The Lock Inn Café — Restaurant in England

To start, the menu is terrible. It’s laid out like a selection of offers on coffins at a funeral parlour, as oppose to a food menu. The choices on the breakfast menu are a full english, a vegetarian full english, a combination of various elements of a full english, or a sandwich containing the aforementioned elements. It is laid out so clumsily and so unintuitively it took us quite a while to decipher what they were getting at. There appears to be no option for beans on toast, or eggs on toast and a waitress told us that they didn’t serve scrambled egg... This seems a completely bizarre business decision for a place that opens at 0830 on weekdays, and specialises in breakfasts. The menu also uses terms like “hard/ soft fried egg, ” which I have never encountered before. It doesn’t really inspire any confidence in the quality of the food or preparation if you are having to decipher the layout, contents and language of the menu. I placed a very simple order of potatoes, mushrooms and beans. I was served burnt potatoes that I returned and was served reheated very oily chunks of potatoes in their place. I then found a beard hair in my mushrooms and by that time I had lost my appetite. I forwent the rigmarole of getting a discount or a refund, as the front of house staff were all pleasant. We did let the waitress know however and I left very very very disappointed and feeling quite sick. Something is going very wrong behind the scenes at the Lock Inn. Stupid business decisions made by people who don’t seem to understand their customers or care about food. Not to mention clumsy and potentially dangerous food preparation. The only people worthy of praise are...

Was looking forward to having a nice breakfast before a long walk along the canal. Not our first time at the Lock Inn, but will look elsewhere next time. Was not as busy as usual, sat down with menus and was ready to order. Six people were looking after the service, eventually waitress come over to ask if she can take menus - "sure, can we order also?" there was some confusion, a look at the tablet (perhaps technical issues with booking system, table marked as ordered/leaving?). Taken order 6 item & full boatman's + tea for 2, agree with other comments about smaller choice.. Was asked if I want to pay straight away?... Few minutes later 1 tea arrived, asked where is 2nd tea? Only one was billed for so was asked to pay for 2nd, also was questioned if I paid for food so had to show Google wallet... I joked "please check if our order gone through OK..." 35 min later, tea almost gone and cold they ask if they can take them away "mmm no... where is our food? People that arrived just after us just got theirs?". Food was mediocre, burnt black pudding and sweet tasting hash browns - from place that make breakfast as specialty... Poor service, each interaction was with different staff. "All the gear no idea" or technology failure. Small portion and poorly cooked. Perhaps table...

Visited today for the 1st time. It was certainly memorable, but for the wrong reasons. Never have my wife and I been spoken to so rudely by a member of staff, who twice accused us of smoking/vaping despite both of us being non- smokers/vapers. We were then threatened with being thrown out if we continued. Quite unbelievable. Perhaps it was the steam coming off of our luke warm coffees in the cold December air, or perhaps it was actually the 2 tables in front of us vaping? Neither of whom were spoken to. Despite pointing this out to the staff member, no apology was offered. If smoking/vaping is such a no no then maybe put some signs up so people know your rules? Or maybe at least mention it when ordering. In addition to this, the food (2 simple full breakfast) took over 1 hour to arrive even though the place appeared less than a third full. No mention of long waiting times when ordering, when they couldn't wait to take immediate payment. Again no apology given. The food when it finally arrived was reasonable quality for the price paid. Yes it's a difficult and challenging time for those working in hospitality which we appreciate, but the service here was just unacceptable. A very...