The Star Pub & Kitchen — Restaurant in England

RESPONSE TO YOUR REPLY AT BOTTOM OF REVIEW We visited the star today for lunch for the first time since it’s reopening, we had such high hopes as the decor throughout was greatly improved and we had heard great things about the food in particular the roast dinners when they first opened. We arrived at 1.50pm and had ordered our food by 2:05pm, there were two other tables eating in the restaurant one a table of 4/5 having meals and another who had a cold meat meze, our food still hadn’t arrived at 2:55pm, when I asked if they knew how much longer the food would be I was told it would be soon. When the food eventually arrived at just gone 3pm we were more than disappointed, the burger which was homemade was unfortunately bland and dry and the chips were served freezing cold. The second meal which was jerk chicken and Caribbean rice was absolutely horrendous, the rice was served like a bit of slop of the plate tasting of nothing but cloves and the chicken was black. The chicken was edible but the rice was one of the worst things I have ever tasted in my life and nothing ‘Caribbean’ about it what so ever. After being seated for around an hour and a half I had to go up to the bar to ask for another drink as we were not offered another, I assumed if you are out for a meal in a restaurant the waitress would come to you and ask if you would like another drink but seemingly not. I do have to say the young lady who served us was very pleasant, believe she was the owners daughter but probably shouldn’t be left to run the whole pub by herself. I did make a complaint when paying, the lady offered to call her mum (the owner) to see what could be done but as I explained when I was there we wasn’t after money off the bill I just wanted to make them aware of what a disappointment it had been. When I mentioned the time it had taken for our meal to come out when I made my complaint I was told it was because another table had had a meal, surely it isn’t normal for only one table to be able to eat in a restaurant at a time. I would say maybe you need more than one chef especially on a Saturday but the place was empty other than people watching football and at the bar. Unfortunately due to this experience neither of us will not be visiting again which we were supposed to be with friends in a few weeks. And we will not be recommending to anybody.

In response to your reply: You seem to find any negative review you’ve had as ‘disturbing’ - strange response in my opinion. Maybe you just cannot handle negative feedback. As an owner of an establishment you need to learn to be able to take criticism it’s literally part of your job. We didn’t manage to eat all of the food, there was still food left on both plates and my mother actually put some into a nappy sack and put it in her handbag to avoid embarrassment as she does not like to complain which is why I did this after she had left the premises and I went to the bar to pay. And even if we had managed to eat all of the awful food it would have been because it was now 3pm and we hadn’t eaten all day. I went up to the bar after nearly an hour and asked when our food would be coming and your daughter advised ‘soon’ so I am not sure where you are getting that information from. Maybe your daughter didn’t put the order in to the chef when it was made then if the timings do not add up. As I know when I arrived and when I ate as we arranged the meal around my babies feeding times. You may have apparently served 40 meals yesterday but that doesn’t mean I am wrong in what I am saying as I am entitled to an opinion the same as everybody else is. I don’t need to be a sheep and make the same comments as what apparently everybody else did. Like I said to your daughter when I was there ‘I wanted to love it’ but it as awful, this isn’t a vendetta against you I don’t even know you, I have no reason to lie, the food was horrendous and so is your response as a manager and owner - learn to take negative feedback. Maybe people don’t give you it because you respond like a...

I booked here for Sunday lunch, for me and family. The food was very nice, forgot a side we had ordered but wasn’t the end of the world, reminded a member of staff who then brought it out for us. I found a long hair in my lunch which was intwined in the meat so was not from myself. I put this aside as I was cutting up for my 3 year old. I showed this to staff, where they clearly stated to me that the chefs didn’t have long hair, so was assuming it was mine when it was actually intwined in the lamb when it arrived. Im never a person to complain and the rest of the dinner was great, but when I approached this to management she was very unprofessional, by then we had had already paid the £85 bill. I had told the server my concerns but I had to chase the manager at the bar to raise my concerns. When I finally approached the manager, the most poorest customer service I’ve ever had. Rude and unprofessional, a real shame as thought we would try a local in the area. But I will not...

This evening, my partner and I went up to this pub after making a reservation yesterday, only to be told that they were unable to serve us due to a large party arriving soon. We understand that technical mishaps like this happen from time to time, but the unapologetic response we were given by the front of house staff seemed unnecessary; the staff were adamant they had frozen the booking system, and refused to believe otherwise until we showed proof. To be fair, they did go and check with the chef if they could fit us in, but we were told there was nothing they could do, and were met with a very empty apology and no alternative. We were told the block booking was for a birthday party in a way that felt as though we were being dismissed immediately and guilted into leaving, when our regular booking was for a major milestone birthday of mine also. In the past, we have enjoyed the food and atmosphere here, but this issue has discouraged us from making a food booking...