Sailmaker — Restaurant in Gosport

Awful. Absolutely awful. Probably the worst meal we've ever had.

Turn up, try to order via the app for it to come out of my bank but nothing to show up on their system. Then had to reorder at the bar. Brought drinks back to the table (orange juice and lemonade, but unfortunately only zero sugar lemonade) for it to taste (and look) like carbonated water. Another 10 minutes to go back and change them at the bar. Still didn't taste great after.

Saw lots of people waiting for their food for a long time. Waited for the kids meal to turn up before getting our carvery. Burnt chicken dippers arrived on a piping hot plate, so had to move the whole meal to a napkin for our child to eat it.

Then we got our carvery. Waited 5 minutes for someone to come out from the kitchen and serve us, to be told that the pigs in blankets we ordered weren't ready and they'd be a couple of minutes (spoiler alert - they didn't arrive for another 10-15 minutes). The meat was awful. Looked awful and tasted awful. Potatoes were rock solid (and trying to scoop them up with a small spoon rather than some tongs was just bizarre). Yorkshire puddings were inedible and had definitely been left around a while or reheated. Was a very poor selection of veg to choose from, and what was there looked unappetising (especially the carrots). Gravy was like water.

We literally left the majority of what was on our plates as it was that bad. Last straw was biting into one of the pigs in blankets and having to spit it out into a napkin because it tasted horrendous.

Service also wasn't great. Even heard one server telling a customer that she should switch her phone off whilst in The Sailmaker because she "might enjoy the time better". We were flabbergasted that they would say this. They seemed to quickly leave.

We thought we'd give the place another try because it had been recently refurbished, but it's worse than it was before (and it wasn't great before).

Wasted £40 on a meal we didn't eat, still waiting for the other £40 to go back into my account that didn't go through on their system. Will never...

We booked online, a party of 7, but when we arrived it took a few minutes for someone to come and address us. They also seemed to have trouble finding our booking. I don't think a table had actually been reserved as the person had to go searching for somewhere to seat us. Eventually we sat and everything was good. We weren't given any info on whether to order at the table or the bar. The place was extremely hot and unfortunately we were seated (tables 43 and 44) where the sun was hitting several members of the party in the face. I tried to pull one of the curtains across to block the sun, but they weren't big enough to cover the whole window. We waited a very long time to get our food, possibly 45 mins to an hour. No one came over to apologise while we were waiting. When the food did come it was lovely and we had no complaints about the quality. The server did apologise as she brought the food and immediately offered us a free round of drinks. That was the 1 thing that made the meal change from what could have been an awful experience into a fairly good experience. Had it not been my nephew's birthday, we probably would have left before the food arrived. The member of staff who served us is someone you should truly value. She saved the day. She kept her cool under pressure, she was friendly, polite and had a lovely smile too. The pricing of the meal was fairly reasonable. I would like to see less chips on the menu and more alternative options. I would have loved to try the steak and ale pie, but I can't stand mushrooms. That's just personal preference though. It would also be nice to have more for kids to do. The play area is only really for toddlers. Nothing really available for older kids. I'd also like to see more options for adult drinks that are non alcoholic. We had 2 adults in the party who don't drink alcohol, but don't always want to drink normal soft drinks. Mocktails may be...

So this is not the usual kind of review.

On the upside My rare steak was properly cooked, not erring on the safe side of medium rare (thanks Rob on the grill). The front of house team are working hard to deliver a a good service in spite of Marstons brewery.

On the downside, they seem to be working in a set up that prevents really good customer service, So, Marstons, Sort out your staff training so that the local teams know which line connects to which pump. How can you be running a pub where the only beer I cannot buy is YOUR BEER! I arrived at the Sailmakers at 18.50 and by 21.10 your beer was still off. COVID is over. I worked on the COVID response and I understand the changes to that were needed. However, a pub (in my book) is about social contact and conviviality. It is not about waiting for 15 minutes to be served because your team are prioritising drinks order made via a QR code on your tables. And it is not about one of your staff apologising and saying "I will be right there" when we both know that he has to prioritise the orders spewing out of a till from your app. And people ordering via the QR code is not evidence of preference. It is evidence to that tour customers will simply default to the most efficient way to get served if the alternative is watching your staff prioritising remote orders.

In the unlikely event that Marstons senior managers receive a summary of these reviews and act on them, then I look forward to your reply.

Otherwise, if you live near the Sailmaker or are staying in the Premier Inn next to it, then support...