Megan's by the Castle Restaurant (Guildford) — Restaurant in Guildford

I had high hopes for this place seeing as the service in the booking process I received from Tilly was amazing, and the service from the waiters and waitresses was great. However, the below complaint was sent to the customer service following an issue where the desserts were missed for pretty much our entire party of 14, which I have since complained about and Lucy in customer service has not offered any resolution and is now ignoring my emails. Avoid this particular restaurant for group bookings as you will be severely disappointed when one of your dishes (that was pre ordered) is not available and you are served cardboard as an alternative. Twickenham branch however is lovely and amazing service if you must try this place at all.

We had a booking for 14 people at 1pm in the Guildford restaurant. We had pre-ordered set menus and I received an email 2 weeks before to say there were none of the donuts from the set menu (4 of our guests had ordered these) - we were advised that sticky toffee was a good alternative so we all opted to have this in its place.

One the day, just before dessert was going to be served, we were advised that there was in fact no sticky toffee available at all. Considering 7 of the guests had ordered this, plus another 4 due to there being no donuts, I think this is absolutely terrible planning on your part and was shocked that for a party of 14 people, 11 of the desserts were unavailable (seeing as we also had to put in our orders online before the reservation so that your kitchen staff could ensure they had enough supply in). As a resolution, we asked if we could then order any dessert or if it had to be off the set menu, to which we were told we had to order from the set menu (mince pie or raspberry loaf which no one liked) or we could have "cookie dough" as an alternative. The cookie dough brought out was a sharer portion and it was flat and burnt and really not the standard expected when we originally booked to come here.

I would like to point out that we paid for our meals up front, a total cost of £630, and spent another £230 on the day - so a total of £860! Considering the amount we spent the least I would expect is to have the "replacement" dessert available, and when this is not available then we should be able to order whatever we chose as a dessert, not given a dry version of "cookie dough" with a bowl of ice cream. I am not usually a person that complains, but considering the money we spent I think this is appalling service. I must stress that your waiters and restaurant staff were amazing, and we cannot fault the service from them - but maybe in future your kitchen staff should make sure they have enough meals for a big group like ours. We did not make a fuss on the day, but I hope that you can provide some sort of resolution for this considering the fact it happened on two occasions, and it left us with only one (sub-standard) option for dessert. I would expect some kind of refund in this situation, considering a third of the meal was not delivered, then maybe a 30% refund for the 11 guests that did not get the dessert they had ordered would be sufficient, or a voucher to this amount for a future...

Writing this review is tough, because I was truly looking forward to eating at Megan's by the castle. I don't mind a pretentious restaurant—it's part of the experience. But when the food and service don't live up to the high standards they set, it feels twice as bad. We arrived just before the lunch rush without a reservation but were seated at one of two remaining tables in the back. The decor was striking and the restaurant had a vibrant feel. We sat near a skylight, which provided a lovely natural light and improved the ambience. We were also seated at a wobbly table with a sticky, varnished top, one of my pet peeves. As we ordered, the restaurant quickly filled up. The food arrived fast, which I was happy about, considering how busy it had become. But even with the quick arrival, our meals were cold, a problem that became more apparent as we ate. I ordered the open chicken kebab with halloumi, and my daughter got the open posh lamb doner. The chicken kebab was just okay, and I wish it had been warmer. The halloumi was lukewarm and lacked the expected grilled texture and slight golden crust that comes from being properly heated. The flavor was missing across the entire meal, which was surprising given the colorful ingredients and sauces, like the harissa hummus. The chicken was underwhelming—effectively an overcomplicated kebab that lacked flavor and definition. The only saving grace was the two accompanying sauces. My daughter's meal was similar, but with slow-cooked pulled lamb that was dry, mushy, and cold—not a great combination. We had requested the feta and pistachio on the side, so the meal wasn't fully what the chef intended, but the fundamentals still failed. The mushy, tasteless lamb paired with a soggy bread and soft hummus made for a poor experience. The feta and pistachio helped slightly but only distracted from the main ingredients. Sadly, my daughter couldn't eat her meal. It was frustrating because the staff never checked on us, and getting their attention was nearly impossible. We were in a forgotten corner of a packed restaurant. I finally got a waiter's attention, and they kindly offered to remove my daughter's meal from the bill. If you want a better experience with a more traditional kebab and zero pretentious expectations, I recommend walking down the road to either Meat the Greek for a gyros or Nuros for a proper Turkish kebab. Both are also cheaper. I'm sorry for being so blunt, but I've been to many restaurants, both good and bad, and somehow I left feeling more let down by Megan's than others, and my daughter too. Maybe it's the...

Walking past a few weeks ago I thought this was a tea shop, serving afternoon teas and scones etc. it looks quaint and small from the outside, how wrong can you be!!

Friday night whilst looking for something to eat we came across this place again, looking inside and seeing table full of people, always a good sign at 6:30 on a Friday night, we decided to give it a try.

As a walk in of three, we were greeted and shown to a table on the first floor at the front of the restaurant, the Latin themed music playing loudly from the numerous speaker dotted around the place, we shared our area with a large family table celebrating a birthday and all talking loudly, the décor was a mix and mash of tiling, low slung scenic lighting and numerous bird cages hung around and on shelving.

The food was not really up to par for two out of the three, my wife chose the Greek salad which seemed to be around 30 cherry tomatoes, a couple of slices of red onion and a heap of red humous in the centre of the plate with a garnish of about 3 ounces of feta cheese, all just seemingly heaped on a plate and slapped on the table, my sons open chicken kebab was so spicy you couldn't taste anything at all and he spent the entire meal upset because his mouth was hurting so much, this is a child that puts siracha mayo on everything he eats!!

My meal was the mixed open kebab, of beef and lamb, a tad over spiced for my liking but tolerable with the dips and small side salad you get with it, and the Humous fries were nice, but then again you can't really go wrong with something you just have to fry can you!

Overall a bit disappointing and we paid and left immediately after eating as my wife was fed up with having to shout to be heard over the loud music and other table also shouting to be heard.

Will I go back....possibly but...