The Exchange Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in England

Not a happy experience....

Recently went here for some food (heard they had a new menu). It was a friday night and the place was busy, but we decided to eat anyway. We had to seat ourselves and were not greeted for around ten minutes once sitting, we eventually stopped one of the staff and asked for menus and drinks. There were three staff members in the tiny food area and honestly we had felt invisble.

Wait staff all seemed a little rushed, which was surprising, but our waitress was nice enough and took our order. The menu was basic (to say the least) and pricey, but we were there and had drinks so decided to stay. The food came quite quickly but my scampi was stone cold inside - we waited for someone to check on us but staff kept walking by - again and again. Eventually we stopped one of the bar staff who was delivering drinks to the table and told them my food was cold. It was replaced quickly, but nobody apologised at any stage or took reponsibility - it was treated as more of my problem than theirs.

We finally finished our meal and was left waiting for about 20 minutes with empty plates and empty glasses. By this point we were so frustrated by the lack of service that if we were worse people we would have just walked out without paying. Honestly I don't think anyone would have even noticed. Eventually I managed to get the attention of the manager - the only person who seemed at all interested - and requested the bill, explaining we had been waiting for about 15 minutes. He didn't make much of an apology but brought the bill.

We paid £40 for drinks, two starters and a main course with NO real service whatsoever. Needless to say we won't be going for food again, though i'm sure its alright as a bar if all you care about...

Feelings mixed about here - the restaurant was super busy when we turned up which is usually a good thing. The food looked good as it was delivered to other tables and hopes were high. That said, service wasn't great, twice we asked for things (another drink and the bill) and both times we sat and waited only to have to ask again. Apologies to the waitress that got asked for the second time on both occasions.

I find it odd that there was no vegan started on the menu but yet is main meal. (I'm not vegan, but notice these things). The roasts have a sentence at the top which state that all come with yorkshire pudding, stuffing, cauliflower cheese etc but this isn't the case. I asked due to wanting the vegan roast (I'm vegetarian but there isn't one for this criteria) but also liking the yorkshire and cauliflower cheese. Only to find out the vegan option misses these things. What was served to me despite saying the two items above as I'm vegetarian to the waiter was a vegan roast, with the cauliflower and yorkshire.... with pigs in blankets, stuffing and what I can only hope was non meat based gravy, but I doubt it.

Poor show unfortunately for our visit. It was loud around the table to try and explain, and I don't like to create a fuss so ate what I deemed acceptable and passed the rest off to my partner. That said, what I did eat was nice and so I suspect if you aren't fussy, it's good food. Just be cautious of...

I’ve eaten at this pub lots over the years. It always goes through cycles of good and bad. I thought when it was taken over that would have changed. Sadly we are now in a bad part of the cycle.

When I ate there two months ago, the service, food and everything about the place was outstanding.

Now, far from it. Firstly lets deal with the food, there were half a dozen items missing from the menu including the steak.

The food itself was ok. On a par with the more standard pub fare you’d get down the road, but where it would be a fiver cheaper.

A special mention goes out to the sourdough bread which was like chewing on a rock (don’t get me wrong I ate it, as by this point I’d have eaten anything, I was so hungry).

It started well, the starters and bar snacks were hot and very tasty. The mains however, were mediocre and bland. I could have almost counted the number of chips I had on one hand.

Now the service was, quite frankly appalling. I don’t know why but it was the slowest I have experienced for quite some time. I don’t know if they were short staffed or what the reason was but spending over two hours to eat a pub meal isn’t really my idea of a night well spent. All with only two tables in.

The gap between the starter leaving and main arriving was...