The Potting Shed Pub — Restaurant in Great Britain

Arrived for our 6pm dinner reservation tonight and were told the table wasn’t ready. This wasn’t a problem as we ordered a couple of drinks and waited for them to call us over. 6pm came and went and having seen other diners seated in the restaurant and starting to order my partner went to the bar and asked if we had been forgotten about. The barman said that we hadn’t been forgotten then told us we were the table in the bar area, which had been set up more or less as soon as we had ordered a drink, so we were clearly forgotten about. We went and seated ourselves and were brought over a couple of menus.

And this is where things really started to go downhill.......

The menu we had seen on their website was not what we were presented with, and then the hardcopy menus we were given were different to each other. One of the menus was barely legible as the printer used at the time was clearly running out of ink.

As we were sat in the bar area which was getting a bit noisy my partner went to ask if we could be moved. He went up to the manager who immediately said “No” even before my partner had asked a question. My partner assumed he was trying to be funny and asked if we could be moved instead. We were then called over when they were ready.

I asked the waiter if they could still do the bread starter and pork terrine as stated on their website. He went off and I assumed he was going to check. Then his colleague came over to take our order and ask if we wanted some water for the table. We said yes to the water and mentioned to her that her colleague was just checking whether the starters on the website could still be done. As we were saying this the waiter came over and plonked down a bread board which was only partly what we had asked them to check for, and were informed they could not do the terrine. At this point we gave up and settled with the bread board they gave us. We continued to order the starter of chiperones with lemon and aioli and our main course of pork.

We realised that we had not been given any side plates for the bread so my partner called over the waiter for these. His colleague brought a couple of plates over. We had the bread which was really nothing special. The waitress then brought the chiperone starters over before my partner had even finished his bread and as we hadn’t received the water for the table my partner asked again for this. She brought a bottle of water over and left it on the table. We have been to many country pubs and restaurants before where it is customary for the first glass of water to be poured.

The chiperones were the worst seafood we have ever tasted. It had clearly been drowned in salt and the aioli had no flavour whatsoever. My partner went over to the manager who asked us to stay and they would cook a replacement starter but by that point we had had enough and decided we weren’t going to risk further bad food.

This was an extremely disappointing date night considering we booked this place due to its high reviews. Will not be returning here...

The lighting outside was magical and the car park spacious. We were promptly taken to our table and were given menus. When I checked, allergens were not detailed. The side plates were dirty with a greasy film. We waited ages for waiting staff to come back to the table. I asked for a gluten free menu. The gluten free menu wasn't up to date so the staff member had to check with the kitchen if I could have the blade of beef, which I could. The waiting staff asked what drinks we wanted but didn't offer any helpful suggestions, which really wasn't helpful. I had a mulled wine, which was smooth and tasty. The food arrived promptly, but my green vegetables on top of the dish were cold. Also the jus was a little salty. Nobody came to the table to check if the food was okay or if we wanted additional drinks. After dinner, we asked for the dessert menu. There was no attention to detail as the gluten free menu wasn't brought. The staff member took our dessert order and started to rush off. I had to call him back for another mulled wine. I got the impression he was in a rush all evening and waiting on our table was far too much trouble. We were sitting near the kitchen. From the kitchen noise levels and shouting, it sounded like they were having their own party in the kitchen. When the bill arrived, the service charge had been automatically added. I question what we were paying service charge for. Had I been paying the bill, I wouldn't have paid the service charge. This establishment needs to focus its attention on the detail. I suggest you employ mystery shoppers over the coming months so you can verify what experience your customers are really having. I think you've had some good reviews and have since taken your eye off the ball. I wouldn't subject myself and my family to...

Ok, I’ll start with the good: place is lively, servers were good and the food is great. Unfortunately my evening was ruined in the last minute by the staff and their attitude not being commensurate to the reputation of the place. For the long version: We had made reservations a few weeks before for dinner at 7PM. Arrived 5 min early and were promptly seated. Tables beside us were all seated and having their appetizers or main meals (a couple, two party’s of four like us and a larger table). We order, have a great dinner and pay the bill. Its 8:30PM. Then out of the blue, with our kids already putting on their coats and wife finishing her last glass of wine (we ordered one of their best bottles), a dude comes in and says we need to leave because they need our table. Wife leaves behind her wine and as we are standing up, I notice ALL other tables around us were exactly the same people that were already there when we arrived. Every-single-one. So it’s not that the limit on the table is 90 mins or whatever, but just that we had paid our bill and others were still chatting and had not done so. But what really ruined it was telling the blonde lady in charge what happened, hearing an apology that this shouldn’t have happened, and then as I walk out seeing her causally talk to the dude and both having a laugh at the client who complained (me). I go back and of course they are embarrassed (as they should). We on the other hand were left hoping we had just gone to the local pub, spent less and not have driven 30min each way. I get it, we are tourists and will likely never come back anyway, so why bother. But out of all places, you were one of three that we picked as part of our trip to dine with - it was supposed to be a good experience. What a shame. (fwiw, I...