The Grasshopper — Restaurant in England

35 of us attended a works Christmas function on 13/12/2024, and it was the most badly run car crash of an event I have ever attend:

Function Room

The tables were bare wood, not nice wood but rough with multitudes of scratches if they were rectangular, I would have thought they were wall paper tables, there had been no effort to place a table cloth on any of them. Who had ever laid the table had not put the correct cutlery down as there were no soup spoons and halve my table had soup, perhaps we could have used the deserts spoons, but only three of us were given dessert spoons, the table decoration was a corporate hat with a QR code on for a free drink. The Chairs where a disgrace there was dirt all over them which could have been brushed of but weren’t, but the white stains on them were not removable. The effort gone into making the room look Christmasy was on a whole new level, a 3ft tree in the corner which was at an angle and a box ¾’s wrapped on a shelf, awesome.

Service

We were told to be there at 7pm for dinner at 7.30pm, on arrival there was a small bar there, so I ordered a Alcohol free Guiness and a sparkling water but she had to go down stairs to get the water and Glasses for the drinks!!! At 7.30pm we all sat down ready for our dinner, at 8.30pm a lone waitress appeared with 2 Prawn cocktails then disappeared, 15mins later she reappeared along with another member of staff and started handing out the starters she then had to go and get soup spoons we all finished and the two staff came and collected the dishes, we then waited for our main courses at 9.20pm one of the group went down and asked if dinner was coming and was told that it was being plated up, so I went down to get another drink and the two staff that were serving us were working behind the bar serving drinks. At 09.50pm dinner started arriving several of the party having the roast and sat there waiting for the gravy after 15min they gave up and started to eat before it went cold 10 minutes later the waitress appeared with a tray of gravy jugs when someone pointed out it was too late, she said ‘’ I was told to bring them up’’ no apology . A t 1015pm the plates were cleared, and dessert appeared for some, not all as it appears some were missed of the list and when questioned they had to go back to the kitchen although some said not to bother because they had given up the will to live. So all in all 3 HOURS to deliver 35 plates of food that had been pre-ordered.

Food

The food was of low quality, the soup was tasteless one of the Party requested salt from the staff which never appeared, so he went down stairs and got it from down stairs and the one salt was shared amongst 35, but even the salt could not bring that soup to life, the roast dinners had vegetables missing on the plates so had to request the staff to get some which took them 15minutes the only decent bit of food was the Pie, so I guess they brought that in from an outside source however that was ruined by it sat on a small amount of watery mashed potato, my wife and I had the warm apple pie with custard which was not warm and nor was the custard and my apple pie was different from my wife’s and squashed flat and reminded me so much of an Aunt Bessie’s shop apple pie, lucky there is a Tesco’s near by!!

I cannot blame the staff for everything although they did not endear themselves to us, this is a management fault, the booking had been taken but they had not the staff or inclination to make it a memorable one except for all the wrong reasons will I be returning, not if I live to be a...

Dear The Grasshopper Team and Brewery,

I am writing to share my disappointment regarding the experience my family and I had during our Christmas Day dinner at Grasshopper. We hold your establishment in high regard whilst we visit a number of your pubs frequently, which is why this experience was particularly disheartening.

From the outset, our booking was mishandled. Despite arriving at 13:55 for our 14:00 reservation, we were not seated until nearly 50 minutes later. Once seated, the delays continued, with starters served in a staggered manner. Some members of our family waited an additional 20 minutes after others had already started eating—a disruption that detracted significantly from the meal’s enjoyment.

The quality of the food compounded our disappointment. The roast dinners were excessively dry, with insufficient gravy provided (and subsequent requests unfulfilled). Items such as the roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings were inedible due to being overly hard, likely from prolonged exposure to heat lamps. Additionally, key accompaniments like cranberry sauce were served late, further diminishing the meal’s quality.

While the staff were courteous, there was no follow-up during or after the meal to check on our experience. Attempts to raise concerns were either not acknowledged or failed to prompt corrective action. For a meal costing £90 per person—totalling £360 for part of our group which was part of Christmas presents and additional £120 for our others guests it totalled to a meal over £540 for us all—I expected a standard of service and food quality that matched the occasion and price. Unfortunately, this was far from the case.

Given the circumstances, I would like to request a form of compensation to reflect the shortfalls in service and food quality we experienced. I trust that you will take this feedback seriously and use it as an opportunity to improve future experiences for your guests.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours...

Had a disappointing experience at The Grasshopper Pub & Restaurant. Stopped in for a well-earned beer after work, only to be met with poor service and a complete lack of knowledge from the barmaid (blonde, glasses, pigtails).

Ordered a Cruzcampo—told the keg was acting up all day. Fine, we switched to Birra Moretti instead. What we got? Two completely flat pints with zero head. When I asked if they were supposed to be like that, she insisted Moretti was meant to be flat and should be stirred with a straw first. She even grabbed a random straw, stirred both beers, and watched them go even flatter. Completely baffling, clueless untrained barmaid.

Later, my colleague ordered two more, specifying not flat this time. She said, "The gas must be out," to which she replied, "Ah, I'm on my own, so I don't have anyone around that can change it." So, after all that, it wasn’t a ‘flat-style beer’ or a special technique—just a keg with no gas. And yet, she kept serving flat beer to every customer instead of fixing the issue.

The inconsistency, lack of product knowledge, and unwillingness to resolve the problem were frustrating. Management needs to ensure staff are properly trained and supported to maintain basic standards. Customers expect—and deserve—better.

Also, beware of the car parking scam they have going there. Not sure if it's related to my review but I've just received a parking charge of £100 even though I was a customer of the pub.... absolutely...