The Punch Bowl Inn — Restaurant in England

A party of 6 of us came to the restaurant on Saturday evening. Of those, 4 people hadn't been before and had come on our recommendation. How disappointed we were. We have always had a really lovely carvery here and once again, the carvery was exceptional. However, everything else was pretty much disastrous. The main problem was the incompetence of the waiters/waitresses. Having waited for 20 mins at the table we had to ask for menus to look at the food options. It was disappointing to find that some items on the menu were not available. Having been given the menus, after 10 mins we had to go and find a waiter and ask them to take our starter order. Having taken the starter order, 5 minutes later they came back and said that the soup we had ordered was no longer available so they offered us an alternative, which we said was ok. 10 minis later, 3 soups arrived but not the 4th starter that had been ordered. We had to wait a further 10 mins for that, by which time the other people had finished their starter. No explanation, no apology. The soup itself was nice and a member of our group decided that they would in fact like to order one. Trouble was we couldn't find a member of staff to place the order! So she had to do without. We then sat for about another 20 mins with dirty crockery on the table. We had to get up to go and search for a waiter. We asked them to clear the table and we asked them if we could go and get our carvery or if we had to wait for the table to be called. None of this had been explained to us on our arrival. The carvery itself was beautiful. We had to get up again after the carvery and ask them to clear the dirty plates away. We then sat for a further 10 mins of so before we had to again go and ask someone if we could have a dessert menu. Only 4 of our group of 6 were given a menu. Why? We ordered desserts, which again came out in different stages. The apple pie was thin and tasteless, not how it was described on the menu at all. My friends however, did have an added extra in her apple pie.....a lovely piece of plastic! We found a waitress and brought it to her attention. She said she would fetch the chef. Needless to say, the chef never came. At no point were we asked if our meals were ok, at no point were we asked if we would like more drinks. At no point were we asked if we wanted tea/coffee.....we had to ask them ourselves if tea/coffee was available. They even got that order wrong. Admittedly, they did only charge for 5 of the 6 meals as they acknowledged we'd had a pretty bad time but thats not really what was most important to us. We wanted great food, great service and a good atmosphere. They even left all 6 unused wine glasses on the table all night. I would have expected those to be removed once it was clear we were not drinking wine. They got even the most basic of things wrong. SO VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH...

We booked a table for 13 on Sunday to end a weekend of celebrating our daughters wedding. The service was ok, food ok, my husband paid cash for the thirteen meals as a treat for everyone. We left before the other guests and explained the meals were paid for. We were then flagged down on the car park by our new son in law,to be told that the bar staff are saying the meal hasn't been paid for. My husband returned to the bar whilst I parked the car. He explained he'd paid cash he was told he hadn't paid! He was then asked who he paid, "was it Chloe?" Like we know all the staff personally. While this was happening some of the staff were saying he didn't pay me, my daughter was getting upset because it was a treat for her new family and she explained this, only to be laughed at by one member of staff. We were told we were unable to leave, eventually the young lady who had taken our payment was located and she confirmed that the payment was made.No apology was given and a very poor response has been given to a review that another member of the party has wrote. I have been in catering for thirty years my husband is a lecturer in hospitality and catering may I suggest you book your staff on several courses May I add I've read your response to another review from a member of our family that was also at the meal, the excuse given was a problem with the till because there are two bars, I'm not sure how this could cause a problem because all items we ordered and paid for were at the one till in the room where we were seated, it seems like an excuse for bad customer service! My husband was accused of not paying in fact your staff were stold in a row saying "he did not pay me" for all to hear! No apology was given when you finally located the member of staff who took the payment. It is not the tills fault for poor customer service. A member of staff did laugh at my daughter during the whole fiasco . Also Adams response to my husbands trip advisor review is confusing because he wasn't there he's not even in...

Have visited this restaurant quite a few times over the years. The food is usually beautiful and never before today have I had any experience that wasn't positive. Today was quite the opposite. Covid measures considering restrictions have now been lifted were still as strict as in lock down, to the point were staff were immediately rude to us on arrival presumably because we chose not to wear a mask although this is no longer a requirement. We were sat at a table near to the carvery in the one room which was ideal as my son was in his wheelchair meaning my friend and i go up and get our carvery together and eat at the same time. We went up to the carvery when told by a female waitress it was out time to go up and at the same time another family went up. A male waiter who I believe was the manager on shift came and told us that we had "butted in the queue" and asked us to go to the carvery in the other room. I asked for the manager and aired my concerns. I explained that we couldn't use the other room as I wanted to ensure my son was in view while we go out food as I couldn't push his wheelchair and get out meals. I had already explained this to the lady who had said it was out turn to no go up. He offered no apology for how he had spoken to us upon my explanation. Food was average today, barely any choice of vegetables, we decided to have a drink in the garden afterwards. Unfortunately the only table available was full of dirty plates and drinks and had a swarm of wasps around it. We asked a waiter if he would mind cleaning it for us. He came and took the plates but left all the glasses meaning the swarm of wasps went nowhere. Really disappointed with...