Orchard — Restaurant in England

To summarise my review - swerve this place until they get their act together.

We’ve visited this pub several times over the years, it’s a handy place to call in whilst visiting relatives in the area and we’ve always been happy with both the food and service until now.

Before I go into my review, I just want to be clear that giving poor reviews is not something I relish - both my kids have worked in hospitality and our local, a Marston’s house with an identical menu and ‘model’ is a place we eat at weekly, so we understand how it works and we’re not the sort of folks that think they’re eating at the Ivy when really they are eating pub grub.

So, we went on Friday night - the place was busy but there were plenty of spare tables. We were visiting an elderly aunt and wanted to take her out for tea, as we only see her once or twice a year (we live 220 miles away)

We ordered the food and the bar server told us the wait would be an hour - fair enough I thought, it is Friday evening after all, and in my experience my own Marstons sometimes quote an hour when they are rammed but it’s usually more like 30 minutes.

We waited the the hour, and another ten minutes and then I went to enquire (in case something had gone wrong with the order) - the bar person went in to the kitchen and came back out to assure me we were next up, and the wait would be seven minutes.

Another twenty minutes passed, during which I saw at least two sets of meals come out of the kitchen, so went back to the bar to check again.

The bar was busy, with one bar person working hard and to give him his due, was very courteous - we occasionally saw another bar person serving fleetingly, and once saw him collect glasses, but the bar was understaffed with people having to wait. Whilst waiting at the bar, I saw our meals come out.

So, one hour and thirty five minutes after ordering, on an hour quote, in a less than packed pub our food arrived.

the gammon was fairly tough and the egg yolk completely cooked (we had asked for egg and pineapple but that was disregarded). I suspect the meal had been under the heat lamp for quite some time - our aunt said she had visited earlier in the week and it was much nicer.

the hunters chicken came without the salad garnish/tomato.

a couple of the staff didn’t exactly look smart - one of them was wearing a cardigan in the style of Max Wall 😜

There was no check back for the meal - ie was it ok? (The Marstons House my kids have worked in seemed to be all over this).

Generally, if you are happy to wait ages for a poor meal, then visit this place on Friday night - we were left really disappointed with what was supposed to have been a nice night out with our aunt, we just had a frustrating night waiting and poor food service. This place has gone down several notches in terms of service since we visited last year and it’s a shame - it’s understaffed, the kitchen staff are clearly struggling even when the pub is not that busy, and we case several customers leave without ordering food because of the wait.

Come on - sort it out! Plenty of other Marstons...

We booked ahead to ask for a quiet table somewhere warm as we were bringing elderly family members and when we arrived, the Manageress couldn't of been any friendlier and accommodated our needs very well.

However, that is the total of the positives as from thereon in, the visit was a shambles.

The restaurant was empty, half full at absolute worst. We placed our food order and took our seat.

30 minutes later, the Manageress came and apologised for the wait, but informed us that there was one small order coming out and then we were next.

Cue the small order leaving the kitchen... Followed by another order... Followed by 3 more orders...

After an hour of waiting, and having seen the guy who ordered food at the same time as me finish his meal and leave, I approached the bar and asked how much longer it would be and after checking in the kitchen, I was told that they were just plating our food up, so it would be right out.

Cue another 4 orders leaving the kitchen.

I was getting up to go and complain when the food finally came out of the kitchen and ALL of it was barely luke warm, even the plates were stone cold - barring the kids korma we ordered, which was hotter than the surface of the sun, so my daughter could barely eat it. The bullets, sorry, lumps of overcooked chicken, had a uniquely leathery texture I've not experienced anywhere else. Thankfully.

I upgraded one of the meals to an XL and was less than impressed to find that it meant I got a second slice of turkey - but who serves a roast dinner with a single slice of meat?! I also got a second Yorkshire pudding - which tbh was the only saving grace to the entire meal, everything else on the plates looked and tasted like the chef had done a run to Iceland and had stocked up on value brand multi buy deals. No, that's unfair. There's no way Iceland would sell that bad a quality food... Think council estate cuisine and then undercook it and leave it on the counter for half an hour and you're almost there...

I'm assuming the 2 long black hairs that were in the XL meal were added extras that just didn't appear on the menu... Lucky me...

The side dish of pigs in blankets we ordered and asked to be cooked well done and crispy, looked like a decent vet could have got them oinking again, so I sent them back - and they finally arrived chargrilled just as I was finishing off my meal, so they ended up being a waste of time effort and money - but then that describes the meal as a whole.

We were planning on having puddings, but having spent an hour and 45 minutes thoroughly regretting our decision to throw our money away, we decided against wasting even more.

Overall one of the worst dining experiences Ive ever had. And no, that's not an exaggeration......

This was an outstanding experience. The welcome we received when entering was warm, genuine and very friendly and made us feel at home from the off. Our table was ready and everything was explained to us, including how to use the app, if required. Our pre-ordered drinks were ready and we were asked again if there was anything further that we would like. Table service was spot on, including some welcome Christmas banter. Our first course arrived, well presented and very tasty, so much so that the plates were cleared entirely. The mains came a reasonable time after, in fact the timing was impeccable and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was hot, and looked very tempting on the plate. At this point I must give praise to the chef. The food was scrumptious and if I could, I would certainly have eaten more, but the portion size was perfect, we are greedy so added a few sides, and we subsequently found that our eyes were bigger than our belly's!! I honestly could not have comfortably eaten another fork full and we were grateful to be asked if we needed a bit of time before desert was served. At the same time we were asked if further drinks were required. It was nice to feel unhurried and that the staff seemed genuinely happy to be there for us. All wore smiles and made it feel very festive indeed. Desert came and we had different deserts, my partner hasn't stopped babbling about the festive Crumble and I thoroughly enjoyed my Christmas pud. The only down side was having to waddle the relatively short distance home afterwards, We could have done with a lift on Santa's sleigh!!! Thank you and well done all for a wonderful, memorable and festive experience and we will definitely be returning more frequently to both drink and...