairly indifferent and the carnage of many tables filled with half eaten food plates not cleared away was testimony to the general service standards on display.

It may be local to the hotel next door, but unless you like a no frills conveyer belt experience, it’s worth taking a stroll...