The Highwayman — Restaurant in England

Myself and my wife went here for a Sunday lunch, we are local to the area and this is our first time visiting. I will summarise below what we thought of the highwayman.

The good points;

The pub itself is easy to find, has great parking and a good website. The pub is generally clean, well laid out and has a fire going, which is nice.

The bad points;

When we arrived we walked in, and could see another table being seated by a member of staff, we waited our turn, but unfortunately we had to stand in the center of the pub for at least 5 minutes, the staff seemed overwhelmed and unsure of how many bookings they were expecting. We pre booked a table over the phone, but they were unable to find this. They managed to seat us which was good. The pub is brandishing an "under new management" sign, so maybe they just need a moment to settle into their new system?

After we were seated, it wasn't explained to us that we were to order at the bar, we only found this out after we overheard another table being told so. When seated, our table was slightly sticky, but otherwise clean and in a good spot.

When ordering, we were told that I couldn't have a larger carvery, as there was an issue with the meat order. (Although, I have to say the meat portions given on the regular is substantial enough).

The carvery. Over all the food is average-mediocre, for £13.95 I'm not expecting Michelin star dining, but this could definitely be better.

When we were served, it was by a man in a plain T-shirt (I would expect serving staff to be in whites? Or at least dressed in the highwayman shirts the floor staff were wearing? This is a minor point but I feel it worth mentioning.) He also used tongs from the roast potatoes to handle pork crackling and then put them back, which for vegetarians could be problematic.

Meat. The pork ran out so only one of us could have any, it was tasty but a little dry. I had beef which was okay but again, well done. The chicken on the counter looked very dry and decided to avoid this.

Veg/sides. The vegetable selection is wide, although not cooked very well, big lumps in the swede, overcooked cauliflower in the cauliflower cheese, bad roasties, and sweetcorn? The Yorkshire puddings were good and so was the gravy. The stuffing was generic box stuffing.

To summarise, the general feel is that this is very much a "locals" pub that happens to serve a carvery. The staff seem overwhelmed and I would say the management just needs to be stepped up a notch for this to be a good venue for people wanting more than just a full stomach.

*In the reply you have lied, the server was wearing a jack...

Disappointed. Saturday Eve meal whilst on holidays. The service was non existent other than being shown to the table by the bar man(who was friendly) and then left for 20 mins until we had to ask for the menus from a waitress. Wasn't offered drink orders or checked on throughout, I went to the bar to get our drinks everytime.

Waited an hour for starters to arrive, a further half hour went by before asking again how long food will be as it was pushing passed half 8 (table booked for 6:30 mind) and we had a young child with us to receive a sarcy bad attitude from the waitress (older one with blonde hair) saying "you've had your starters, we have to prioritse other tables" Umm no love, I've never been anywhere and waited an hour for starters let alone a further half hour for mains and we have a child whose tired and hungry! Anyway the food come around 10mins later, fair to say tidy pub grub, Sirloin steak, lasagne etc, although too expensive for what it is.. We were glad in a way the food was ok though because we would of been even more angry if the food was bad too, however unfortunately it didn't take away our rubbish experience and service and we didn't return for the rest of our stay which was a shame as it was only aross the road and would of been convenient. Also we were aware it was dog friendly so expected the smell of damp dog but if your not used to that then I wouldn't suggest...

Rubbish food always burn or over/under cooked especially the carvery. The mamagement are always grumpy/snobby/stuck up especially that ome chef whos been there for years, hes just a cook by the way he does things. The potatoes are ALwAYS dried out and too hard. The runner beans are always undercooked, and they need to rethink their prices for a small local theyre extremely high.

Yesterday i witness then ban an old member of staff for no reason because she came in to say hi to all her local friends hi to her old colleagues, the young lady didnt cause trouble and works for a diffrent restaurant now where the old owner went and thats why they kicked her out. They really are a joke. Imagine being that pownof a life for barring people for no longer working woth them. The only thing worth getting in this establishment is the ice cream and the chocolate cake they get ordered ready made and thats whybot deserves this rating. Apart from that all the staff there are usually lovely apart deom the management and 1 grumpy chef. I wouldnt recommemd...