Moosteak — Restaurant in England

The steaks are amazing, however, sadly our evening came close to being ruined by poor management.

A normally brilliant restaurant is often undone on its busiest nights if not managed well and our Valentine's night meal at Moosteak is a perfect example.

My wife and I arrived for our meal on the time we were offered, if not a few minutes early, but the restaurant was full with no sign of anyone being close to leaving and another couple before us standing, waiting for their table. The restaurant manager told us that they had had problems with customers arriving late and asked us to give them 15-20 minutes and our table would be ready. He pointed out a pub over the road that we could go to to wait and he'd call us when our table was ready. After over half an hour we'd finished our drinks and we were getting pretty hungry so we went back to the restaurant. All the tables were still full of the same diners, still eating, so we made our way to the bar area to find another two prospective diners who'd actually been sent to the same pub before us. After some time standing within the bar area, a family at the large table at the back of the restaurant left and we and the other couple were seated together at that table to drink our BYOB bottles of wine (we did enjoy the company of that couple while we were waiting though - extra star for their company). Eventually(!), a table became free and the other couple moved to the now available table and our planned evening together was finally able to start, however this was over an hour after the time we'd originally been offered to book and a long time of feeling uncomfortable through hunger - at no point were we offered olives or other nibbles at our shared table while we were waiting, and it took at least two reminders to the waiting staff to remove the empty wine bottle left by the other couple.

We don't like limited "special" menus and when booking for 'special days' we normally check to ensure that our intended restaurant will not be offering such. Unfortunately we (I) did not do that this time so we were frustrated to only be offered a Valentine's Menu, with a limited offering. We made our selection, but not what we'd normally hope to choose when dining at a steak restaurant, plus an extra side of chips.

This is where the restaurant went some way to redemption. The food was, without any shadow of doubt, delicious! ...well, for me anyway because I really enjoyed the majority seafood starter; my wife, not quite so much, but the main course steaks were quite excellent.

Being one of the last bookings of the night, we were not rushed through our meal (though obviously neither were the late arrivals and overstaying earlier seatings - which is where the restaurant managers went wrong for everyone ...themselves included).

At the end of the night, and due to our compromised experience and prolonged discomfort, we'd half expected to be offered a small token of compensation. Something along the lines of being let off the corkage charge for drinking our BYOB bottle of wine or the extra side we'd ordered, but not at all. We were charged full price despite not being seated until a full hour after our booking time, which kind of rubbed everything bad in, like salt to a wound.

This is key learning for the managers - all could have been avoided if the managers had set a time limit on how long each booking was allocated at each table and then requiring the table be returned at a certain set time even if the customers arrived late - after all it is what a majority of other better managed restaurants do ...otherwise, simply not expecting a second seating.

We are left in two minds whether we shall return. We remain somewhat scalded by our experience at Moosteak, and there are many other excellent restaurants in Northampton. What we can say with certainty is that we SHALL NOT be returning on another 'special day' in the calendar. The managers simply need to learn to not only manage their restaurant, but manage their...

As Lovely as the staff and surroundings were, I wouldn't have steak in the name if you don't have:

A) Good quality, the steak was tough and overly fatty. B) Cook the steak to the customers request. (my friend asked for blue, I asked for rare, we both got medium) C) The pepper sauce tasted like it was from a packet.

Although we felt too bad to say this at the time and didn't give them a chance to rectify it. (service was a little bit slow which was surprising as we were the only people in there 😂 and we were hungry)

Our friend had a chicken dish that she really enjoyed, but she said it was very small for the price and she was still hungry.

Also the steak said it came with a choice of vegetables, we were given no choice, we both got about 4 small cherry tomatoes and a couple of bits of charred inedible broccoli.

I wouldn't go back sadly and felt a bit ripped off.

It was flashy with no substance.

Edit after the managers reply:

I'm not sure what you mean "We are shocked and amazed at your comments which does not coincide with what you and your friends said whilst you were actually in the restaurant! Which makes this entire visit quite suspicious!" We didn't say anything after the food came out and I think it was quite obvious we weren't impressed with the steak as I picked a bit of steak up with my fork and pointed at the middle of it whilst you watched from the kitchen.

"A) We use only premium quality Angus beef, dry aged for upto 30 days in a himalayan salt chamber to ensure maximum tenderness and taste." I can only assume this is a lie as it was one of the worst steaks I've ever eaten, the one star reviews that had steak all say the same thing.

"B) How can you be given not 1 but 2 medium cooked steaks when you have requested rare and blue? It doesn't make sense." No exactly, it doesn't make sense, we couldn't believe it either.

My friend ordered a side of chips with her chicken dish, so you've just lied. Also she just told us that she sent a picture to her sister and her sister asked "where's the chicken?" 4 bits of chicken for £15 is a bit steep.

We also said we'd stay for cocktails but after realising how bad the food was for the price we decided to not bother.

I often eat steak at Miller and Carter and The Embankment in Bedford I know what a decent steak should look and taste like.

I'm glad Adam had a great time he obviously didn't have the steak👍🏻, because honestly it's not great really cheap tasting meat.

I think it was obvious we couldn't wait to leave, and we even started to put our coats on as you decided to set a table rather than let us pay.

After reading a few other one star reviews it appears you are in a bit of denial about your food quality. I'd lower the price or buy...

We went for dinner for my brother's 18th birthday on a Thursday night and we was the only table in there. On arrival it took a while to get our drinks order, and we ordered starters, tried ordering 1 of each starter apart from the mixed grill but was told (rather than advised) that the waiter did not know why we was doing that and advised us to order 2 mixed starters and 1 of everything, so ended up ordering more than we would have.

After ordering starters it took a while for a drinks to come, and they didn't take our mains order for a long while after ordering the starters, so was sat with an empty table for a while. Even as we asked the other staff member if we could order with him, he said he couldn't do it so had to go in the back to ask the other waiter. There also was no cocktail glass for what my brother wanted to drink so they couldn't do that drink either. They also refuse to give you tap water, so you're forced into buying a £4.50 bottle of still water each time.

The starters came and they were nice, apart from the prawns which were underwhelming. Mains took a long while to come too after the starters, and the food overall was tasty, won't be the best steak you've ever eaten but it was good food overall. My brother also ordered the Wagyu steak which was £100 for 11oz for reference, which was nice, but personally not sure if it's worth that but understand it's an expensive steak in general. The sauces for the steaks were muddled up too, which meant that we had to swap them from each plate, not a massive issue but just adds to the continuous mistakes.

After clearing our mains they did give at least a bit of complementary cake for my brother, but after he finished this we were never asked again if we'd like anything else so was left waiting a while for the bill to come.

Once the bill came the card machine did not work, after trying 5 different cards and restarting the wifi still no luck with the machine as the fault was clearly on their end. Which meant we were forced to go out and get cash from the Sainsbury's to pay.

After paying the cash, the waiter had also written the wrong number on the bill and was meant to write £427 instead of £422, also bearing in mind there was a £40 service charge on the bill, he quickly asked for the £5 extra before we left, which given all the issues and the fact we already left £35 of the £40 service.

The fact the food was good is what saved it, it seemed the restaurant lacked all the other basics otherwise, with the inability to pay by card and take food and drink orders quickly and given the prices they are charging you'd expect a much better atmosphere and service, especially as we were the only...