Miller & Carter Telford — Restaurant in England

Myself and my Son came to the Telford branch of Miller and Carter yesterday for lunch to celebrate his Birthday. It was a real disappointment.

We were seated instantly, but then after 25 minutes of waiting for our drinks order to be taken I had to go and find a member of staff to request this. The waitress came over and apologised for the wait. I ordered 2 Strawberry fields Mocktails, I was told because my daughter was under 18 I could not order these. So we ordered a Pepsi and a bottle of Coke instead. I still don't understand why my child could not order a mocktail made up of sugar syrup and lemonade but fine if that is the policy. I did awkwardly point out my daughter was a boy, okay he has long hair but he was clearly dressed in boys clothes. A little bit embarrassing for him. The waitress told us the manager has authorised the drinks to given free of charge given the wait - this was appreciated. We ordered our mains also.

Food came out after about 20 minutes which was fine, the food was really good I will say. A good deal on the fixed lunch menu and the Steak was cooked perfectly. The onion loaf was dripping with oil so had to leave half of that, but other than that - all good on the food front.

After we finished our mains another waiter came over, took our plates and offered us the dessert menu. 10 minutes later we ordered our Coffee and small Dessert each. I asked the waitress (who I believe to be the manager now) if we could get the bill with our desserts as we were in a bit of a hurry now. She said no problem. Another waiter bought our coffees over, no sign of the bill and the manager had forgot to bring us the bill. I had to call another waiter over to ask again if I could get the bill after a further 15 minutes.

The bill arrived and the drinks were still showing, the waiter came over after a further 5-10 minutes to take payments and I explained the drinks the original waitress has said were being taken off the bill, were still on there. It was £7, I really didn't care but it was the fact it had been offered, not requested, then not honoured. I explained this to waiter and he said the original waitress was not in a position to offer free drinks. I explained she had said it been a gesture from the manager due to our initial wait - I am going to assume the same manager that forgot to bring us the bill then wouldn't make eye contact with us after remembering. The waiter called the manager over and a somewhat awkward exchange happened. The drinks were finally taken off the bill. We had now been sat in the restaurant close to 2 hours. A family of 4 had arrived after us, eaten, got the bill and left by the time we got our desserts. I couldn't bring myself to leave any tip which I also find awkward as typically I would leave 15% for even just a standard level service.

Overall I would go back to Miller & Carter but probably not this branch. The food was overall very good, but the service was poor. Unable to purchase a non alcoholic fruit mocktail despite no mention of this on the menu (I understand that's likely more M&C policy but needs to be clearer). My son being called a girl, offer of free drinks which had to be corrected afterwards when not honoured, 2 hours to eat lunch with just such an awkward atmosphere. It wasn't relaxing at all and really did put a slightly sour taste on what should have been a nice treat for my Son's birthday after a bit of shopping for him. He was so excited to try M&C as he loves a steak, so this was a disheartening...

My wife & I were having an overdue date night. We booked Millet & Carter Telford, which we have been to a fair few times before. As we were waiting to be seated it was visible that there were a few tables that hadn't been cleared and there didn't seem to be that many staff members on. After a few minutes wait, we were seated and given the option of the regular menu or the Sunday "set" menu. We both picked the 3 course set menu.

The starters came, I opted for the calamari & my wife had the king prawns. We both enjoyed our starters. For mains my wife had the 8oz sirloin & I opted for the 10oz Rib Eye. Both steaks were very tasty, although mine was rather chewy for a rib-eye but the flavours were there.. Desert my wife has the sticky toffee pudding and I had the lemon tart... again we both enjoyed our deserts, the lemon tart in particular was delicious.

There were no real issues with the food, the only issue really was with the service.

Our waitress was a blonde lady, she did say her name at the beginning but I honestly cannot remember it. We were sat in a 2 seater booth more or less bang on the middle of the restaurant. There seems to be a long delay in our played being taken away. We had to ask another waitress where ours was to get a second round of drinks, we had to ask for the plates to be taken away, especially when the young lad, who seems to be the food runner, Broughton it lettuce wedges out ready for our mains yet our starter plates were still on the table. Again, when we had finished we had to ask another member of staff where our waitress was to get our mains plates taken away and to order the desert. It appears she was sat around the corner having a meeting with her manager, to which she did apologise for, to her credit.

All in all, the service wasn't great, and the restaurant did look untidy as it seems to have minimal staff in. We can't really fault the food.

I am guessing as it is a Sunday "set price" menu then Miller & Carter reduce costs by having less staff in, and as we were on the set menu then maybe we can sort of expect a lesser amount of service..?

(Although saying that, the bill still came to £97 for the 2 of us... So £100 is still quite a pricey date night which is we cannot afford to do it that often).

We probably will return to Miller & Carter but they are not as good as they used to be and certainly locally there are other establishments that provide better steaks and better service (The Horsehoes at Uckington on the...

This evening I came to dine at your establishment with my partner, and unfortunately, our experience was far from satisfactory. While we were looking forward to a delightful evening, the service we received from our server, Brooke, significantly detracted from our overall enjoyment.

Upon being seated at our table, we were greeted by Brooke, whose demeanor was unwelcoming from the outset. Throughout the entire evening, she did not smile once, which conveyed a distinct lack of enthusiasm and enjoyment for her role. This lack of warmth and engagement was quite off-putting and set a negative tone for the evening. We just wanted to eat our food and go, this shouldn’t be an experience we have considering we spent £97 to dine at your restaurant, I believe it should be enjoyable, not uncomfortable.

Additionally, Brooke’s inattentiveness was a considerable issue. Despite our efforts to signal her attention, she walked past our table multiple times without acknowledging our requests. This disregard for our needs forced us to seek assistance from another server, which should not have been necessary. To add to our frustration, after we had finished our meal we requested for her to ring the bell to show our appreciation to the chefs, she ignored the request and carried on about her way, we then asked a second time and again - she ignored regardless of her walking past the bell many times. We observed that Brooke promptly attended to the table next to us when they asked for the bell to be rang and without hesitation she did it, highlighting a clear inconsistency in the level of service provided.

In summary, our dining experience was significantly diminished due to Brooke’s lack of professionalism and attentiveness. It is evident that she does not take pleasure in her job as she walks around with a face like thunder, and this negatively impacts the overall atmosphere and service quality of your establishment. I hope that you will address these issues to ensure a more positive experience for...