Poachers — Restaurant in England

Went to Poachers on Sat 30th with a bunch of friends from the local area.

Last time I came here, the service, food and atmosphere was great!

This time however.... completely different story. After walking in, nobody came over to seat us, we walked to the bar to get a drink. To which a young lady came and took an order of one of the couples with us. She then wandered off with no communication about where she was going, the manager then comes out and asks my friend to tap his card on the machine. No explanation at all, but essentially they didn't have the particular alcohol but just didn't fancy explaining that. Thankfully because the alternative order was slightly cheaper, it was somewhat redeeming. It was then mine and my partners turn to order, to which the young lady left again, no explanation, no communication, just left. Then the manager comes out and asks my partner what the alternative drink was, we hadn't even been told that there was none of the drink we ordered originally, so obviously we were a bit confused. But none the less ordered another drink. Bearing in mind that during each of these times where the lady leaves and then the manager comes out, there must've been a 5 minute wait.

Now... Time to be seated, the manager asked another young lady who worked there to check the laptop for the bookings under the name of our booking. The face this young lady gave was the most cannot be arsed attitude I have ever seen whilst in a restaurant, anyway about 10 minutes later, after charging the laptop and then seating another group.... we were finally seated.

This is where things got better but worse. They did come up and ask us if we were ready to order, to which we said no. They then come back about 10 minutes later, no too bad, palatable.

Between the group sitting down and the starters coming out was 37 minutes. 37!!! My chicken tenders come out burnt to a crisp, the friends sticky chicken was burnt to a crisp. Some things were cooked well and looked nice, some things were cooked appallingly and were horrible. Anyway with the starters over, my partner and the other ladies in the group went to get another drink. To which my partner was then told that actually there was the drink she had ordered originally and they had missed a bottle in the back. There was no renumeration for even the slightest inconvenience.

Anyway the mains started coming out. I was adamant that if my chicken burger come out as crispy and burnt as the tenders, I would've sent it back, which I am not one to complain normally but this is how atrocious this service and food was. The Sausage and Mash and Pie and Mash were clearly using "smash" rather than homemade mash. Food didn't come out hot. The only and I mean ONLY redeeming factor was the fries.

Finally the cherry on top of this awful cake, was the manager shouting across the entire room whilst people are eating to split one table's bill in half. At least walk across the room so as not to disturb everyone eating.

It was time to pay and leave, again no renumeration for any of the inconvenience caused at all. Thankfully one of the party member had a blue light card and discount was applied which made the price of this place stomachable. I would say that here you would be paying around 50 quid + per person including drinks for a god awful meal...

We last visited 9 years ago when family lived nearby. We are on holiday with friends and had booked a table with high expectations and good memories of eating here. Such a massive disappointment. From the point when we entered and despite there being lots of tables empty the manager kept us waiting for ages and another member of staff then seated us. The waitres came over after a long wait and did not ask about allergies or what was not available on the menu. Being a Sunday at 630 we were looking at the menu at the roasts. A neighbouring table told us they had no roasts. We ordered starters and mains. Lots of items unavailable. After 3 hours we were still waiting for Desserts to arrive and when I questioned the 5 staff members at the bar why we were still waiting as there was no one else there- a gobby female from the kitchen asked me what table and shed get them. A few minutes passed and the gobby female came to our table and shouted at my husband saying that your desserts are not sent from the kitchen until the mains are cleared. We did not order desserts until the mains were cleared as we (6 of us) were all still hungry. When desserts came they were unpalatable. Cheesecake with no base! I asked for the manager who said they wasn't working so I asked for the duty manager which was the person we was talking to. Yes I understand that it's a busy time of year and it had been a busy day. They were extraordinary short staffed and the staff they did have were very green. Good service would have rectified lots of the mistakes made. There was 3 other tables sitting in our veiw. 1 left without ordering as nothing was available. The other 2 tables were unhappy with very long waits and incorrect items when it did arrive. We were in the restaurant for 3 1/2 hours and left disappointed and hungry. Terrible start to our narrow...

Very welcoming staff and found us a table with our dog very quickly. The lady came to take our meal order very quickly but not our drinks order so she said she'd come back! Another waitress came and took all our order - one of which was chicken and ham hock pie... Sadly, no Sunday roast on a Sunday?! Unbelievable!?! The drinks arrived promptly but the meal took ages after my husband's soup. When it did come mine was a beef and ale pie! As I was hungry and nearly ordered the beef and ale pie I just ate it. It was very delicious and my husband enjoyed his. Nobody came over to see if the food was OK but they were very busy moving tables and chairs around and talking to each other (about work, not just chatting) I expl to the waitress and said it wasn't a problem and she said she'd come back definitely wrote down chicken pie. When I went to pay, I noted to the bar man when chicken pie came up on the bill that I'd actually been served beef he just said "Really?!" He offered no apology at all. Also the place is really looking like it either needs a good clean or re-paint. The table we were on had runny marks all down the wall under the table and the toilets were crying out for a thorough clean and repaint. I wouldn't come back on our return journey (narrowboating) unless it was refurbished. I’m giving 4 stars due to one senior staff member being a bit of a bad influence on the younger staff members. I was waiting to pay the bill, the bar man was preparing a table order and the senior staff member was talking to the younger one AT THE TILL, completely ignoring/oblivious that I was there!!! And NO SUNDAY LUNCH!!!! Whaaaat?!? Training and cleaning is definitely lacking either in Marstons or just this particular place. It could be an amazing place to go to in the position it's in and the available space...