Elms — Restaurant in Harborough

On a positive note the food was ok. Based purely on that the rating would have been ok. Also one member of staff was good and I want to acknowledge that. However, the service from the other staff member and manager was shocking.

From the very moment I went to the bar to order it was obvious the staff member (I believe her name was Annabelle) was having a bad day and was going to take it out on me. “What would you like?” followed by turning away was abrupt at best. I asked what ales were available. “None” was the answer. Taken aback I asked for lager instead. I followed up asking if you don’t do beer / ale (weird for a Marston’s pub) and the answer was “We do” confused I asked if you had run out and got “Yes”.

I then ordered the food. Again all I was getting was “Anything else?” and no acknowledgment of what I had ordered. All the time looking away as if I was causing a problem by placing an order. We had food allergies on the table so had some requests not to have cheese sauce on an order and to swap peas for beans. At the end I asked to confirm the order. Answer was “It’s on the screen” i read the screen and it didn’t give that detail. I told Annabelle this who said “You can’t see it but I can.”

I paid for the food and drinks and was told “Take the menus back with you or they all end up at the bar. “ this was without any please. Again not looking at me.

At this point I had been treated in such a rude way so many times I decided do take the receipt in the same ways as I was being treated and took it while not looking at the server and not saying thank you.

When I got to the table I saw one glass was covered in lipstick and clearly hadn't been washed properly. So I went back to the bar. I tried to get the attention of another staff member but unfortunately was served by Annabelle. I told her the issue and held up the glass. She gave an extremely patronising smile and said “Oh, sorry”. It was obvious this was not a response of actual apology. She had already turned away as she grabbed the glass. I didn’t let go of it as I didn’t feel the issue was addressed. She then said “I am not serving you” and stormed off. Telling another staff member she wouldn’t serve me as I had been rude.

The other staff member, who could have been the manager but I’m not sure. Didn’t take the time to understand the situation but instead told me that if the staff didn’t want to serve me he couldn’t make them. He did not acknowledge that the issue could have been due to the staff’s behaviour instead implying it was down to me. I made it clear I was happy to not be served by Annabelle and in fact had tried not to be.

In the end he got another staff member to serve me. This staff member was great and really tried to be professional despite the obvious tension.

The food arrived and as I said that was fine. However, the order had been put through incorrectly so the wrong burger came with no cheese. As you will recall I tried to check but the arrogance of the server prevented that. We were told the kitchen was shut so they could add the cheese to the one that was missing but could do anything about the one with cheese sauce on it. In the end we swapped between us so the allergy issue was resolved but we didn’t get what was ordered.

We were offered a free desert. We declined. This was not about getting something for free. This is about being treated with courtesy.

The “manager” did come over later but by then it was too late. I did say I didn’t feel my treatment had been acknowledged and felt as if I was seen as being difficult. This was absolutely not the case. A celebration meal was ruined. He did say some customers had been rude earlier. That could be the case, I don’t know, however that can not be an excuse for my treatment. If a staff member is in that kind of frame of mind they should not be permitted to ruin another guest’s meal.

You will see from the amount I have written I am extraordinary angry about my treatment and will go out of my way to tell people of the...

My visit was on Tuesday 20th May, 2025 at 1pm... I can honestly say ive never been subjected to the shocking expirience I received at Elms from the Barstaff member a young girl (unfortunately i did not get her name) in my life, she was the rudest most confrontational staff member ive ever come across in my life in hospitality or any profession, this is not an exaggeration.. The pub itself it relatively pleasant and when we arrived the manager was very helpful. I went up to the bar to order drinks and asked for a full fat pepsi... now im autistic and my way of saying normal pepsi or normal coke is just a habit of saying "full fat"... what followed was the most incredible thing ive ever witnessed in hospitality, she preceeded to almost refuse to serve me normal pepsi by saying pepsi doesn't exist and there's no sugar in pepsi, I think she's a little childish and confused, she needs to understand yes "normal" pepsi has sweetener in but ALSO sugar, its just been reduced by a great deal, the arrogant ridiculous rant front her continued and she eventually to me to go away and "stop talking"

I was physically shaking and confused, I just don't get where her attitude came from and why she felt the need to be so condescending...all I wanted was a drink and she literally refused to accept that she had normal pepsi when I was literally pointing to the glass bottle...

The food itself was awful too nobody enjoyed the experience at my table and our afternoon there was ruined because of her bizarre, childish behaviour..

I lost my cool also and my wife and the manager got involved, the manager was calm and apologised but when asked if she would apologise she blindly refused in front of all of us..

The manager said she's a "fiery character" which is a ridiculous excuse as that has nothing to do with anything when youre in a professional setting you conduct yourself with professionalism he also said he would speak to her but i doubt if she's been punished in anyway but I have taken things into my own. Hands and have started a complaints procedure with Marstonsplc..

She let down that pub and what hospitality should be i hope a massive inquiry into this incident is undertaken and she is ultimately fired as if I spoke to a customer like she did I would have been handed my p45 on the spot, discipline and professionalism has gone out the window and she was a sad reflection on how poor society has become...

Again im not just putting my 1 star review just off her awful hospitality but also the mixed grill i ordered...

It was busy I supposed didn't help.

Staff at the bar friendly enough when we ordered, told they kitchen staff would let us know when our food was being prepared so those on carvery knew when to go up so we got it together.

The table was not particularly clean either (36 sticky, had glitter and something black stuck to it)

The carvery qué was getting bigger and bigger. By the time we were told to go up it was at the other side of the restaurant and then other meals came out straight away.

Hunters chicken was ok, I mean it wasn't hot or warm for that matter it was just about not cold enough to complain, eidable but nothing to get excited about.

Gammon was ok too.

However we had the finishes before the rest of the party got to the front of the qué. Where they were told only beef left and even then what they got was the burnt ends. The potatoes were all burnt and even the sauces and gravy were dregs in the bottom.

We later ordered deserts, the rocky road sundaes looked nothing like what was advertised.

The takeaway chocolate explosion is nothing like the cake advertised. It's 100% not the same cake, not even the same colour. None of the toppings that were on the cake advertised were on the cake we received. What we actually got was chocolate fudge cake with 3 malteasers thrown in the box and a dusting of icing sugar and ice cream sauce.

We are not from the area here as we are at a wedding locally but I definitely would not recommend it or come again.

I understand being busy but communication is key, both with customers and with staff between areas. The server on the door today came asking one party close by our table how their food was they complained about not being informed there was only beef, he said well there was others when you ordered. That is a poor excuse, I've worked in a very busy well known carvery chain, any decent chef would have been communicating telling them when there's one of each meat left, when they are on the last one so they have a rough idea of how many covers they have left and therefore know roughly how many to sell of can inform people if running low on one or more meat choices. They also could have cooked off chicken breast or gammon steaks giving them as an option.

Ladies toilets clean enough, mens flickering lights and doors that don't...