Market Cross — Restaurant in England

Review for The Market Cross - A Complete Disappointment

We visited The Market Cross last night at 5:30 PM, spending over £200 in total (£100 on food and £100 on drinks), and it turned out to be the most frustrating and disappointing meal we’ve ever had there.

What We Ordered: • Starters: Pâté (later swapped for mushroom due to unavailability), prawn cocktail, chicken wings. • Mains: 2 roast carveries, hake (swapped for roast due to unavailability), 2 Christmas burgers (kids’ meals). • Desserts: Sticky toffee pudding, banoffee pie, lemon tart, 2 kids’ chocolate brownies.

The Problems: Starter Delays: Starters took an hour to arrive. When they finally did, the prawn cocktail had frozen prawns and no prawn sauce – completely unsafe and unacceptable. Kids’ Meals Delayed: The kids’ meals (2 Christmas burgers) didn’t arrive until 7:30 PM, meaning we couldn’t even go up for our carvery until then. Carvery Quality: When we eventually got our carvery, it was awful. The meat was dry, and the vegetables were bland and overcooked. Having had over 20 carveries here before, this was by far the worst. Ticket Problem: When my daughter went to get her carvery, staff questioned her ticket and refused to serve her until they checked with the bar. This was unnecessary, humiliating, and upsetting for her. Service Mishap: While clearing the table, a server accidentally spilled the prawn cocktail into both of the kids’ meals, leaving them inedible. Desserts Mismanaged: Lauren brought out the kids’ desserts but told us that the adults’ desserts would take longer as the kitchen was “busy.” The restaurant wasn’t busy at all, and despite waiting, no adult desserts were ever served. Minimal Apology: Lauren was clearly trying her best to manage the chaos and even offered a free shot as an apology. However, this was nowhere near enough to compensate for the disastrous service and meal.

We spent over £200 on what ended up being a dreadful experience – frozen prawns, a dry and tasteless carvery, delayed meals, and no desserts for the adults. We’ve enjoyed The Market Cross many times in the past, but this visit was a complete letdown, and it has made us question whether we’ll return.

Rating: ⭐ (1/5)

Management urgently needs to address the food quality, staff training, and overall organization to avoid losing more...

We paid for 4 carvery, when we got to the carvery we were told we had to order the vegan / vegetarian options separately at the bar (not what it says in the menu), the member of staff at the carvery continued to labour the point, whilst having already served 3 of our party of 4, so could see that this was going to cause a disruption to our meal (rather than try and sort out the problem for the customer quickly). Our guest then went to the bar, and was told that 3 vegan sausages were more expensive than the roast beef. The bar staff couldn't sort this out quickly or efficiently. To start with, they had to refund the original order, give our guest her money back, and then order another carvery, with the vegan sausages. Our guest then went and picked her vegetables from the carvery, whilst the kitchen prepared the sausages. On starting our meal, I reviewed the menu, it clearly states that there isnt an additional cost for the vegetarian option and so we asked the front of house staff to come over to our table. They opologised, but said that's what the til said. One of our guests then started quoting consumer law at the member of staff, who went away to check, returning with a full refund. Clearly embarrassed he tried to explain that it wasn't his fault, that it was the till. By which time, my lunch was effectively cold, and instead of enjoying the company of our guests, we'd had to be involved in the farce between our guests and your staff. It turns out that the member of the front of house team we were talking to was the manager. What happened to 'the customer is always right'? As a starting point? I spent over 5 years working for Wadworth & Co, in the kitchen and front of house. The manager of the pub I worked for would have nailed this within 30 seconds of it being brought to his attention, not let it put a downer on the customers enjoyment of the visit to your...

This whole experience here is poor and i’m sitting here now writing this review because i’m just perplexed and the lack of communication and poor service quality that was received by my family and friend.

we ordered at the bar and received our drinks with pleasure. the food that was made in the kitchen came and they had almost finished their plates and i waited more than 20 mins for my plate of food.

i had to ask another waiter for a status update of the food and he went and instantly brought it out..? i had to ask about my food for it to be brought out the next second? mind you the fries were not hot they were lukewarm and the burger was raw/rare?

I didn’t want to assume racism just because we are the only black people here so i just thought is it down to poor service? because other people’s desserts and meals were brought out by the same waiter we asked for status updates from? it just didn’t make sense - why are we waiting longer and being treated as if we don’t matter.

but it came to ordering more food like dessert and waited 15 mins for apple crumble..? i don’t understand are we making the apple crumble from fresh? have the apples not yet been cut for cooking..?

we were promised it was coming multiple times but asking for a status update didn’t do anything except they were much slower.

the food does not look like anything on the menu, emphasis on the homemade. the only thing that was quick was the cocktails but even then they were finished before the food because of how long we waited.

the custards for the apple crumble was cold/lukewarm.. i’m not understanding was the stove off whilst we cooked the custard?

the whole experience was a negative for me and...