Wheelwright's Arms — Restaurant in Havant

We arrived today having pre-booked for a boxing day meal. We had pre-arranged our orders from the set boxing day menu.

Upon arrival it quickly became apparant that they were not just understaffed but barely had enough staff to maintain basic functions, let alone cope with the booked tables or the (seemly sizable) party in the back room. Front of house staff consisted of one waitress and one barlady. It took so long to be shown to our table that had we not pre-booked and paid a £10 per head non-refundable deposit we would've walked out, as things went I wish we had and saved ourselves nearely an hour.

Once shown to our table no offer of drinks was made, leaving a member of our party to get back up to go back to the bar for drinks. Following this it took 45 minutes for our starters to be served, When they came out they were probably kindly descriped as mediocre. They were barely warm and not nearly of the standard one might expect given the price.

Just as we finished our starters a further party arrived who seemingly hadn't booked but did appear to have some relation with the sole waitress, as such they were given a table and started making orders of anything that happened to be going (they were loud enough to make this evident to anyone within earshot). Given that we had to book and pay weeks in advance we not only found this to be unprofessional but frankly stupid to willingly further overstretch the clearly dwindling staffing resources in this way.

Seeing the state of things, the poor food and non exsistant service we walked out to save ourselves wasting any further time. This marks the first time I have walked out of a resturant in over ten years. Upon telling one of the members of staff that we were leaving and why we offered nothing by way of refund of our deposit.

I understand and sympathise with all pubs and resturants during these uncertain and trying times, and cannot blame the staff who were clearly trying their best to fight a loosing battle. However with things being stretched to this extent I believe the effort to call bookings to cancel or postpone would've been the right decision in these circumstances, had any managers been evident then perhaps this might've been done.

We have, as a family, been patrons of the Wheelrights arms for over eight years and live about as local as it's possible to be, We have taken note of its decline in recent years we consider this latest experience to be a final one, as we will not be back.

EDIT: In response to the reply from management below I'd like to say the following.

Covid has been a fact of everyone's lives for almost two years, variants will likely continue for some time to come and, as stated, I truly do sympathise with everyone working in the hospitality industry.

However you are still open as normal, charging a full (and premium) price for your food and hospitality both of which this afternoon were lacking. I'm not paying my hard earned money just to give you a pat on the back and a gold star for effort when what I get for that money isn't up to standard.

it's also a little trite to bemoan the effects of covid upon your staff when your staff don't seem to be taking any covid precautions nor asking any patrons to.

Sometimes a 'show must go on' attitude is not to the benefit of your customers, staff or business in the long run. I really do hope you take my feedback for what it is; Feedback, something to be learned from, and that you improve...

What a difference a few months can do. Went here for our 10th wedding anniversary and left disgusted with what was served up. Started off very well, greated with a friendly face who took our drink order and then another waitress took us to our seats. Its was not to busy when we turned up but then started to get busy once our order was taken. Our starter turned up which was delicious but we waited, and waited for what seemed like ages for our main. It was quite clear the 2 staff members we see working there socks off running around trying to keep up. My wife asked where our food was as we had waited so long and the young girl gave us our food immediately do could only presume it was on the side waiting to be handed out. My wife's steak was cold and the plate was bland to say the least filled with salad and chips, mine was a burger served with half a golf ball size of onion inside which I removed as no effort was made to slice it up and chips. The last time we had food like this served up was at Witherspoons which basically is you get what you pay for and it works for them. This was our wedding anniversary and we wanted it to be special and get some nice food served up which I thought the Wheelwright Arms had done so well in the past. Those 2 poor girls where run off there feet so clearly a staffing issue but then we went to pay our bill the waiting around continued until 1 girl came out with what looked like 5 pizzas for a Justeat delivery so priorities over customers inside the pub was not high on the list. We were so looking forward to dessert but due to issues we left early and went to M & S amd got a beautiful dessert at half the price. If you have staffing issues you should at least limit how many orders you take as too not disappoint customers like us on our...

We arrived today with a relatively large and hungry group of mixed adults and children - 6 adults and 6 children. One of whom was my 92 year old Grandfather. The manager had first made it quite apparent she wasn't happy to accommodate us to the point that I had asked her if she'd rather we left. There was a function room that the team were clearing to seat us. We ordered the children food to a bar table but delayed ordering the adults food whilst the room was prepared. This is an important element for this review. As we waited for the children's food, we weren't ever approached about the function room a table to seat us all nor when it would be appropriate to order the adults food. Whilst still waiting for the children's food, we proceeded to order at the bar for the adults food to then be told at 7:49 that the restaurant are not taking any further orders. Pardon. Yes, you heard me. Please bear in mind, the kids food was yet to arrive. We were not communicated to ever again about the function room nor the time the kitchen closes. The manager knew we were all there to eat. As I say, it was a very unwelcoming experience. Poor service from the moment we arrived to the moment we left. It was very clear the manager did not want to serve a large table. I would never recommend not visit again. I am disappointed with the service and experience. I would avoid at all costs if you're looking for a warming, family friendly bar that can accommodate groups larger than 4. Unbelievable....