The Wellington — Restaurant in England

UPDATE FOLLOWING REPLY It's good that a company replies although, in this case, it was somewhat defensive as your responses to all 3 issues raised was to quote company policy. So:

1. I didn't find payment complicated, just over processed, as did the staff. It just needs to be made easier.
2. With the gluten free requirement you didn't recognise that my booking details had been ignored & we were both given standard menus.
3. You may well serve sandwiches until 4pm (no snacks after then?) but I was refused at 12pm!

Basically, you're a pub with a restaurant. Customer expectations include good service with a range of good food/drink options available at flexible times. We shouldn't need to do a deep dive into a website. You're a people business!

The staff were very attentive, professional & friendly. Clearly trained in the art of "up-selling" At the time of booking, we did advise that one guest needed gluten free but this seemed to have been missed.

The food options we chose were pretty good and not bad value at the promotion price. The menu wasn't entirely clear on gluten free options.

The payment process was a bit painful as a voucher offer was being used. A very long number had to be entered into the till. This was part of an email which I could easily have deleted prior to the visit.

Fortunately, I hadn't but with your Wi-Fi unavailable & little or no phone signal in Riding Mill on my EE network, there was a potential problem.

Eventually, I managed to open the email. Just as well as we were informed that the alternative would have been to pay full price.

I am sure that you could simplify this process in future.

My second food visit to the Wellington. On the first occasion I was with 3 friends. Whilst they wanted hot meals, all I wanted was a sandwich. I was told that they didn't do sandwiches!

If I decide to risk another food visit - third...

Attended this pub as a group of 30 key workers, which is now allowed when outside as per government regulations, and we were greeted with an attitude I have never experienced before. We were clearly not welcome!!!!! With only a few other tables of customers, in the current climate you would think management would have been thrilled to have such business through their door. Having been to two other pubs in the Tyne Valley prior to The Wellington and greeted with open arms, we were disgusted at the service we received here. To overhear staff saying “well this is all we need” and “are they not aware there’s a pandemic”. As I mentioned, being key workers ourselves and being subject to the pandemic on the front line, yes we are very aware however were following the rules that the government have set. We have been to this pub in the past as a group, pre-COVID and were looking forward to it. Many of us going to purchase light bar snacks, however we were told we were not allowed to order any food and again, overhearing the manager saying to staff “do not let them order food”. Lastly, staff were overheard to say to other customers “would you like to sit inside so we don’t lose you amongst the rabble”. Due to such poor service, you lost out on a lot of business as we had planned to stay for a couple of drinks and food. Absolutely appalling customer service and never felt so unwelcome in an establishment!!! We will not be back, however management are probably happy...

We visited The Wellington Hotel on the way back from Hexham Boot Fair...It looked busy when we passed so we decided to have Sunday Lunch...We waited to be seated but no-one came, in the end we were ushered over to a table by the bar staff. They took our drink and food order pretty quickly and that's about where the service stopped. We waited about 15-20 minutes for our drinks after asking for them they filled our order only the drinks were not what we ordered and had to be changed. We waited nearly an hour for our meals and when they finally arrived that order was also incorrect. When we finally got our food it was cold, roast potatoes were hard, yorkshire was soggy and our mash was hidden under it. The young lad that cleared the table asked if we had enjoyed our meal and we told him our issues to which he answered i will let the chef know...We did see other people complaining about their food as we were sat near the bar. When we left we complained to the girl on the till who looked very uninterested in what we had to say. She said she would go and inform the manageress but nobody came to discuss our complaint...We now know why there were so many people....they were all waiting...