The Lord Nelson - Oakham — Restaurant in England

So where do I start… Booked a table for 8 at 7.30pm. So many things on the menus were not available which was actually started to get funny as pretty much everything we asked for initially wasn’t available. In the end we all managed to order something. The food actually wasn’t bad at all. We were then asked at about 8.30 if we would like to order dessert which we all did. Bearing in mind half the mains menu wasn’t available we suggested he found out what wasn’t available on the sweet menus before we ordered. He came back saying everything was available so we all ordered. 10 mins after ordering the lad came back and said the kitchen was closed and we could have no desserts!!! We were then told that as we had a child with us that we had to leave by 9pm. This was a few mins before 9pm. Bear in mind we had booked a table in the restaurant not a pub or bar so the 9pm law is irrelevant. We explained this and also politely let them know that we were not going anywhere until we had finished our drinks that we had paid for. So then the manageress with the blonde hair turns up and gets really moody and asks us to leave reiterating that it’s the law as we have a child with us. Clearly she wanted to go home. This girl has clearly no idea of what good customer service is. The other staff were embarrassed by the way she spoke to us. Then from the other side of the room a lovely lady who overheard the conversation told the manageress that the Nelson was once the best place to eat and drink in Oakham and that it’s been ruined but the current owners/group and the only reason she and her husband went there in that night was to watch the rugby as they knew it would be quiet. She went on to say that she could not believe the waiter took out order off us and 10 mins later said the kitchen was closed. The local lady then said she was embarrassed that us out of town visitors had experienced this and suggested we should have gone to the wheatsheaf instead.

Just in case the owners read this. The lad with the curly hair was very pleasant, as was the slim girl with dark brown hair. The blonde manageress needs to...

Would give it no stars if possible. Booked a a table for 1,30 and arrived a little early at 1.15. Husband queued at the Bar for around ten minutes for drinks which we accepted as they were busy. We eventually got our own menus and at around 1.35 we ordered our food bearing in mind there were only two of us and we were just having mains. A guy who may have been the manager thanked us for our patience. We waited and waited .....no food. 2 o' clock came and went ... no food. 2.15 .... no food. The girl who took our order said it wouldn't be long and she was sorry...... 2.30 came and went.... no food. We were then told it was being plated up as I said we wouldn't wait much longer. ... again no food. Then we were told that they were just waiting on the carrots.. I said we are not waiting much longer and could I please have half a Moretti which I assumed would be free as was now over an hour wait. The Moretti did arrive but still no food. The guy who may have been the manager was then heard saying 'These people have been waiting ages and it has been messed up. Now 2.50 so we decided that given we had been waiting and hour and 15 minutes we were going. I have NEVER left anywhere due to not receiving my food before.At no point were we offered anything to compensate for our wait. I had to suggest a half a lager should be free. This pub is a Red Cat establishment and I should have known better. A fantastic bar near to our home has been taken over by Red Cat and they have substantially gone downhill. I will be writing directly to Red Cat about our totally appalling experience today also.MY...

Complete contrast between visits. Visited last Tuesday and the food was great. Really happy. Returned this evening (Tuesday 18:30) we booked a table as Im in a cast and cannot get upstairs. It was confirmed we would have a table reserved. We arrived no booking has been made. Thankfully there were tables free to sit at. The service was really slow. It took 40 minutes for the food to come out. Initially we were told there wasn’t any fish and chips. Then five minutes later they had it. We ordered it with garden peas but when the food arrived there was mushy peas and we were told they had ran out. The fried egg on the gammon egg and chips was burn to a crisp. The mash potato was flavourless worth the bangers and mash. My mum ordered a Belvoir sparkling elderflower and it was flat and we were only charged £1 (completely different price on the menu) it almost seemed to be elderflower cordial mixed with water. The barman assured us this was the Belvoir. There was a mix up with the bill and we were initially charged for additional items the table next to us had. The price for three mains and four drinks was reasonable. However we did not feel it was up to the standard we usually receive at the Nelson. We have returned to The Nelson multiple times in the 8 years we have lived here. But this is the first time we have been disappointed. With such a contrast from our visit last week we hope it’s just a few...