Spade Oak Hotel Bourne End — Restaurant in England

Went here Wednesday evening for a celebratory meal, but was left disappointed. I've never sent anything back before, but the cocktails we ordered were so bad, I couldn't drink mine, not to mention we could hear every word the staff then said about us from where we sat. We could also hear the young staff member/s not knowing how to make the drinks in the first place and saw them reading it from a book. When I asked for it to be made again, along with a longer straw (turns out they only have short ones, even for long drinks) we could hear the manager who introduced himself when we arrived making another and saying it was exactly the same, which he also felt the need to point out when he brought it over. Although still not great, it tasted completely different. My husband decided to grin and bear his as although bad, we couldn’t be bothered after the attitude we’d already received. It also took an age for them to be made, at which point we hadn’t even been asked about our food order. Perhaps train staff first before allowing them to serve certain drinks. Having said that, I was more put off by the manager's attitude and comments, both we could hear from afar and those made directly to us. Upon taking our dessert plates, he proceeded to sarcastically say something along the lines of ‘How was that, or do you want me to take them back as well?’ We weren't the ones in the wrong, so I'm not sure why we were given the rude attitude. We then heard him having bets with the other staff members about if either we would leave a tip or complain about the bill from what we could gather. Manager might also want to drop the sexist charade of handing the wine menu to the woman before announcing he doesn’t know why he’s given it to you but feels it was the right thing to do - he did this to myself as well as the only other couple who came in whilst we were there. The food itself was lovely, but the staff (mainly the manager) and drinks were off. We were obviously given the offer of 2 for £12 cocktails in the end, but when ordering it was mentioned it was only if they were both the same; this isn't clear on the menu. The whole place also had a very bad smell of urine, possibly due to a leak or flood, but it was...

Hello, everyone! My friend and I had a birthday party at this pub recently. We have the birthdays just day apart, so chose Spade Oak to have a birthday dinner. My friend and his family had visited this pub two times before. First time they were really pleased with the food, the second time... well, less impressed. Nevertheless we decided to give this pub a chance and booked the dinner for 18 people (adults and teenagers). I had sent the order list in advance as I was asked and when we arrived to the pub on the day of the party, we had a separate room for ourselves, were welcomed by the one of the stuff and offered some drinks. The food arrived shortly - I don't think we waited long and in spite of orders from different parts of the menu. The food was excellent. And we had a few "foodies" in our company who could not fail their dishes. Everything was tasty, portions were reasonable - I personally don't like huge ones. Almost everyone had a starter, a main dish and a desert - so at the end of the evening we were quite full :) Also the pub allowed our friend to bring her own cake and served it after the party - I believe not every pub does it. The manager also came to check upon us during the dinner to see whether everything was in order - and it was. So in short, may be we were lucky, but the service was excellent, the food was delicious, we had our own room for the part - it was appreciated. The service charge was included in the bill - which I think was well deserved. The only negative point - the email communication was not the strongest skill of the pub stuff :) I sent a few emails and had to phone the pub to confirm that the emails were received, however, all emails were "actioned". Thank...

I am a regular customer at The Spade Oak, and decided to go for lunch with my friend following a walk by River Thames. We both ordered the King Prawn and Crab Linguine, as we have previously had this dish and enjoyed. The Restaurant didn't seem busy, but we had finished our drinks and just about to chase our order after over 35 minutes when our meals were brought to the table . We both looked at the portion size and the very poor presentation and we were about to mention our disappointment with the male waiter, but he quickly rushed away from our table. After about 5 minutes he did come back to table to ask if everything was OK, and I replied not really. I explained we had this meal before and dish was totally different. It was also served in a cold bowl, and such a small portion for main meal ,the actual meal was poor, and poorly presented. Half of the bowl consisted of a Chargrilled Lemon and Green Garnish, and other half was SMALL amount of pasta. He agreed with my comment and said he had mentioned this in the kitchen before presenting us with the meal, and he said meal not up to spec! They had an agency chef in on his first day.! He then walked away from our table and never returned! Aswell as the meal being poor and us leaving restaurant hungry, we were especially disappointed with the way our feedback was dealt with. To rub salt into the wound when Bill arrived, the description of the dish was LARGE Prawn and Crab Linguine! A very expensive lunch with poor service...