Toby Carvery Northbourne — Restaurant in England

UPDATE a year on! We thought we would try again. Before 7pm on the day of our visit (family of 6) there was no Roast Pork and by the time we reached the Carvery there was no Gammon. The "New" Turkey looked less than appetising and very pink in colour. Only scraps of stuffing left in a dish that looked as though it had been there for hours. One of the party who was the last of us to be served had what looked to be the scraps of beef that would not have been served normally. About 10 minutes after we were all seated another beef joint was bought out but still no Pork or Gammon. Service was low and second rate. Not a good place for kids. Overall impression; it makes Wetherspoons look really good and far better value for money. We don't plan on going back anytime soon.

Scruffy uninviting outside & car park. Long walk from the disabled parking unless the side doors are open. Interior tired and although clean could do with a lick of paint and new carpets and refurbished tables, don't look to have been touched in the 3/4 years since here last. Even at 7pm the meat offering looked less than appetising and the "chef" who was obviously hot (like the rest of us) was very short/grumpy and hacked rather than cut the meat requested and gave very variable sized portions. The stuffing was dry and crusty, Potatoes looked nice but were undercooked and hard in the middle, as were the carrots. Peas were OK but the cauliflower was almost watery overcooked giving a poor selection. We then had to wait over 5 minutes for a new tray of gravy and replacement sauces! On getting back to our table (on the raised 'dias') some green beans were brought out and because of the backlog behind us the queue meant that it would have been difficult to go back for extra veg without getting in other peoples' way. I hate to think what it would have been like if they had been busy!! By the way if sitting in this raised area, don't sit to the left on entering. We asked to have the windows/ fire door opened but were told that we couldn't "as the bins are right outside and smell bad at this time of the year"! So why 2 stars? The waitress was extremely good that served us and made sure we had everything that we wanted. Because our starters didn't arrive within 30 minutes of ordering she got her supervisor to credit them. Again be aware of what you are ordering. The chicken strips with BBQ sauce were in fact nuggets and the cheesy garlic bread to share was just two small pieces of burnt ciabatta with half melted cheese. If we hadn't been given a refund we would have asked for one. All in all not the birthday meal out we had anticipated or expected and are unlikely to revisit anytime soon. We know it's the same group but the Harvester just up the road is far more appealing and...

I’m not sure where to start, but to begin with with, there was no soap in the women’s toilets and the cubicle door lock didn’t work. The air conditioning unit above our table was out of order and had a boots carrier bag tapped over it., I can provide a photo. There were 2 light fixings that both took 2 bulbs yet only one bulb out of 4 was working.

The staff that greeted and seated us then took our order were professional and courteous, and we didn’t have to wait at all, I have to say. My wife had the veggie roast and I had the XL meat roast, unfortunately the beef was so dry that the server couldn’t carve it so I only actually got half of the 2 slices he tried to carve, as it crumbled to dust. I also selected lamb, and the 2 slices of lamb were so thin you could almost see through them.

The cauliflower cheese was hard and cold in the middle, and watery and tasted neither of cauliflower or cheese. The macaroni cheese had lots of black bits all over the pasta, on both of our plates. We told the waitress who took my wife’s meal back to the kitchen and told was it was where the pasta had “caught in the pan”. the black was in the pasta not on it why would the pan be so black and unclean that black it would discolour the food? It was not burnt. The pasta was discoloured.

My wife’s Yorkshire pudding was so dry it was brittle.

Her glass had lipstick marks.

We both decided to stop eating and leave. We discretely voiced our concerns to the waitress who said she would sort it for us.

When I went to pay they had deducted the cost of my wife’s meal, but not mine. I felt unable to complain further and make a fuss as the staff we so kind. I wasn’t going to complain.

Our waitress Katie however was brilliant, polite, friendly and cheerful.

We have often visited Toby Carvery, but I can honestly say that todays experience has made me feel that we won’t be visiting anytime...

We had our staff Christmas meal here last night and sadly it was not a positive experience. We are a local mental health charity (Mind) and took our 9 volunteers as a thank you for all their dedication and hard work. Our festive menu booking was at 7 pm. When we arrived we were told there was no turkey and very little gammon left, only 2 of us could have any gammon and so this only left beef. 2 of the starters were unavailable and there was a vegetarian with us and they were told that out of the 4 veggie choices there were only 2 avaliable. We were stuck up in a corner where we felt separated because the seating was not on one table and it all felt very unfestive. Next to where we were seated there was a part of the restaurant that was not being used at all and would have been perfect as we could have sat together. We planned to make a full evening of it but at 9.30 someone started hoovering the restaurant and our wine glasses were collected although we still had bottles of wine on the table. We spent £250 that we had saved through the year to treat our loyal volunteers and were left feeling very unfestive. The evening was only saved by the great friendships we have made as a group and the laughs that we shared. This festive menu booking was made 6 weeks ago and there should have been adequate provisions made to cater for us and the hoover should definitely not made an appearance. Very disappointing. Just need to add that the lady that took care of our...