The Wagon And Horses — Restaurant in Gloucester

I am disappointed with last nights meal. My standards are high for a sizzler, as I’ve have gone to other sizzler establishments throughout the country and really enjoyed the food and the whole experience .

We had no acknowledgment from staff on arrival, the pub seemed quiet for 7pm. Tables were dirty and weren’t cleared. We had to clear our own table to be seated. As a trained chef I was disappointed with the food that was presented to us. As a party of 6 all of our food was incorrect. We had: -Hunters chicken Nachos- the nachos were cold (just came out of the bag) the toppings were thrown on top of cold nachos resulting in the meal being cold. It was unpleasant to taste as it was overwhelming in BBQ sauce and hardly any cheese sauce. We ordered chilli heatwave Doritos and they were cool original. 5 oz and 8oz rump steaks- we ordered rare steaks and both came out as medium. We ordered 1 regular fries and 1 dirty fries and we received 2 dirty fries- which were very disappointing, the cheese sauce was cold and the toppings weren’t consistent throughout our party and dumped on top like an after thought. They had forgotten the grilled tomatoes on both of our dishes. The portion sizes were off- only have 3 petit mushrooms on a plate is a joke. They had forgotten to bring our peppercorn sauces and we received halfway through eating our food. The sizzling plates were not hot either and the food went cold very quickly. Mixed grill- the fried egg was black and over cooked- not pleasant to eat and chips were cold. The burgers were worst. The worst burgers we have eaten ever. The cluckin hot stack- this order was forgotten and arrived too quickly after the waiter said it was forgotten which made us feel cautious about the cooking. The burger was thrown together and was incredibly greasy making it inedible. This was meant to be a spicy burger and due to the jalapeños not being present (as it states on the menu) it was glorified chicken burger that made the person feel unwell after eating it. I could have gotten a better burger from McDonald’s at a cheaper price. The texture of the chicken was off- the chicken seemed rubbery like eating a flip flop. The burger disintegrating in her hands as she was eating it. The goodfellas burger- like the chicken burger these were thrown together as were horribly presented when they got to the table. We found out very quickly that one of the main components was missing- the tomato salsa. It’s underwhelming as it was simply a cheeseburger but paid a lot more for what we received. The burger was dry and unpleasant to eat. They also had dirty fires which were very underwhelming as it was little amount cold cheese sauce dumped on fries. Onion rings were sad and soggy even an unpleasant colour to look at. We had a side of Mac and cheese which definitely came out of a microwave.

Whilst sitting at our table waiting for food we noticed an infestation of ants around our table, on the walls, menus and napkins. The staff overheard us talking about the ants and did nothing. The staff had poor hospitality skills. We spoke to a member of staff about our food and he said he would sort it and we didn’t see him for the rest of the evening. He didn’t know our order and seemed very short to us when we said 2 burgers were missing from our order- then receiving them burgers too quickly. We ordered at the bar which was filthy to touch. We got ignored at the bar and other people got served before us even through we were there before. As we had an allergy within the party I had to read terms and conditions off an iPad- which was filthy there was something on the top of the screen which was visibly split onto it. When we received the allergy order they had got it wrong- they didn’t care or even check if the incorrect food contained the allergy.

The staff were poor, the serving times were slow. Making one drink at time for a party of six, it took ages and they were grubby. Cleanliness didn’t seem like a priority.

After eating here 2 people from my party felt physically sick.

And we will not...

July 2020....when I gave The Wagon & Horses just 1 star when I wrote...over the last four to five years the Wagon & Horses has declined. Visited about four weeks ago for a Sunday roast in the evening. The roast chicken was hard, chewy and clearly 're-heated. It just wasn't nice. It was hard work to eat it and not a meal worth repeating.

Visited again this week, the empty tables were strewn with 'dead' glasses and plates, yet it wasn't really that busy. Our meals arrived at different intervals and one meal was cold in the centre. When we complained there was no apology but the member of staff said "I really need to sort out the chefs". A replacement meal arrived by which time the rest of us had finished & not even a sorry.

The tables around us were still not cleared. And the toilets, well the brilliant boys, was in a disgusting state. One cubicle was well, in such a state that if I'd seen it before I'd eaten my meal I would have been totally put off eating anything. So the toilets obviously weren't getting checked.

It needs strong management to go in and restore good customer service and values, and to get a grip on getting the basics right. Disappointing, four or five years ago it wasn't like this. So two of our last visits have been disappointing, so much so I'd ask myself whether I'd go back again any time soon????????

Since my last review approximately 2 years ago, and now being August 2022, I'd have to say that it's got better. I've had a few meals, plus I've visited for a few beers in the beer garden. And it has improved. Maybe a change of local management, but definitely better than it was. The kitchen closed very early on our last visit, there was a big notice on the bar at 7.15pm saying that the kitchen was closing at 7.30pm. Maybe short staffed or maybe because it was particularly hot, either way there wasn't quite enough time to get an order in.

February 2024...it's definitely getting better. A new team for the last two or so years and it's noticeably better.

January 2025; since the refurbishment and change of staff in 2024 it's noticeably improved, although the queues on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night for food and dining is still quite long, but the staff seem to be now be on top of it, though food generally takes around 45 minutes; which isn't that bad to be fair. So it's up to a four from me, for now at least. It still offers not-bad value for money for fairly ordinary food, but it doesn't profess to be anything else or something that it's not.

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Booked a table weeks ago for our 10 year anniversary. It was our first visit their. It was Friday night at 7pm and it was packed so we were very glad we booked ahead to garentee a table. We were shown to our reserved table and we ordered on the app which is really easy to order from. It took about 10 minutes for the drinks to arrive and when they came the waitress advised that there was a 45 minute wait for food. We were a bit disappointed that we were not told this when we were shown to our seats but we had already ordered our food the same time as ordering our drinks. 35 minutes went by and the table behind us who came in later than us had food served to them which we were a but perplexed about but within 10 more minutes ours arrived. The food was piping hot and well presented. It was very delicious and cooked nicely to our request. A little disappointed that no our came round to see if everything was OK. But they were busy. When we had finished our plates were quickly cleared away. We then waited another 15 minutes for our desserts to be brought out. The lemon and raspberry mouse was very rich but delicious so I was glad it was only a small portion. The Cadbury sundea was plentiful. During our meal there were two birthdays celebrations going on which added to a great atmosphere with everyone joining in with the birthday songs. For mains we had the mixed grill and the hunters chicken both were equally excellent. Great value for money. We were impressed with the food. We highly recommend The Wagon And Horses. We will be back to see what our children think of the food as they are hard to please. We give them a 9/10 it would have been a 10 had they had not told us about the wait on the food...