The Argosy — Restaurant in England

I live nearby and regularly use this this pub for beer and meals. Previously I have been happy with the place. However recently every experience here has been disappointing. I’m not sure if they have new staff working in the kitchen but the food is terrible now. A description of some of my recent meals. I ordered nachos I was asked if I wanted cheddar or American cheese with the Meal. I selected American cheese, yet I got cheddar. The cheddar had been melted on to the plate (not on top of the nachos) and the meal was stone cold so the cheese was just stuck to the plate. Nachos were soggy and the meal was inedible. I ordered southern fried chicken sandwich on A white baguette. It came as a wrap! I told them and they went away and came back with it in a baguette. However it looked like they had just scraped the filling out the wrap and spooned it into a baguette. It came with chips and both the baguette and chips were cold. I ordered a chicken and bacon baguette with chips and salad. The baguette had been left in the oven for ages and was burnt and hard as a brick. The chips were cold. The funny thing is that I ordered this same meal on a previous occasion and it was totally the opposite (considerably undercooked). I can’t understand why it would be so difficult to get a happy medium. I ordered a steak. Nothing to say apart from it was a lump of fat. I regularly eat steak in restaurants and can tell a good steak from a poor steak. I asked for it to be cooked medium however it was burnt but as it was virtually all fat I assume this was the only Possible way to cook it. I complained and was offered a free dessert. I ordered a cheesecake. This was actually OK. It was clearly out of a box and therefore no chef skill was needed so that probably explains why this was enjoyable.

I would suggest that the argosy actually evaluate their chefs and ensure they have quality staff. I can’t believe that any decent chef would be happy sending out some of the food I have experienced here recently.

It’s a shame as in the past meals had been OK. I gave one star because I have returned several times to give them a second chance and I have constantly been disappointed. If the quality I had experienced in the past had continued then my review would’ve been...

We wanted to use the kids eat for £1 and we were told by the only waitress working that night, that it was only valid from Monday till Thursday and not Friday. When we questioned why and explained that the website wrote Monday to Friday, she still dismissively responded that Friday was a weekend so wasn't included, and then walked away without even waiting to hear us out. We found her to be quite dismissive from the moment we entered. Initially, when we sat down at a table, she walked past us and just blurted something out that sounded like she was telling us that we would be waiting for food for an hour. We weren't sure if she was talking to us or not, so we waited for her to return and then we asked what she meant and she just answered dismissively once again that we shouldn't bother about it. The annoying thing is that we almost left but then decided to try and order our food at the bar instead to see if we could get the offer because it was clearly meant to be applicable. Guess what, we were told we could actually get the kids meal for £1 which we eventually ordered from someone else behind the bar. So we still don't know why she gave us wrong information. We will probably never go back based on how unfriendly and unwelcoming this waitress was at the start of our visit. It felt like she didn't want us there. The only reason I gave more stars was the food which absolute amazing. That was the only saving grace from out entire evening. Don't even get me started with one of the bar men whom we ordered drinks from. He too did not seem to want to to talk to us either so I just gave up bothering trying to talk...

Made a location based choice to visit as it's very close to the Premier Inn and it wasn't clear if their restaurant was open during our stay (possibly renovation works). Generally a good choice - good food selection and food was lovely. Portions a little on the small side but for the price, it is reasonable and it was actually preferably to pubs that serve massive portions that are only finished with difficulty and leave you feeling uncomfortable.

I would advise booking if you can (we couldn't as we were travelling and didn't have a definite arrival time). We almost left as the only non-reserved seating was next to extremely loud speakers, games provision (darts and pool) and multiple TVs showing sports. However when we asked if there definitely weren't non-reserved tables in quieter areas, staff turned the speakers off for us.

Ordering food all seems to be done via an app now (though presume you can also order at the bar too). Drinks service was immediate and they let us know food could be a 30-45 minute wait. Frustratingly that information isn't available before ordering and paying on the app so it's not possible to make an informed choice, but nice for staff to tell us, and it turned out to be an overestimation and food arrived much quicker.

Toilets seemed decent and there's a toilet in the baby change facility which is always very helpful!! The car park layout needs a rethink though. Disabled spaces are quite a long way from the entrance across the car park - there's parking much closer (adjacent to the entrance) that would be more suitable for disabled access and disabled spaces should be...