The Pheasant Inn Keswick — Restaurant in England

• The response from the owner is reflective of their approach and I have amended my star review accordingly. The shortage of the staff or the state of the hospitality sector does not excuse the experience we endured, if you even bothered to read the "intense" review. Surely to survive you'd welcome custom not force/rush customers out. As a paying customer during the current economic climate where is your understanding or empathy for your customer who had such an unpleasant experience? *

Great food but extremely poor customer service which ruined the experience.

I have eaten at many establishments and don't often write reviews, good or bad, but the experience we had was poor. We ate here as we had read the reviews. Upon arriving we were ignored by the staff, we finally managed to get the attention of the bar staff and asked if we could get a table. The bar staff disappeared for about 5 minutes, during which time another group had arrived, they were instantly acknowledged so I did point out that were waiting. We were allocated a table then were abruptly told we had to leave by 8.15pm. We were quick to order our food and at 7.55 asked if we could order a dessert to which we received the response no as the table was needed in 15 minutes(20 minutes left). To ensure we didn't cause delay we asked for the bill at this point, though I was still eating my (rather hot) fish pie, when another member of staff tried to remove my plate though I was clearly not finished which I had to advise I was still eating. We paid for the food and I finished my pie, rushed obviously. As I finished and the table was cleared, we were told again we could not order dessert though we did not ask for any and had already paid, to which point I asked to speak to a manager as I did not like how we were made to feel and the poor communication with the staff. There was no rush from the team to speak with me therefore I addressed a member of staff, who was the same person I had to flag that we were waiting when we arrived. I was told she was the assistant manager and I raised my concerns that we were paying customers and we were not hoarding a table as we were contantly reminded we had to leave by 8.15. I did compliment the food as it was great and expressed the service ruined the experience. We did receive an apology but personally this felt insincere. We were given no alternative such as we could order a dessert or drinks at the bar, the outdoor seating area or the other empty tables. I appreciate it was a Sunday and it can get busy but there were tables free and upon leaving the premises at 8.30 there was no one waiting for the table we had been allocated. There was 2 tables on the either side of us, one which could seat 4 people occupied by a couple and one on the other side occupied by a family of 3, none of whom were rushed or treated as we were. My advice would be to reserve a table or don't admit people if you're at capacity and invest in training...

I was holding on reviewing this place as everyone may have a bad day, but after reading their response to my partner's review falsely stating that we brought a dog in (we don't have a dog), I now proceed with my review:

We arrived at the place 5 mins ahead of our booked time, got seated by the staff in the dining area, got handled some menus and, while we were reading the menu, we got asked by two different members of the staff if we had booked the dinner or just seated there as we were sitting on other client's table.

When we pointed out that we also got a booking and that another waiter seated us there, they apologised and said that the table belonged to other clients, making us move to the bar area.

In their response, they accused us of bringing a dog. I will repeat: We don't own a dog, and we didn't show up in the dining area with a dog. They just didn't have a free table for us and made us get up and go to the bar.

We got served a different soup from the one we were told when ordering. When we talked with the staff about it (we did, as a red leak soup seemed odd), we were told that the leak soup was finished, so we got served tomato.

Now comes the best: The time between the starter and the mains. They say an hour was an over-exaggeration. We were sitting there, reading a book, planning our next day, and trying to distract ourselves from the ridiculous time we had to wait for our mains to show up. It was well over 30 minutes (I calculate it was between 30 minutes and an hour, given the time we managed to eat and leave).

The food was ok. It's nothing special but decent.

The staff was polite and apologetic, but the experience was a disaster.

Now feel free to say that we brought a dog or a unicorn and that the ridiculous waiting time between dishes was only in our head (and other people's heads complaining behind us), or make up any other excuse instead of a "we simply had a bad day, sorry about that".

Mistakes happen. Not owning them and throwing lies to cover them is...

Issues began when a waiter shoved a waiver in front of my 80 year old grandma to delegate responsibility for a potential allergic reaction to her with an initial shocking lack of explanation. After questioning this disruptive demand we received a rehearsed defensive explanation from a waiter - not the manager actually responsible. How can a business explicitly advertising allergen-free food on their menu revoke these claims due to their 'third party suppliers'?? We don't sign waivers anticipating a risk of choking despite the fact that in this scenario the customer would actually be the most responsible individual, so why would we when we agree to eat something guaranteed safe for an allergy sufferer on a menu?? You are implying responsibility in this claim. Absolutely nonsensical. When word about our challenges had clearly made it's way around staff we received the nastiest, most passive-agressive and dismissive treatment from a waitress who had before this point been completely agreeable. We were essentially treated as an inconvenience as she adopted a defensive tone which escalated when politely asked for the bill and when bringing it to the table yelled "who wants it??" before effectively throwing it at us alongside the curveball that only one card payment could be made per table. Such a shame that we were mislead by the accommodating attempts of staff in changing the booking time due to train delays and allowing myself a drink despite not having my ID with me. If you expect to remain respected after solely challenging an unanticipated legally binding agreement, don't come here.

No hostility here, just verbalising the issues I experienced to which all eight of us concurred. None of the words I have used have been hostile but have been words to describe the behaviour of your staff. Therefore, if you think they are hostile, it is not me you should be...