A truly awful experience from start to finish. We booked a table in advance for a party of 6 at 1pm. We were routed by a server past empty round tables and window tables that actually had a view to what was the worst seating in the entire restaurant. We were told we weren't allowed to sit in the 'better' seats as people had booked. I asked if they had booked those seats, and the server informed us, "No, but the seating plan had been sorted out the night before!". It wasn't because of seating numbers, as we were given 4 small tables of 2 for our group of 6, and it wasn't because other people had reservations for those particular seats, it was purely pedantic bad management and inflexibility. We asked to change, as we had also booked, and they said no - just because they could! The tables we were directed to were covered in drink stains and still sticky from previous drinks / diners. The drinks menu was also soaking wet and sticky, obviously from a previously spilt drink, so we had to ask for a new one as it was dripping. My white shirt got drips on it from this menu. We received a new menu upon asking, but no apologies. So up to this point, terrible seating, bad service, dirty tables, and disgusting menus. Now came the completely woeful service. There were so many staff, but yet it took forever for the food to come. A would have been 1hr experience turned into a 3hr experience and not in a good way! The salad bar was nowhere near as good as it used to be, as saying deluxe coleslaw is laughable as it was so cheap and nasty, as was the potato salad, and the raw pepper looked like it had been taken from the bin, as it was that badly cut and discoloured. I would have said the self-serve refillable drinks were the high point, but even the strawberry syrup had run out. It's seriously sad when the best thing about the place is a self-serve coke dispenser. A couple of the meals looked great, such as the chicken skewer, but the 'Classic Chicken' burger was disappointing, to say the least. A very badly put-together double-burger and chips for just short of £20. It was one of the worst burgers I've ever had the misfortune of eating. After the disappointing main courses, we had to wait well over 25 minutes for the desserts to arrive. Now I would have said it couldn't get worse, but it did, as 2 of our party felt really ill afterwards (they were from 2 different households, which is important to remember!). I returned to inform them about this, and the incompetence and disgusting response and attitude was on a whole new level of disgusting. We were told that nobody else had been sick that day and that it must have been something we ate at home the day before, and it was our fault we were sick, not theirs. This comes to my point that we were from different households, so that was utter nonsense. We were utterly fobbed off and told to complete a form to Head Office. We weren't given a form or told where to find this form. What we did get was a young male server, talking over his manager, telling me I was a liar in respect of it was impossible to feel ill 3 hours after eating there. It just shows you how little their servers know about health and hygiene, as you can have severe symptoms within 30 minutes. If you want to get someone properly annoyed and upset, then this is how you do it. You give them utterly terrible seating, service, food, and afterservice, and then gang up on the individual when they complain. If you want to seriously anger and upset people, then carry on with your awful attitude to customer service. I barely held things together and was deeply upset how we were all treated from start to finish. Take some ownership when you give awful service and food and try your hardest to provoke hostility. I'm a professional person, and your team needs serious training on every level. Absolutely disgusting! I seriously can't recommend this establishment in any way! This used to be one of my favourite places due to the location, but now even the best location in the world wouldn't attract me back to this excuse of a restaurant.