The Pub and Kitchen Brandon Village — Restaurant in England

Dined here for the first time after a couple of recommendations and honestly left feeling very disappointed.

We arrived a few minutes after our reservation and the table still had the previous booking on and the lady explained that they were waiting for their taxi?! (Why weren’t they asked to move to the bar) so we were asked to wait at the bar, not a huge deal I suppose. We didn’t wait too long before the table was ready and the lady was fairly pleasant, however, this was counteracted by the lady behind the bar. We waited 5-10mins to be served and I couldn’t believe this women’s manners. She pulled a face every time I ordered a drink. It’s a though I wasn’t allowed to order more than 1/2 drinks. I asked for a J20 with some lemonade and she proceeded to pour the full J20 in a glass which was then full and trickled some lemonade on the top.

The meal arrived fairly quickly and the Sunday dinner wasn’t too bad to be honest. My son got chicken goujons with chips and the amount of oil that was on that place was horrible. It was caked in it. We finished our meal and didn’t leave the restaurant for a further approx 45mins. We waited and waited for our plates to be taken away but no one arrived. I then went to the bar to ask for the bill and again, the lady behind bar gave me a look as though I’d just asked her to hand her house over to me. She didn’t even acknowledge my request and walked out the back. I went back to the table and she came over with the bill (reluctantly) and then I asked her if she could put our left overs in a box please and again, the request was as though I asked for her to hand over her car keys this time. She just walked away saying nothing. Pure ignorance in my opinion. We waited a further 10-15mins for someone to come with a box and then we paid our bill. To give credit, the young waitress was helpful, however, having food in front of you for 40/45mins just isn't good enough, especially since the restaurant was quiet.

Needless to say, we won’t be returning although after bringing up the manners of the women behind the bar to another staff member and her reply stating ‘this is her last shift’, it did making a return a little...

The restaurant itself was beautiful, I absolutely loved the decor. I really wanted the meal to be good too, as it had the potential to be my new favourite restaurant, but sadly the food was a big let down. Service was very slow for a lunchtime. There was only one other table already eating when we arrived, but it quickly filled up with other diners. We were the first to order and the last to be served after questioning if we had been forgotten about. We were told our order (fried chicken and a toastie) take longer to cook. There was an odd selection to choose from on the menu, but I ordered the 'Salt beef' and Swiss cheese toastie after it was recommended by the waitress. I wish I'd ordered something else however, as the toastie was cold, incredibly dry and tasteless and the bread was so hard it cut the roof of my mouth. The beef slices weren't anything like salt beef, more like the overcooked end pieces from a roasting joint as it was very tough and dark not pink like salt beef is supposed to be. It was an expensive sandwich at £9.50 (probably why the waitress pushed it) but came with salad and chips which weren't too bad once seasoned. The chicken portion was very small for £13.95 and was on the undercooked side, it could have done with the breadcrumbs being a little more golden, I suspect it was rushed after we enquiried about the wait. When we asked for the bill the waiter asked if we'd enjoyed everything to which I said no and gave my honest feedback and he simply said "oh sorry" and brought the bill...

We moved to the area 10 months ago and have been to the pub and kitchen many times for food and drinks. Recently we have noticed a few changes which as locals have concerned us. We asked the new manager about some of the changes and were told that they were now focusing on the food mainly and not the bar area which would now be used as overflow from the restaurant if needed so would not be able to have drinks if the restaurant was busy. We ordered some snacks which have always been amazing only to be served frozen fries and what tasted like a Aldi jar sauce. When asked how the food was I said I was disappointed that we did not get the usual home made chips only to be told If I had asked for these they would have made them for us, I said I would have if I had known I as going to get frozen fries and the managers response was “fair one”. We stayed for a couple of pints however at around 9:30 the bar staff started to tidy around us and we were made to feel quite unwelcome by the conversations between the staff regarding the three that were left like we were stopping them from going home. We finished our drinks and moved on to somewhere else. We will not be returning in a hurry as none of the local will. Very disappointing to know that we are not valued as returning customers and passing trade takes priority. Time to find...