Swan — Restaurant in Guildford

My wife and I haven't been to the Swan since a disastrous Christmas Day Dinner. I have already given a review for that visit. After that utility disastrous meal we received our money back and a £50 voucher (rather of had a nice meal). I received an email from the Swan reference a new seasons menu. As we liked the look of it we decided to give the Swan another chance, after all its been over 6 months. Well yet another total disaster from the moment we turned up for our booked time. Seemed to take ages for anyone to assist us. The numbers of people turning up and then waiting was increasing. A chap from behind the bar then showed us to our table but it already had people at it. After consultation with a wsitres he took us to another table. However there was only one chair..this seemed to perplex him. he looked very confused. The tables all around were empty of people but plenty of chairs. Anyway he finally picked up a chair and asked was this OK. It's a chair I said so fine lol. Shortly after a waitress came up and took our drinks order, a simple bottle of preseco. Some time later she came back with no drink but to take our food order. We had already decided what we were having off the menu. However the menu didn't match the email I had received a few hours earlier telling us to come back to the Swan to taste their new seasons menu. But hey ho we were there and picked what we wanted to eat off the actual menu. But that's when it went even more wrong! We were then told what was off the menu. Of course it was what we wanted. No salad, no humus, no mixed grill, no lasagna and nothing elsr that had salad or humus. But no worries because the waitress said she would find something similar to salad lol. I wonder whats similar to salad when they don't have any. Luckily they hadn't brought out bottle of wine....because we managed to book the local harvester and went there and had a nice meal. The Havester had plenty of salad and as much humus as you could want. So we still have a bloody £50 voucher for chef and brewers. So a cheap night out using our voucher didn't happen as of course wehad paid for our meal at the Havester. Now although after the December debarcle I spoke to reginal managers and even a director. The Swan manager at the time who called me after i requested him do so, didn't accept he had any issues with his establishment and accused us of being rude to his staff, which I categorically deny. Plus we weren't the only ones who had complained as their director told me that. Back in December they couldn't make a creme brulee. Couldn't make the vegetarian Christmas meal option. So can I be bothered to speak to anyone at chef & brewer this time around....NO. AS IT WOULD BE A WASTE OF MY PRECIOUS BREATH! So a pub that was once my local and a pub I must have been to 100's and 100s of times I will never grace its doors again. Maybe I'm just unlucky....Anyone recommend another chef &Brewer near farnham, let me know as I have £50 to spend.

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This review should not be taken lightly. This will also be followed up with an email to management. I was appalled at the quality of the food and cleanliness at The Swan. I entered the pub with my Partner where we ordered our drinks and collected our menu. Returning to the bar, we were then given a huge list of food not available as the kitchen was short staffed. So we returned to our seats and made a new choice of food. Once decided, my Partner ordered Steak and Ale Pie, I ordered slow roast beef rib roast. When the food eventually came to us, I quickly noticed the quality of the product. It was quite frankly unacceptable! The "goose fat roast potatoes" was infact frozen roast potatoes, bland, hard and cold in the middle! the beef rib was evidently some sort of pre cooked reheated, slimy bone, partially warm. I quickly got the attention of a waiter as my partners steak and ale pie was stone cold in the middle! Her food was taken away to be replaced with a hot meal, during this time I dissected the utter slop on my plate. at this point I noticed the cold roast potatoes, the quality of them and the sheer lack of care that came out of that kitchen. 20minutes later, a replacement steak and ale pie came to the table. In fairness, apparently it was acceptable for pub food. My plate, which had 3 quarters of the meal left on it, was placed to the side of the table and completely ignored by the waiting staff. Having said this, when the plates were collected by the waiter with long hair, the speed and embarrassment from him was evident. even that particular staff member knew I wasn't happy and the food was below what is acceptable. moments later, my partner noticed lipstick on both of our Aspel glasses! at this point I had to leave the pub. Not only is this a health and safety concern through cleanliness, it is out right rude to your customers. a number of hours later my partner also developed a stomach ache that i hold the pub responsible for through terrible quality food. if I wasnt so angry with the level of service, I would have made an official complaint yesterday.

I will not be leaving this here, I will follow this up officially.

Update* I had contact with senior management who issued a full refund plus a £25 voucher (of which I gave away). Apparently this was the most they could do. My advice to people is to avoid this particular establishment. It is unclean, food management is appalling and delivery of product is far below expectations. Chef&Brewer and Greene King should be...

This pub has always been a favourite, and when we came on bank holiday Monday, they were busy and gave us the heads up about the food wait (45 mins) and the bar seated area only, meaning we order at the bar instead of table service. This was not a problem. We were happy to wait. Whilst waiting, I went to the ladies loos, (went in the first set near the front, which were busy, so I went to the set near the back, both of which seemed tired and a bit rough around the edges). Its definitely an area i would recommend updating/dusting/painting. After our mains (which were perfect), we went back to the bar to order puddings. No mention of a wait this time, and I specifically asked if they were served hot, and the answer was yes. With a small baby, we were busy sorting them out and then it was another 40 min wait gone by so I asked where our puddings were. They suddenly bought them out straight after my query. Beautiful puddings, delicious, but cold. And the ice cream on top of them was mostly cream as that had melted. Whilst starting to eat the pudding, a waitress came over to tell us we couldn't pay for our bill a certain way, I told her we had already paid and our hot puddings took 40 mins and were cold, with no apology. She said "I'm sorry about that but I don't have the authority to reduce or refund you, you'll have to sort that with management"......and walked off! Felt like she washed her hands of that, instead of trying to resolve the issue, and get management over to speak to us. (Side note - by this point the busyness had started to die down, so no excuse there). To be honest, we would have tried to sort it out ourselves, but having a small baby who was now at the point of screaming as we had already waited 1.5 hours for both courses in total, plus eating time of both courses, baby had had enough of being there!

I still would return, and I would still recommend. All places need reminding of updating their bathrooms at some point. But we will endeavour not to come when it's busy again (on a bank holiday) if that's how waitresses solve the issues they are presented with (or leaving puddings in the kitchen and not noticing then for...