I organised an office lunch for 12 people a week in advance with pre-orders sent 4 days before so that there won't be any delays or surprises. Unfortunately, we ended up walking out from the restaurant as the food was late by more than 55 minutes! We had to take our food to go, after the staff managed to find last minute take away boxes and being told the meals were being plated 20 minutes ago. Adding insult to injury, two of the meals were half portions. Which I can only assume the kitchen/chef had a nightmare of a day. The attitude of how we were misled was very demeaning, condescending and outright deflective of the problems occurring in the kitchen. Being told that we were in the wrong for everything. When confronted with our frustrations we were told that we were late to arrive, the food was ready and on the way, the half portions were the correct portions. Firstly, we were on time. Second, we could clearly see the portion sizes on other tables beforehand. Lastly, they claimed they had an influx of three full tables at the same time. What is the point of booking a week before, with meal pre-orders then? The two staff on the day couldn't confront us after all what happened and offered us the food for free, which was the only saving grace. We wouldn't expect less at that point while standing at the door waiting for our food. The man on service that day did not apologies once, which at least his lady colleague did. It's unfortunate not to be honest with your customers and say that they were understaffed or unprepared but rather making an excuse that we were the problem led to a very distasteful experience. We have been going for office lunches for the past 6 years in town and this is a first! Joules need to make some changes in attitude and service for large groups. Because the HT Inn is a lovely venue and I frequent it often for drinks and it's very sad to see these issues.