The Brimsham Park — Restaurant in England

Very disappointed with the service. Being a former member of staff (granted, this was approximately 10 years ago) its shocking to see how much this place has gone down hill.

We arrived around 15:15 on the bank Holiday Monday to find approximately 4 tables of guests which we took as a good sign that we would be served quickly, we were wrong.

Ordered our meals and were advised there would be a 45 minute wait on food, in hindsight this is red flag number 1. We were OK with this, presuming the chef was taking a break or something similar before the evening shift. 75 minutes later, we queried how much longer the food would be, at which point the (I assume) shift manager immediately offered us a refund without actually checking where the meals were, this confused me and the freind as we weren't actually asking for a refund, just where the meals were. Again, we would have been OK with the wait if the food was worth it. This was red flag number 2. Also, another guest had received a refund whilst we were at the bar waiting for an update, concerning to say the least. Once the chef had been made aware of the refund for this guest (presumably by the ticket system to the kitchen) to come out to the bar and speak to the lady in the manner he did, infront of paying guests, was not professional in the slightest.

Immediately after querying, the other lady working front of house immediately left the kitchen (red flag 3) and delivered the food to our table.

After a few more runs to bring the remaining dishes, it became clear all of these meals had been ready for some time and had been waiting under the hot lamps, all were luke warm at best and clearly not the quality of food we would have been happy with after such a long wait.

Now here are the parts that I have particular issue with:

1. the shift manager clearly knew the food was not going to be up to standard, hence immediately offering a refund before we even saw our meals.

2. the food had clearly been waiting for some time, why had the chef not taken the initiative and ran the meals to the diners if the FOH staff were not doing it? Even more concerning as this was (I beleive) the assistant manager in the kitchen at the time (male with tattoos on neck).

3. the chef knew when he was plating the meals that they would not be delivered for some time. This is clear because all of the items that would have wilted under the hot lamps (peas, salad, grilled tomato) had conveniently been left off of the plate.

This place really needs a management team that will take charge and lead from the front. From my impressions, this is a potentially very good establishment being ruined by a staff which either are either not motivated enough to deliver good service, or simply don't know what that means.

Pro's: cheap beer, no quibble refunds, big car park.

Con's:...

usually have a lovely meal here. but not on Saturday 15th march. went with some family at lunchtime around 130. didn't order until 2pm. one ordered at the bar and the other 2 on the app. drinks took ages to come around about 15-20mins and then they missed a water. waited until about 245 went up to complain as we had young children with us to be told they're still cooking it, will be another 10 mins or so. not apologetic at all. we did tell them we had young children too. apparently because 2 of us orders through the app there was a 25 minute delay after the person who went to the bar because of connection to the kitchen - if that's the case and they have trouble with the app with the food - don't use it. if there was a wait with food it's fine, but didn't get told there was a wait or how long for when ordered at the bar. food arrived eventually at 255 with no apology to say sorry about the wait. food was okay... kids salad with the pizza was awful. complained as it had soggy cucumber which was gone past it's date and lettuce which was wilted. the cabbage on it was grey - complained to be told oh it's the dressing that does this.. uhh I don't think so! no sorry or anything. bought new salad out without dressing and the soggy cucumber was still there and the grey cabbage! ordered a kids beef burger too and it was missing cheese. also no one came to ask us if everything was okay with the meal either. sorry we won't be in a rush to return. a shame as...

Went here on a Saturday evening, wasn’t too busy so was perfect. The menu looked amazing, but unfortunately that was about all. Waited 35 minutes for our food, both steaks were not cooked to the order information. We then ordered pudding and more drinks thinking there’s no way this could go wrong. The drinks came out but after 40minutes we were still waiting for our desserts. Went up to the bar and asked for a refund for the pudding as we were done waiting, no apology. Person at the bar took far too long to even work the system, including what I presumed was her manager. I questioned why it had taken so long, they said they hadn’t had a ticket through which I thought was bizarre as our drinks had gone through… I stated ‘so we’ve been here 40minutes waiting for nothing then basically?’ To which the woman behind the bar laughed and said yeah basically…. Not that hilarious, especially when I’m 9 months pregnant. Again no apology was made. Very little acknowledgement, I asked for a free drink which was given but nothing offered. The poor customer service was more frustrating than the food situation itself. On top of all of this the establishment's interior itself looks tired and worn down, stains all over the seating. Have used this pub for several years prior however it has declined severely since the new owners have came in.

Won’t be going there again until new...