The Pennyweight — Restaurant in England

I’d decided to travel to my old home town of Darlington. A place that I spent most of my years growing up and having some great memories.

Tbh, I don’t remember a lot about the pubs and restaurants from my past visits there but this pub definitely deserved a mention. It also deserves a revisit in the New Year.

I’d called in the previous day with my friend to have a sit-off and a cheeky drink. The outside of the restaurant looks stunning and inside was warm and cosy looking and felt very festive but without being OTT.

The bar staff seemed very professional, chatty and friendly. That’s just how they are in Darlington, so I’m glad to see that hadn’t changed.

I took a seat and decided on some food. I went with “Double Bubble” dirty burger. I had no idea what it was going to look like as there were no photos to get my tastebuds going. I read the ingredients and that was enough 😋.

I didn’t have long to wait before my food arrived. Piping hot and served on a wooden board along with a small basket of home cooked chips (absolutely delicious too) and a small side bowl of red cabbage, and other salad items, which was also fresh and tasty.

The burger looked impressive on its own. Two beef patties, loads of melted cheese, relish, gherkins and I would assume a brioche bun. Honestly, it was one of the tastiest burgers I’d had in a long time and definitely worth the price. Presentation, taste and quality were excellent.

All washed down with a bottle of cold Peroni 😋, it was just a lovely experience. Service from the staff was excellent and would highly recommend to anyone wanting a nice cosy ambience and great tasting food. Great work from everyone to helped to make my first visit a memorable...

The food in this place was massively disappointing, my parmo was tough but until trying my partners I really didn’t understand the meaning of tough. You needed a steak knife to even begin to cut this thing. It was immediately swiped from the table and we were told they were unable to provide a full refund as allegedly the food had been half eaten ….. there was a few chips gone at best. No wonder we were the only table in the pub to be eating during dinner service and I now understand why they take the payment prior to any food arriving. Personally I would avoid. For honesties sake we were given a complimentary drink after a debate with the server but really one for a PINT ONLY.

Further to your Reply in relation to sound and audio recording in your establishment you will be able to prove that I informed the server that my issue was in no relation to financial compensation nor a reduction in the bill that we had already settled in full prior to the food arriving. I merely stated to two members of the restaurant staff that the food was inedible and was not ‘Bothered’ by 10 pound of refund. Please do not attempt to belittle an honest review made my a customer in relation to your food, stating it was an over exaggeration, in a feeble attempt to rescue an unsatisfactory service provided by yourselves on this occasion. I can see from previous reviews that customers have been left dissatisfied by your establishment in the past ? Are they over exaggerating? Or merely stating fact ?

Best wishes...

Appalling service. I called in to book a table for lunch at around 11.00 am on Friday 20th April 2018. There were two people in the pub and no-one behind the bar. Eventually a tall somewhat scruffily dressed man in a none too clean tee shirt got up from reading the newspaper. His 'phone rang as he was strolling to attend to his duties behind the bar and, with the 'phone still glued to his ear raised his head in a nod. Good manners are clearly not his forte. I left in disgust but returned with my disabled daughter at around 1.00pm assuming that the manager would, by now, have arrived and organized his staff.

I went to the bar having left my daughter siting at one of the outside tables on a glorious sunny day. There was but one member of staff, a charming and helpful middle aged lady who appeared to be the sole member of staff and, having waited to be served in a queue for some ten minutes I ordered drinks and lunch and asked where everyone was.She told me that there was but herself and the manager who, to my distress, turned out to be the same scruffy and unwashed individual i had encountered earlier in the day. The place was packed and. clearly the "manager" could not cope. His frustration and inability to manage manifested itself in an ill tempered demeanour. Having waited an hour for our lunch to appear for what was a sandwich I am unable to give this dreadful place a ringing endorsement until the owners learn to staff it with experienced and competent personnel. Its not...