The Lock Keeper — Restaurant in England

My wife & I visited on Friday 6th June and to say our visit was poor is an understatement. The customer service was shocking. The worst we have ever encountered. We ate but decided we’d just have two ‘Doorstep’ sandwiches and drinks. As the owner will already know he fobbed us off with Iceland bread but still charged us the same. We had past other places but really fancied some thick crusty doorstep sandwiches which made us stop at this place. We mentioned the problem to a middle aged blonde haired lady but she did nothing about it even though she said she’d tell the chef & we even mentioned it to the chef who was having a break outside and he said that he was told to do it by the manager even though he had said it wasn’t doorstep bread and should he add an extra piece of the cheap bread to make up for it but the manager according to the Chef said no. We ate our food as we were hungry and although it was cheap bread it was okay but we felt disappointed and a little ripped off and deceived and the poor response to our complaint made it feel even worse. We asked to speak with the manager but they had left. Then it became a circus of us asking for details of the owner and suggesting a partial refund but nothing. There was a younger blonde haired lady there who seemed like she was a manager but she had either just finished or was not working & she wanted nothing to do with it and just walked off. Another male member of staff was not happy that I was asking about who the owner or that we had been served and paid for something that was advertised completely differently. It was totally wrong and it wasn’t even mentioned to us when we ordered and paid. At least give us the choice. There was another younger man who tried to help but just kept walking away ringing someone whilst leaving us standing at the bar. No one wanted to know and no one could make a decision. The whole customer service was some of the worst we have ever experienced. I asked repeatedly for owners details or for some sort actual customer service but no one wanted to know. There was no one there to take responsibility or offer apologies. At one point it was suggested we come back. Really??? The customer has to come back? No apologies or small offer of drinks or partial refund, just awful service. We left as we were getting no where however we carried on our complaint via Facebook messenger but again whoever we were messaging just did not see our complaint what so ever and again no offer of a partial refund for a total misrepresentation. If this was the manager then no wonder all the staff treat customers the same way. There were other customers at the bar when we complained and even they were saying that we should never have been given cheap Iceland bread when it was advertised as ‘doorstep bread’ and should have been given a refund or partial refund. Not once did we shout or swear but we did get very frustrated as the staff just did not want to know. The culture in this place is extremely poor stay away. It is a closed shop in that they are only concerned about each other and not the customer. A complaint to trading standards will be submitted. A nice outlook onto the canal for a drink but stay away if you want food and be prepared to be totally ignored by all the staff if you have a problem. We ate elsewhere in Chester over the following three days and all were much better quality and much better value. You have been warned. Update! Yes the owner has replied and is right that the description given on their menu is what a customer should expect however they used thin cheap Iceland bread because they had ran out of the more expensive and hoped that as customers we would not notice. When it was raised by us firstly the middle aged lady who asked us about our food did nothing even though she said she would speak to the chef and then your own chef admitted to us when we saw him on a break that the owner had instructed him to use it knowing full well it was not what it should be. This place just has a culture of lies, no responsibility and zero...

The whole experience left a bad taste in our mouth (no pun intended). We visited Chester on a family day out on Sunday 28th August and decided to eat out. Kids were starving so we ordered some chicken wings as a starter plus our meal. The drinks arrived promptly but no starter to be seen. We waited well over half an hour and the kids were complaining relentlessly that they were hungry. I asked our waiter if he could check on the starter and he said 2 more minutes and it will be out. Then they brought our main meals AND the starter out TOGETHER!! The whole reason we ordered a starter to keep kids busy while we were waiting. On the top of that my wing was still bloody near the bone, unfortunately I only noticed at the end when we all had some. I’m not religious but we all started praying we wouldn’t have food poisoning. My son ordered a kid’s cheeseburger and it came with no cheese. When I mentioned it to the waiter, he asked if I wanted him to sort it out! He took the burger which was cold by the time because we were eating the starter first. They tossed a slice of cheese on. My food wasn’t upto scratch either (dry Yorkshire pudding, rock hard roast potatoes, dry chicken) but I didn’t even mention this to the waiter. I didn’t want to complain because I didn’t want to wait another eternity for my food. Luckily they knocked the cheeseburger and the wings off the bill so I felt it was rectified a little bit. The new bill came to 33 pound which we paid with contactless. However, the cheekiest surprise came today when I checked our online bank and realised they actually charged us the FULL amount which was £46!!!! I feel cheated! We never actually checked the display on the contactless terminal because we accepted their apology and I didn’t in my wildest dream imagine they would cheat more money out of us!!! Oh and I didn’t even mention all the smoking next to our table. NEVER AGAIN. If I could I would...

AWFUL FOOD and ATTITUDE once I complained. OK if only having a drink. Would give it zero if could, but guess can have one because the beer is ok. Went for some small plates yesterday with my partner, ordered sweet chilli prawns, mackerel pate and salt and pepper chicken wings, wish I hadn't. The service was fast and polite until I complained about the food, then a lot of dirty looks. Anyway I digress, the prawns were completely raw, they replaced these with crispy pork bites which were disgusting, mainly fat and tasteless except for the sweet sticky sauce, left them almost untouched, the mackerel pate was inedible, very salty and smokey, was not a pate at all, it was just mashed up smoked mackerel with far too much salt, both of us had 1 mouthful each. The chicken wings were just about edible, prob had half of them, again very salty and excessive pepper, I would say they were microwaved, certainly not fresh. Asked for the bill and requested they did not charge for the food as did not eat it, I am assuming the manager came over and I said the food was awful, she said "that's your opinion", how rude!! DO NOT EAT IN THIS PLACE. N.B Spoke to another couple in there who had the same problems, unfortunately they did...