Preston Brook Beefeater — Restaurant in England

On my way home from a fishing session with my partner we randomly stopped at this establishment and decided to have a refreshing beer. During our drink I thought it would be nice to make it into a fathers day meal but soon found out they were fully booked up which we thougherly understood as it was very last minute and we hadn't pre-booked a table. I was very happy to see they had their bar bite menu's out on there tables / bar strech one of these menu's being on our table advertising such food, after seeing this we called our son to see if he would like to come and join us to which he did. my partner went to the bar and he asked the barmaid who greeted him where he asked her if they was serving bar bites for her to reply yes, I wish to state she was lovely very helpful and very customer focused with a beaming smile on her face, sadly for her she came across a technical issue with her till whilst trying to process our food and drinks order, the barmaid in question called for her manager to assist her for for him to come an take over the whole situation where we later found out off him they where not serving bar bites, my partner tried very politely to ask why was this as the bar bites menus was out for advertisement. I now know this chap to be the premises manager and goes by the name of Craig, after my partner asking what I believe was a reasonable question he became very flustered an abrupt and said they wasn't serving food in the bar area as it was too much for the kitchen being farthers day, but then contradicted him self said that he would order the food for us, he then said he didn't like the way my partner spoke to him and didn't want an argument. my partner repied he wasn't arguing in the first place and was just only asking a sivil question, There was no way we were rude to him we just pointed out the fact of the menu's being out for advertisement, my confusion is, why have them out if you are not serving from them ? The way Craig spoke to us was un necessary and unprofessional and I am shocked that he is a manager who representative your establishment. When we had at last finished ordering our food and got to sit back down we could hear and see Craig bad mouthing us to what was clear where two regular customers as throughout our stay all your staff at different intervals were coming and going chatting away to them both. as already mentioned again this is a very por act of professionalism which made us feel very uncomfortable and unwelcomed which lead us to not being able to relax and enjoy our food, drinks and time there, it certainly won't be a place we will be...

I’m not usually one to write negative reviews, but I was really taken aback by such poor customer service at this site. I use Premier Inns and Whitbread restaurants wherever I travel to, and this is the first time I have ever been turned away from a restaurant, well within serving times, because of “staffing”.

On this occasion, I had been glamping nearby to this site with friends, and each time we go, we always go to Preston Brook for breakfast. We had tried to book online for breakfast but the website wasn’t taking any bookings from today (Friday) until Monday, so we turned up in person. We arrived at bang on 10.15. The lady serving (blonde hair, wearing her own shirt, not uniform, so I assume a manager or team leader) asked for our hotel booking so she could seat us. I explained we hadn’t booked via the hotel, and she responded that she’d have to turn us away. I asked why, and she said we stop serving at 10.30. I explained it was 10.15 at this point, and she said last sitting is 10.15 - which it was. She then found another excuse and said that the chefs did not have enough food left at this point so couldn’t sit us - I wondered at this point how they’d have fed us when she was prepared to sit us down when she thought we’d come from the hotel as she was happy to sit us as a hotel guest. She then also said that they were not accepting walk-in guests because it’s school holidays and they are low staffed so do not have capacity to serve us. Again, I’m not sure where she’d have magicked staff from for us if we’d been a hotel guest.

It was frustrating that there was excuse, upon excuse, which contradicted each other. It felt like they just did not want to permit us entry.

Whitbread sites are closing down left, right and centre, and it’s no surprise to see why when they’re turning paying customers away during opening times.

If some sites have taken the decision to only serve hotel guests, this needs to be better publicised, with a notification on the website when trying to book a table, and with a note on the door saying walk-in customers are...

This place has slowly got worse each visit. It was fairly good and the service and meals good also. Before this evenings visit I had popped in for breakfast. Although it was decent enough there was nothing else to add as apparently the chef had turned everything off in the kitchen. This was a fair time before they finished breakfast too. This evening was probably the last time I’ll go. The waitress was nice and friendly. But when my meal arrived it was just about warm. The only hit think was the chips. The waitress asked if everything was ok and said they would go and get it warmed. I asked for a fresh one as I didn’t fancy having something reheated when I wanted it to be hot when I first got it. The waitress agreed and took the meal away. During the wait for my food I could see the waitress and the chef talking and pointing in my direction (not good in my opinion) After approx a 35/45 mins and everyone at the table had finished their meals my replacement arrived. The replacement meal although hot this time wasn’t the best. The steak looked the same one as I returned and it now come with stuff on I asked not to be on the meal. This put me off eating the meal and also the fact the chef returned back to the dining area and was looking in my direction until I looked directly at him. The only saving grace is they decided to remove the cost of my meal off the bill. But even my daughters meal didn’t look the best and it was dry as it looked like it had been standing somewhere.

Sorry to sound picky etc. But the experience didn’t fill me with confidence that the replacement meal hadn’t been...