Crown & Cushion — Restaurant in Hart

Went on a Wednesday evening to celebrate a birthday. Upon arrival felt safe with the nhs track and trace app signs, sanitiser, staff wearing masks and a one way system. Tables well spaced out also.

When drinks arrived, the server left the tray on the end of the table and walked off without a word... having been to a few pubs I know many places ask guests to take the drinks off the tray, which I respect as good covid measures. However this wasn’t explained to us so just seemed a little rude to dump it and walk off. Later when the food came, the same thing happened - which i haven’t experienced before. Being expected to (without any explanation) hand our meals down the table to each other was once again quite rude. Fully understand covid measures once again, and staff not leaning over us must be a good thing. However it would have been nice for the server to ask us to do this, instead they just dumped the plates and waked off. We also had to ask for new cutlery as original had gone with the starters.

I had the veggie stack - which on the menu sounded lovely, but I was disappointed when it came out. Minimal halloumi. It looked like it had been thrown together without much care - a McDonald’s burger is better presented! It was also rather cold. It was meant to come with ‘skin on fries’ but instead we got thick steak cut fries (without skin). They were hot and tasty, so not complaining but just wasn’t as described. I ate it but wasn’t satisfied taste wise, it was rather bland (as well as cold). Was too big to eat as a burger so had to divide the bun halves.

My mum had a fish pie which she enjoyed - so it wasn’t all bad.

We had to pile our plates at the end of the table again for them to take away. They then put a pile of desert menus on the table without asking if we wanted to see them - which to me is a dreadful waste of paper as they throw away each menu after it’s used. I don’t see why they didn’t leave the original full menus on the table, as they had deserts on also. Or even better, request that guests look at menus online and then order with the staff, (with paper on stand by for those who prefer it).

We joked that we should tip ourselves but in all seriousness I don’t think the service was worthy of any sort of tip, although one was paid. The staff seemed moody and uninterested. The lack of communication was the main issue for us.

It’s a shame because I won’t be returning or recommending this venue. The restaurant itself is lovely but I think some customer service training of the staff would be...

Very odd “manager” - passive aggressive and angry.

Had reason to comment about the “mushroom Wellington” as it was poor, but the “manager” was the strangest, most passive aggressive, odd little character I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter in any pub or restaurant in my life.

My girlfriend and I ordered the ‘mushroom Wellington’, which didn’t taste too bad but was no more than A MUSHROOM, with a bit of poorly cooked veg - for £15!

Having not eaten all day due to driving a long distance we ate the meal and felt it worthwhile to give our feedback as we’ve both been vegan for 5 years and eaten plenty of GOOD mushroom wellingtons and roasts so felt qualified to do so.

The waitress seemed to not know what to do so said “I’ll get my manager”.

A couple of minutes later a gentleman with a black beard, wearing maroon trousers and what looked like hiking boots arrived with an odd grin.

What happened next was strange, odd, weird and something we’ve never experienced before in the 100’s of restaurants we’ve eaten at all over the world. He totally and utterly failed in aspects that are basic in retail and hospitality.

He failed to Listen, empathise, repeat back to show he understood and then provide a solution.

When my girlfriend said she was autistic he not only said “I know I know” when there was no way he could have known as she’d only just told him, but he continued to argue with her and be passive aggressive.

The whole thing was just bizarre and unnecessary, to the point where I pointed to my card on top of the receipt and said, “at no point have I said I’m not paying or asking for any discount, so why are you so defensive and acting in this way?” I then said, “just take the money and we’ll be leaving” while I pointed to my card again.

His response was to tell me that the cost of the bill - £38 something was “nothing to us”, “it’s nothing” with a disgusted look on his face (scrunched up face).

Immediately after this, his final display was shockingly childish and over the top. He said in the most sarcastic way anyone could imagine, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do then”, and picked up the receipt, then proceeded to tear it up in front of us with a psychotic grin.

His behaviour was an absolute disgrace, he was childish, passive aggressive, petty, angry and confrontational. Moreover, his total inability to show an ounce of empathy - especially when informed that my girlfriend was autistic is not only disgusting but...

This is the second time that we have had an issue with this pub.

Two weeks ago I rang up to book a pod, they have several and the top pods are in a much better position, if you have one on the lower area you have a horrible lean to opposite which seems to have families in and the area is noisy so hence asking for the pod further up which has Mead Hall opposite, which is lovely to look at as it looks Tudor. We got to the restaurant on time, but were told we couldn't have the one we booked as there were none available when we booked!!! They were all available when I booked and they confirmed on the phone that a top pod had been booked for me! Then the assistant manager came out and said how can we resolve this - I said well give us the pod that we booked. Apparently, the people that had been put in our pod wanted to move to our one so they could watch the cricket in the field next door, so they were moved! You can still see the cricket from the lower pods. The manager asked why we wanted to move to the top, basically asking why we had the nerve to ask for the booked pod. We had to justify wanting that pod, one of the reasons I told her is that my daughter being deaf found it better in the one we booked, the ignorant women said it just as noisy up the top! My daughter has a cochlear implant and only has 8% hearing in the other ear. I did say if they want to watch the cricket maybe they should sit in the field, the reply to that was that's uncalled for. The manager was quite cross that she had to ask the men in the pod to move, her attitude was astounding to be honest. The girl that served us was quite sniffy as well and when she sat down with someone she knew to have her lunch/dinner she was quite obviously talking about us as the man kept giving my daughter dirty looks. The manager did not even give us an apology and frankly was quite...