The Crown — Restaurant in England

AVOID AT ALL COSTS AGGRESSIVE STAFF.

Decided to eat here with friends as I regularly visit another pub in the chain locally and always enjoy the food and receive good service.

This time the food was good as always and the waitresses where attentive, polite and friendly. However the manager was rude and became very aggressive towards me.

When ordering a mixed grill I ordered it with the peppercorn, brandy and mushroom sauce. At the end of ordering the manager asked if I wanted a sauce, I said yes I had asked for the peppercorn, brandy and mushroom sauce, she asked “so you want peppercorn mushrooms” I was unsure what she ment and repeated I’d like the peppercorn, brandy and mushroom sauce but again she just repeated “peppercorn mushrooms”, I told her I did not understand what she ment, and I asked if she ment did I want to add mushrooms to the dish and I tried to explain I just wanted the mixed grill as per the menu with the addition of the last sauce listed on the menu, the one with peppercorn brandy and mushrooms. She advised she understood and ordered it.

When the grill arrived it did not come with mushrooms in the source, we asked the waitress who said she’d check for us. The manager came out and immediately started shouting and acting aggressively, stating she had asked me 3 times which one, I said yes I know but I told you I did not understand you and told you 3 times I wanted one with mushrooms, I did not raise my voice once and remained calm with her but, she continued to shout at me and cut me off not letting me speak before walking off shaking her head at me. I asked to speak to her manager as her aggressive behaviour had astounded myself and our friends especially as we had young children with us and she stated she was the manager. I asked for head offices number and she said she’d get it. She had also gotten our friend child’s meal wrong to but when we asked the waitress about that she changed it with no questions or issues to what we had ordered - I do not understand why the manager was so aggressive about the second issue with the order when the fault was on her part.

This situation could of been avoided had she read from the menu and not used an abbreviation or asked me to point on the menu which I was referring to. Her aggression was not needed and she simply could have explained there had obviously been a miss understanding between us and asking if I’d like to pay and upgrade to the other source would have resolved the issue but instead she chose to be verbally aggressive and shouted at us for her mistake.

She did not return with the number for head office and I had to ask again on leavening for the number. I asked if I could have her name for when I speak to head office and she became hostile again and just shouted No at me repeatedly despite me only asking once and then replying okay to her the first time to try and defuse the situation to show I had no issue with her not giving me her name. While I appreciate she was under no obligation to give me her name, there was no need to shout or be hostile - simply explaining she did not feel comfortable with that but if I gave the date and time etc that upper management would be able to work out who she was would have been sufficient. I only requested her name as I wanted to highlight it was her attitude and aggression alone I wished to complain about as the other staff where lovely and I did not want them to be included in the complaint.

I will be making a formal complain to...

I went on their website, and they were advertising a 4-course set menu for New Year’s Eve. The website stated, “We want you to finish the year in style with bubbly and canapés as part of our 4-course celebration to say goodbye to 2021 and bring in the New Year”. The thought of a nice meal to finish off 2021 sounded wonderful and we went ahead and booked a table on the understanding that we were booking a special New Year’s Eve meal. We felt lucky to get a table at such short notice as there were only a few timeslots left on the booking page which made me think that they would be very busy, and the atmosphere would be good with everyone buzzing with the New Year celebrations.

On arrival we were kept waiting to be seated. There was one member of staff behind the bar serving drinks and another couple in front of us waiting to be seated. Although the member of staff was aware we were waiting in the queue she didn’t acknowledge we were there or make eye contact with us while she was pouring drinks at the bar. When she did finally come over to see us, we said we had booked a table and she handed us the standard pub menu. I said we had booked for the New Year’s Eve menu as advertised on their website, and she said that they were not offering the New Year’s Eve menu due to staff shortages, so it was the standard pub menu only. I asked why they were advertising a New Year’s Eve menu when they were obviously not offering it, and she said that if we had booked a table on the website then there was no way of letting us know that it had been cancelled - although I don’t know why as they had my email address and phone number so someone could have contacted me to inform me that due to staff shortages the New Year’s Eve meal had been cancelled.

It was clear that they knew that there would be no New Year’s Eve menu from the start of the day as they only had 3 staff members working, and when we arrived the breakfast buffet table was already set up for the morning’s hotel guests so it was clear that they wasn't expecting to be busy on New Year's Eve. Whilst we appreciate that staff may be off sick due to Covid and this was beyond their control, we do feel that someone could have contacted us out of politeness once the booking had been made - just to inform us that they only had 3 staff and therefore the special New Year’s Eve meal had been cancelled and we could have made other plans to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

As it was, the meal was OK but there was no atmosphere, and there was no apology when we paid the bill, and for this reason we won’t be in a...

On the outskirts of the town it’s a shame you’re unlikely to pass here for a drink, because it’s a nice spot to relax and a good setting. Instead it’s a pub more geared to dining and being the first people to arrive on a Saturday morning made sure that it wasn’t a crowded experience. It’s a really nice building and with seats out on the grass in the front, as well as some tables along the side, it’s a nice spot to relax with a drink in the sun.

The interior is really nicely decorated and clean, with plenty of tables in the bar area as well as a more formal restaurant section. There is a small courtyard in the centre of the building which offers table service food (outside at the front doesn’t) and, given the nice weather, is where we perched up for lunch. Despite being an extension of the restaurant area we still had to order food from the bar, but given the close proximity this wasn’t too much of an issue. Throughout the meal the service from the staff was good and each member was really friendly.

Unfortunately despite being the first diners of the day there were some items unavailable from the menu. The menu was varied enough to provide enough other choices. The food did arrive in good time though and was presented well. The calamari starter consisted of large rings and were perfectly cooked without the breadcrumbs being overpowering, and the special dish of prawns with mango was lovely - plenty of large prawns and cooked well. The main dish of mussels was a really good size with the mussels themselves being large. Although it came with a side of really tasty chips some bread to soak up the large amount of sauce would have gone down well. The pie was also a large portion size although the amount of vegetables didn’t seem in proportion to the rest of the items.

Overall the food was enjoyable and very tasty. The setting was good and the staff nice. The only negative aspect was the price - it felt pretty steep for what was a quick informal lunch and for that reason I’d struggle to rush back if it wasn’t more of a special occasion. Perhaps some smaller dishes on the menu, such as sandwiches for lunch, would make it more accessible and more of a...