The George at Backwell — Restaurant in England

Terrible experience! Booked 3 rooms weeks in advance (plus another 2 rooms booked separately) and check in was advertised as 14:00, our party arrived at around 18:00 to be told the rooms hadn’t been cleaned yet, and no indication of time they would be ready. The staff seemed to have no idea of what was going on and just kept telling us ‘there’s nothing we can do we’re short staffed’. There was no manager on site and nobody who was able to help us. The rooms were eventually ‘ready’ at around 19:15. We had travelled for a surprise party we were attending in Nailsea and this made all of us late and missing the time we were due to arrive.

Once in the rooms it was clear they had been rushed and were all in need of a deep clean and some TLC. Thick dust on skirting boards, stained carpets covered in bits, dirty shower screens, splatters down the walls and just generally very very grubby. It’s obvious they’ve not been properly cleaned in a long time. The girl that was there cleaning was doing the best she could but had told us that she hadn’t been called in until well after 14:00 when the rooms should have been ready. If we didn’t have somewhere to be, and hadn’t paid in advance, we most definitely would have found somewhere else to stay.

In the morning we opened the window to let in some fresh air, as the rooms were very warm, only to find our room was above the staff smoking area. It instantly made our room stink of cigarette smoke as well as hearing the staff swearing and hollering below. Breakfast consisted of some pre packed pastries and dirty glasses for the juice, we had to go and ask for some clean glasses from the bar.

The ‘manager’ was on site the following morning sat in the bar area. He was apparently aware of the issues but made no effort to come over to us with an apology or any solution or even bother to make contact with us. When we approached him all he kept repeating was ‘I apologise but were short staffed, there’s nothing I can do’. THATS YOUR JOB AS A MANAGER! I fully appreciate that things happen, it’s life and things don’t always go to plan, but it’s the way things are dealt with. We received zero communication in advance to say there may be a delay with our room, this would have enabled us to make alternate plans etc. He then told us that it would be the same situation that evening for other guests arriving, with no indication of him or the other members of staff on site making any effort to solve the the situation and start cleaning rooms ready. They basically did not really care.

Overall a terrible experience and would not stay here or recommended to anyone. If you want a clean room and a decent nights stay head to the Rising Sun...

Feel ripped off and disgusted at the appalling experience received, as a paying customer, at The George today for Sunday lunch. Arrived for lunch booking at 12:45, the place was not yet busy. Only 2x roast options on the menu, no starters or alternative mains available. We both went for beef, it took 25 mins to arrive at our table. It initally looked great, but we noticed there was just a drip of gravy on the meat only, so we asked for some extra. On first mouthful we realised the gravy already on the plate was lukewarm. Turned out everything on the plate except for the roast potatoes was literally tepid. The teenage waitress asked how the meal was within 2 mins, I felt awkward about complaining, but said quietly that actually it was all cold other than the potatoes. She apologised and asked what we would like her to do. We'd only had a mouthful or two, so asked for her to swap our meals for new hot ones. She went off to get another inexperienced girl from behind the bar, we were then awkwardly put in a position where we had to then repeat the same complaint with both of them eyeballing us; after a pause, she looked at us blank, then said that everything is served up from stove straight to the plate. My partner calmly invited her to try something off of the plate to prove that other than the potatoes it was all tepid, and there was no way this could be true in our case. Shockingly, she then offered to microwave our meals! - we couldnt believe it! £19 on a 'fresh' roast and she wanted to microwave it like a meal for one from Iceland. Anyone with hospitality experience would know that obviously this would continue to cook the beef to make it tough and is really not something to be offering a paying customer either!...For reasons still unknown, they were unwilling to get us fresh meals so we had to eat the now totally cold ones. When the bill arrived we were charged full price, no complimentary drink or discount offered. They had even charged us for extra gravy despite there only being a drip on the plate on the plate in the first place (heard other tables complaining at this too). They didnt care one bit that we'd had cold meals. Inexperienced staff with no proper manager in sight. It's a real shame, the meal would have been nice, and we'd have been back again in future if the food was warm/hot, or if they'd at least dealt with our complaint like we mattered and appreciated that we were paying good money. Very badly run, don't waste your money, a cold meal wasnt worth...

We have been coming to The George for a number of years. The decor is warm and tastefully done.||We made a booking to dine in the lounge area, as often there is not such a good atmosphere in the dining room. ||We were shown to our table and were told it might get a little noisy later as there would be a pub quiz. We explained that was fine and we were asked if we wanted to join in. We declined. ||We were later asked again if we wanted to join the pub quiz and we declined again. ||We were just finishing our main course (I ordered the fish which was alright, but overly salty and I had to leave half) when a bar staff member approached us and, we expected to be offered the dessert menu, but instead, she told us we had to move! |The quiz was starting and they wanted our table. We ‘…could move to the dining area.’||I explained we’d specifically booked the lounge area and we hadn’t even ordered our dessert yet. Basically, we hadn’t finished dining, let alone the evening.||The manager came across and said ‘You’ve had your hour’. We were astounded! One hour, then you are moved?! ||Were we really being moved as they’d just found four new customers to charge the pub quiz entry fee? ||He stood over us and argued with my friend for about five minutes. |No apology.|No empathy.|No kind words. |He just seemed contemptuous of customers. ||Needless to say, this owner ‘broke up the party’. We finished our drink (after being moved) didn’t ordered another and didn’t order dessert. ||We so wanted to support the (newish) owners and the effort they seemed to put into reenergising the pub, but left having felt completely disregarded, even contempt from one of the owners.||Was it really worth upsetting some local customers, for the small pub quiz entry fee? ||Won’t be returning and won’t be agreeing to a future visit with other friends and family. ||The Rising Sun, further along on West Town Road, is always friendly, not so expensive...