The Bickerton Poacher — Restaurant in England

Rooms 1* never seen or stayed.

How could the bickerton improve?

Well, if this will allow me the characters needed to explain what a shambolic service I, my family and friends received today, I sure hope they find means to improve.

Started with being greeted with what i could only describe as a food painting party table after being held back whilst it was cleaned and prepared. Luckily having 2 young children we were armed with baby wipes. 1 pack used to clean after asking twice for it to be cleaned.

When going to get drinks, I arrived at an empty bar with 2 bar staff and one doing food bills on the till. 2 just nattered away whilst I waited to at least be asked what i wanted. 5 separate people were then greeted and served before me. I had to call one over to make my order.

Arrive back at the table, make our order as a group.

3 plates of food didn't turn up, mains came before starters and cold - after an hour waiting. I managed to watch a whole half of Tottenham vs Brentford in that time. (hey.. Sunday, busy. I can excuse it to some extent) but...

Ones who had food had to eat theirs as the other plates.. Both child orders which common practice is to serve children first in my opinion... I wouldn't mind but it was fish fingers, chicken nuggets and chips on both. It was hardly hand crafted and cooked by candle light.. My wifes gammon arrived still oinking and cold.

15 minutes Passed again to then I got irate waiting and having 2 children crying hungry having gone through all their snacks. To ask where the rest of table 31s food was. A server (which i will never blame, as they have to take the brunt of everything unfortunately) looked bemused and replied all food has been delivered its what was on the order. Now... I don't get how a table of 7 people can have 2 meals and 3 starters arrive and nobody clock... Surely the others, including 2 children would've ordered?

No... The girl who took our order didnt even put the order in the till.

I have never in my time gone to a restaurant and have to take my children 9 miles in the car to rush to get them a McDonald's in Whitchurch.

Upon telling the waitor to save his breath telling me itd be close to an hour before me and my children got our food... And explaining after being offered a carvery to save face - if id wanted a carvery... Id have ordered one wouldn't I? I ordered "Traditional Fish and Chips".. Literally a drop in the deep fat fryer job... Its not like I was waiting for it to be caught out the River down the road...

After the immense cock up in the first place I was then greeted by what looked like an embarrassed man, who coincidentally left me waiting at the bar prior. After ushering my son out the door telling him its fine, not all places are as much of a shambles as this. I was called back with an "OI" to this man who was red faced asking me what was that for. I explained to him what I've just typed... Pretty much word for word to then be told and gestured a palm faced up shrug and "what do you want me to do about that"

The whole ordeal, responses and serverely unprofessional nature of the staff today suggests some serious training is needed.

To what used to be when I used to visit approximately 10y ago... It looks like this place has took a nose dive off a cliff which is very sad to...

We went for the Sunday Carvery last Sunday and will definitely never go again. On arrival we couldn't find any of the staff to show us to our prebooked table and we were left standing around for over 10 minutes. Eventually we were seated next to some people who had allowed one of their dogs to lie down on the bench seat which we were expected to share. When I complained to a member of staff who appeared to have some authority she made it clear that she wasn't interested and said that was the only table she had, despite other vacant tables in our view. I asked the lady with the dog to please move it and she grudgingly pulled it into a sitting position next to her but still on the seat. I continued to complain to other staff members who eventually intervened and got the dog into its rightful place, on the floor. I am an animal lover myself but this is a health and safety issue. The Poacher, along with many other eating establishments, now allows dogs onto the premises but not everyone wants to share their seats with someone else's dog. This was only the start of our bad experience. We were eventually told to go to the bar ourselves for drinks and to order food. It has always been waiter service in all the years we have frequented this place, but my partner is now disabled so it's not easy for him to constantly move around. The bar staff couldn't seem to get our order correct despite asking us to repeat it several times. We were then told to sit and wait for the nut roast order to come to the table, which took over 10 minutes to arrive, and the lady in charge arrived to tell us that she needed the table by 3.30pm. We had arrived at 2.20pm for a 2.30pm booking and by this time it was almost 3pm and we hadn't had anything to eat. The nut roast finally arrived and it was off to the carvery. I was only allowed 2 small roast potatoes which it turned out were so overcooked they were difficult to cut and eat. The vegetables apart from the carrots were hard and undercooked. My partner had ordered and paid for a large plate but it seems the token that he was given was only for a regular size, so he was served only a small portion of meat and a good helping of fat and gristle. The quality of the food was very poor and much of it was inedible, including the nut roast. While we were trying to eat it was like being in bedlam. Children running around screaming, being ignored by their parents. Yet another safety issue when there are people walking around carrying plates of food and drinks. This whole experience was a disaster and throughout our visit not one member of staff came to ask if we were happy with the food. Most of the staff were surly and clearly not enjoying their job. So if you are thinking of going to the Bickerton Poacher then don't bother. The food and drinks are overpriced for what you get and it has become a self...

So whilst I am fully aware my family was probably not the target market of the Bickerton Poacher, having 2 vegans, 5 veggies and 1 meat eater, the Bickerton Poacher was appalling at accommodating anyone with a slightly unusual diet. Two members of the family went in about a week before boxing day to book our table and enquire as to whether they would be able to cater to vegans and warm them we were coming so they could prepare. On arriving we were told there were two vegan options on the menu and a few more veggie ones, one being a pasta arrabiata and one being a nut roast from the carvery. As the carvery was for everyone we then enquired as to what on the carvery was actually vegan. They came back to tell us actually none of the vegetables on the carvery were vegan a they were all coated in butter, however they could boil us some vegetables separately. We then luckily thought to ask about the roast potatoes, the staff didn't know but went to ask the chef to then find out these weren't even vegetarian as they were cooked in goose fat (apparently this is not the usual case, they'd just decided to do it today, the one day they knew they had a table of vegetarians and vegans coming in). So having the nut roast I ended up with that, some boiled sprouts, cauliflower and carrots. No potatoes, no gravy, no parsnips normal or sweet potato mash or any of tho other items supposedly included in the 'main vegan option' on the menu. What bothers me most here is the fact they clearly made no effort to warn anyone else ordering the vegetarian option that actually part of it wasn't even vegetarian, as no one except the chef seemed aware the potatoes had been cooked in goose fat. Furthermore despite specifically saying to the waitress when ordering it needed to be without any cheese, dairy and completely vegan, the other vegan in our group ended up with pasta with parmesan mixed into it. Although this is was very unpleasant but at the end of the day not dangerous to her, I hate to think what could have happened to anyone ordering that option who had a serious dairy allergy!!! Even when making the waitress aware of this problem she only apologised she did not offer to get another portion made without cheese. As this guest had been vegan for over 25 years eating the parmesan made her feel incredibly ill so she ended up going without lunch. I do recognise we were not the classic or easiest customers to serve and did ask a lot of questions that the waitress had to go and check about, so I am grateful for her patience with us. However the general lack of care and awareness the Bickerton Poacher seemed to have concerning what was actually in the food they were serving should not be accepting in the society we...