Toby Carvery Macclesfield — Restaurant in England

This attempt at a carvery can only be compared to a bush tucker trial… the difference, you pay to endure this one! From undercooked Lamb to anaemic roast potatoes, the kitchen staff seem to have a culinary experience of a primary school child. Let’s break this down into sections:

MEAT:

I unfortunately experienced the Gammon, so salty it was inedible, there’s less sodium in a mouthful of sea water. I’d say it’d be unsafe for consumption for most of the regular clientele.

I also tasted the beef, which was firm, chewy & under seasoned… however, it was the best of the bunch.

Finally I tried the Lamb, so rare, there was blood coming from the meat as it was being carved.

Yorkshire Puddings

I’ve never known a Yorkshire pudding to have the consistency of boot leather, but somehow, they’d achieved this feat of culinary excellence… after a fight cutting it with a steak knife, I managed to endure an oil soaked mouthful of what is normally a highlight of a roast. Producing Yorkies this bad is an unforgivable offence, especially in a place self proclaimed: The Home Of The Roast.

Vegetables

If you think this experience could get worse, you’d be correct. The selection of veg ranged from Mash Potatoes, Roast Potatoes, Cheesy Potatoes, Peas, unpeeled Carrots and let’s not forget the side that every Sunday roast needs… MACARONI CHEESE.

The Mash potato tasted like it had come straight out of an instant packet, unseasoned, slightly crispy edge's with a consistency of wall paper paste. Delicious… not.

Potatoes with cheese, again packet cheese sauce, overly salty, lukewarm warm… but it was the best of the bunch.

Unpeeled carrots, overcooked, slightly mushy, suitable for babies and those who struggle to eat solid foods.

Peas… so dried out under the heat lamps they had a slight crunch to the shell. Interesting eating experience.

Cauliflower cheese that was missing the cheese… so just boiled, bland, cooked cauliflower.

Roast potatoes… potentially roasted last Sunday and like Jesus, resurrected today. Old, stale, pale, not crisp, unseasoned, cardboard consistency, no fluff in the middle. The list goes on and on. As a key element to a roast, there’s no excuse for producing such a poor excuse of a roast potato.

Other vegetables were on offer, I didn’t indulge as the majority of them looked sad, withered and overcooked.

Gravy

Usual, a redeeming quality to any bad roast, gravy, the ability to drown a sad, tasteless, poorly cooked meal in a delicious, hot gravy can save any cooks blushes… unfortunately, they even managed to make a mess of this.

Presented was warm, brown, tasteless, dark brown pond water.

In summary, how anyone could eat here and enjoy it is quite simply baffling. The incompetence of the kitchen staff is astounding, how they produce such poor quality food is quite simply an achievement, albeit an embarrassing one. How the management things it’s acceptable to serve and charge for it, it also embarrassing. Avoid...

The visit was far from satisfactory, I took my self my partner my friend and her son. We arrived at the restaurant and was greeted by a far from cheery manager. He was stressed & short with the party. We then ordered 2 king-size carveries one regular cavery and a child's cavery. We went to the cavery stand to be greeted with a polite & professional chef who had no meat. He explained that the premises had been very busy and there would not be any meat available until at least 17.30, this was quite shocking to us as I am aware the premises works on a booking system, so can therefore predict the amount of covers that it has for the day. This doesn't seem to have been the case, and it seems the amount of expected covers for the day hadn't been communicated with the kitchen. If it had been communicated it hadn't been acted upon by the kitchen manager. We agreed that we would wait, for the meat to come out, this delayed our plans for after the meal, and being on a school night for the child, wasn't ideal. When the meat was finally available, there was a lack of vegetables and products had run out. For example there was no stuffing available. Most of the vegetables had been cross contaminated by other products and this ment it was unsafe for one of the party's to eat.

Once we had eaten, what felt the scraps, of what was left from a busy day we sat and waited at our table hoping that a member of staff would clear the table and attempt to upsell deserts. We waiting for at least 45 minutes and this wasn't to be the case. The dirty plates had been left on the table and 2 of the party were left with no drinks. There was scope to almost double the overall price of the meal, but unfortunately the staff were not interested in doing this.

We paid at the bar with a very rude member of staff who, didn't even so much as look at us. I attempted to engage the member of staff in polite conversation and he simply grunted at me. He stated the cost of the bill as though it was an inconvenience for him.

The visit was far from satisfactory, and despite coming to the venue on a weekly basis, we will not be returning.

Good customer service cost nothing, but can promote so much income. We had a much better experience just before Christmas when the building was absolutely packed, and left lots of positive feedback during our experience.

We was not the only customers to complain, another party approached us and was also throughly disappointed. There was also 2 tables in the section that we was sat in, that left because of the lack of available options, and rude...

We arrived as a party of 4. 17.20pm on 11 august 2023. We waited and waited, even the girl behind the bar, clocked us and said nothing. Eventually 1 of my guests went to find a member of staff to sit us. I asked for a particular table to be told "no it's reserved" OK let me tell you this, whilst we was there not 1 person was seated on that table. So we could of had that table. We was seated, with out been asked what would you like to drink, like they usually do. Instead Another guest had to find a member of staff, they asked if we could go up to the carvery, 2 of our guests went up to the carvery. eventually Mark came to take our order. The other 2 guests followed, but i did get a text quoting a fly had been in the food. No one was at the carvery so i flagged down mark, to tell him i cant keep standing, now the bar entrance is facing the carvery and that is exactly where mark came from, he told me he didnt see us there, ive got to say i don't believe that, but thats my opinion. One of my guests said their food tasted like sick. I asked the person who poured my refill as to whether they had given me a flavoured drink, told no. 2 of my guests then went up to pay and Mark was the one who would take payment. First guest did contact less and it failed, so was asked to do it again on this, the guest quoted I hope I'm not going to be charged 3 times, I believe Mark quoted "your not going to be charged 1 2 3 times" at this point guest felt very unease and felt patronised. Guest was then asked to put it in chip and pin, guest was then accused of asking for cash back. They never did this. In the end they paid for their meal. Then guest 2 tapped for contact less and again it did exactly the same for guest 2 as guest 1. Guest 2 went "see and I didn't press out" whilst guest number 1 was stood next to guest 2, not once did Mark apologise. We have been regulars, even the owner knows us and I only wish she was there, but I tell you know non of us will be back. Thank you for...