Sondes Arms — Restaurant in England

We've just been for a meal, 7 of us on Fathers day, and we felt what could've been a fantastic meal was marred by what seemed like a disregard for good customer service.

Starting with our arrival, we made our way to the bar and we were met by a gentleman that seemed to believe our presence was more of an inconvenience than it was part of their job. We ordered several drinks and informed him that we had a table booked. While receiving our drinks, my other half pointed out that the draft Diet Coke was low on Syrup. She turned to me (sorry if this sounds uppity, I hate saying stuff like this) because I'd worked in Pubs for a number of years, for clarification. There was no doubt as it was pale, brown instead of the black and the taste was muted. I politely mentioned this to the lady that was behind the bar who then turned and mentioned it to the gentleman. He went on to tell her (in front of us but not to us) that he had changed it this morning and to give us Cans instead of draft. He didn't apologise or offer to change the syrup over. When the female member of staff mentioned changing the syrup however, he told her (once again right in front of us and not to us) "No, I changed it this morning" as if to make out we were purposely trying to be difficult and went on his way round the corner of the bar.

None the less, we thought no more of the matter and went to the table. Things picked up here, we had our orders taken by a lovely lady that was both polite and quick to take our orders. Also, when we mentioned that my Girlfriends brother was Autistic and was struggling with the volume of the music in the restaurant, she had no issues with turning it down for us which we greatly appreciated. When the food arrived / was collected from the carvery, we were all happy with what we were given. It was cooked well, tasted great and portion size was more than adequate. Even the biggest of stomachs would be satisfied. This was an even larger positive as we had two members of our party that were Gluten AND lactose intolerant and this member of staff had no issue fetching the menus and informing us of what they could eat. Going the extra mile was very much appreciated.

Unfortunately, I must turn to the negatives again. Another female member of staff, different to the one that took our orders, when she arrived with our food, didn't make any attempt to make eye contact or talk to us. She just said the name of the food, waited for me to point out where it was going, plonked it down and then walked off. It was almost robotic. This would've flown over my head and I'd have thought nothing of it if she had not returned after our meal to give us the desert menu. When she did, she arrived with the Desert Board, put it at the end of our table where all 7 of us watched her pop it down and walk straight off again. She didn't stop, she just left. I know this may sound petty but for years I worked as a waiter. What happened to recommending your favourites, suggesting something your colleagues or others visitors have liked or even just saying "hey folks, here's the desert menu for you".

And to top it all off, when I went to the bar to order two more drinks for my girlfriend and I, another barman served me, a polite guy and he was more than happy to serve me with a smile on his face. Unfortunately, the Diet Coke STILL hadn't been changed or even checked and was still low on Syrup, I pointed this out and he turned to his colleague (the gentleman I alluded to before) and the same happened again. This time though, he said that he had changed the Gas this morning and said to just give me two cans instead. Once again, he was right in front of me and didn't once turn to talk to me. It was as if i was never there.

So to round this off. If it hadn't been for two, only two, members of staff. This would've been a 5 star meal and I honestly feel bad saying this as the other members of staff were great. But unfortunately the actions they made stuck out more...

Saturday 26th June 8pm booking table for 2

The starter was a Prawn Cocktail for my partner and a Baked Camembert for me. The Cocktail was very plain just ripped up lettuce and a few other salad items with some defrosted prawns and bread, wasn’t terrible just bland, however the baked camembert was baked and left to cool too long and was server with half toasted bits of stale bread, I say it was stale as part of it was not toasted and it was most defiantly stale, I had to slice out the camembert to spread on my bread and could not dip it as you usually would, however I’d been working all day and had not eaten so I ate it looking forward to main as I was very hungry. The main meal Stilton Bacon beefburger with a side order of onion rings. The burger was the cheapest nastiest burger money could buy and was cooked to death so there was not the slightest bit of moisture left in it, the bacon was black and I mean black burnt to a crisp and beyond but never mind the melted stilton over it would cover this up right!!! Hell no the stilton was not even melted or even attempted to melt it just a thick slice placed on the top of it all and that was it, the burger bun was disintegrating it had been warmed up to a state it was crisp, we started to eat it and it made us both feel quite ill.

As the waitress came round and asked us “is everything OK with the meal” we both said no and pointed it all out, she said “would you like me to get the manager” I didn’t want to create a fuss and get all embarrassed we declined decided to drink up pay the bill and leave.

Between getting there and getting drinks and started took ages and the staff left our starter plates on the table for 45 mins yet when we said this was awful and just asked for the bill within a few mins there where there taking payment for £52 and while the card was going in the machine the manageress came over said I’ll take your plates away seeing that they were barely un touched and disappeared with them quick sharp, (At this point I just wanted to go home I was tired from work all day and had not eaten and our tables was not booked until 8pm and felt quick sick from the awful food) As I got home I looked back at the receipt to notice not only did I pay £50 odd quid for 1 Gin & Tonic and 2 pints of Fosters but I’d been charged for 1 Gin & Tonic and 3 pints of Fosters.

I did ask the table next to us (a table of 4) how their meal was as I saw his fish and chips and it looked awful and they agreed it was not going to be in their radar to ever come back.

I hope I get a big apology from the owners of the Sondes Arms Rockingham after seeing this and the offer of all my money back.

I cannot believe for one second they had a qualified chef working that night it’s an impossibility for a chef to turn out 2 simple burgers so absolutely destroyed like that it just...

I will not be visiting again. My friend and I ordered the Homemade Coconut & Spinach curry. Without us knowing the extra add-on for chicken with an extra charge was added to the bill. This was rectified. Our food came and I tried about 4 fork fulls to see if I could actually taste the coconut. Obviously there was no coconut what so ever in the meal. I ate the popadom as I was hungry and asked to speak to the manager. The manager did not come to see us about my complaint, probably knew we were right! The fact that I had eaten 'some' of the meal they could not do anything about it. Something needs to be done about this false advertising, the manager and chef. Looking at the photos it looked like a cheap beans and spinach curry!

As there is no way I can reply to the owners response to my complaint, I'll add to this. We are vegetarian and would not order chicken. As my friend paid so saw that the receipt had chicken and asked for that to be refunded. As a "kind gesture" you refunded the chicken which we did not ask for. The waiting staff did not come to ask about our meal but in fact ignored eye contact as I tried to get her attention. I then had to find her and ask to see the menu and told her to look at my curry and even see if it looked like it had coconut in my "Cocinut & Spinach curry. So I made a complaint. She came back and said she can refunded the chicken but not the curries. Then quickly rushed off with my hardly touched curry and rice. So not only was the service, food of poor quality, the owner (who could not be bothered to see us about the complaint) actually lied on the fact that you stated that I completed my...