The King William — Restaurant in England

Newly refurbished for August 2025. Lovely new decor but a few teething problems and disappointingly small portions that didn't quite match the menu descriptions. First the pizza ovan is not working, apparently they're waiting for a part! So no pizza's or garlic breads etc. There was 4 of us and we had; pan-fried sea bass £20.95, 2 x king prawn Linguine £24.49 and chicken stroganoff £18.95. The best dish was the stroganoff, unfortunately my sea bass was tasteless and I was disappointed with just one small piece of cauliflower, one small piece of brocoli and 3 small potatoes, as I don't eat carrots there wasn't enough vegetables. My friends who had the king prawn Linguine were very disappointed with just 2 prawns which came with heads and tails still on and when they pulled them off were left with a very small amount of actual flesh. Lastly the desserts were very disappointed, my friend ordered the Tartufo Nocciola ie. Hazelnut ice cream with a liquid chocolate core coated in praline hazelnuts and crushed meringue £6.95 but unfortunately sent it back as it was so disappointing, it was simply 1 scoop of ice cream with a drizzle if chocolate sauce on top. There was no meringue and when she queried this the waiter didn't understand and simply pointed to it and said it was there. We all agreed that paying almost £7 for 1 scoop of ice cream was too much, which is why she returned it. My pistachio profiteroles were ok but also disappointing with just 2 profiteroles sat on a large plate with a glupy mildly tasting sauce ontop, very underwhelming, but as I was still hungry from the megre main course, I ate it all. I certainly won't be rushing back. This is the second time that I've called here since the refurbishment and all the food has been disappointing, particularly the desserts. They seem to be skimping on the ingredients and serving small portions. Don't go if...

I have been to the King William on many occasions and I have never rated the food as anything other than above average pub grub (although restaurant prices). On one occasion, my partner complained about a sticky toffee pudding that looked as if had been dropped on the plate - other fellow diners had the same dessert and they looked as you would expect. Upon complaining, the manageress tried to justify the pudding as fine and voided herself and kitchen of any wrong doing, She wouldn't allow my partner to order another toffee pudding but could have a different dessert. Instead of apologising, the manageress made a bit of a scene and my parter was left to feel embarrassed. I have also felt the wrath of the manageress this evening after ordering a £16 rare steak which arrived as well done. It is the first time I have ever sent back a dish anywhere. Moments later the manageress was at my side telling me that the steak was in fact rare and leaking blood - neither of which true. She told me to order a different dish off the menu and I refused, asking for a RARE steak as I had asked for. Again, no apology. The next steak arrived, this time medium at best. I didn't complain a second time as it is clear that the restaurant cannot cook a steak and I didn't want another uncomfortable encounter with the manageress. As a side note, they also served gone off cream with a fellow diners dessert. My partner an I have vowed never to go back. Check the managers response to the last negative comment for a taste of what my partner and I endured when complaining about substandard food. PS, the waitress was very helpful...

Went to the newly opened restaurant, booked for 6pm on a Wednesday evening. Service was extremely slow, took a long time for drinks to come and after waiting 40 minutes we had to go up to the bar to get staff attention to order food. No pizzas or garlic bread available. So only 3 people ordered starters. The restaurant was at fully capacity, but unfortunately the staff just couldn’t handle a full restaurant with no manager managing the floor. We had to keep going up to the bar to ask to order more drinks because tables aren’t being checked enough. Over an hour after ordering food, and having to flag staff down for an update, the starters arrived. It was a long wait for those just on mains. The food was mixed… somes dishes were lovely and some were very poor. The worst being the carbonara that was swimming in oil and was completely inedible. Also the accessible toilet needs to be more ‘accessible’, a handle on the door would help. I was shocked when I had to ask a member of staff to unlock the door and it was unlocked with a knife! smokers smoking in the main door way/ steps filled the first half of the restaurant with the smell of cigarette smoke anytime someone opened the door. This was very unpleasant for a non smoking family with a young baby. Overall a very disappointing experience, we booked for 6pm due to having a young baby and didn’t end up leaving the restaurant until 9:15 all down to very long waiting times. We understand it’s newly opened and very busy but rather than staff blaming eachother for long waits an apology and update on waiting times with a drinks order would have...