Toby Carvery Bruntcliffe — Restaurant in Leeds

I visited with my son Tues 19th Dec 2023 at around 6pm with my son after Christmas shopping.

I shall start with the positives - the staff I spoke to were friendly.

Now on to the negatives - despite being friendly, and with all due respect it was in an attempt to be helpful, I was misinformed about what was available, I wanted to purchase a side order of Macaroni cheese to be told it was available on the carvery only to be disappointed when it wasn't, the lad on the carvery seemed absolutely disinterested saying "no we have not put any out sorry". We had been told upon entry that it was booking only to sit at a dining table even though the place was half full at best and didn't get any busier so it is a mystery who exactly all the tables were reserved by to require a child to have to sit in the bar area. We ordered carvery sandwiches which in other places has involved a trip to the carvery, instead I had to decide what I wanted blindly and have it brought to the table which was disappointing as I usually decide which meat I would like be how they look on the pass. Then we waited the best part of half an hour for a slice of meat to be put between 2 slices of bread, people arrived after us, visited the carvery and were halfway through their meal before our food arrived. Then when our food arrived everything except the gravy was cold to the touch, the roasties in particular, the only thing they brought us that wasn't cold was the gravy, I assume they hoped we would just pour it straight over everything and that would disguise it, and the bread was not a nice soft teacake but dry hard bread, I went to get some warm roasties from the carvery and got a dollop of mash which was also clap cold so clearly not adhering to hot hold temperature requirements (and probably times, both contravene FSA hygiene standards). The only thing that we ate that came out from the kitchen was the (luke warm at best) meat and the gravy. We never received a check back so I did not get the opportunity to raise this at the time. I heard gentleman on the next table say he wished he had just gone to macdonalds instead then a group of tradies staying in the accomodation were asking about local fish shops as they had eaten there earlier in the week and wouldn't be again so this is clearly not an isolated incident.

Disappointing and underwhelming to say the least.

Interesting to note the positive comments here read as if they know the staff personally.

They should be thankful I wasn't their mystery shopper that would have been a huge fail and bonuses gone although at least head office would know how poorly the...

Oh my gosh, I’d love to give Toby in Morley five stars, but the service can be hit and miss. On one hand there is a lovely young woman, dark hair, slim, friendly, who works there, don’t know her name (I’m assuming pronouns for all - apologies if incorrect). She always so friendly and smilie, you know the genuine kind not a forced one. There is also one of the chefs, slimmer build with a beard, who is also so friendly and conversational when you are getting your carvery. These two staff make the experience pleasurable.

However there is also a member of the management team who is grumpy, never greets you with a smile or anything other than acknowledgment of your presence. Tells you to ‘sit there’ and hurry’s you with comments like ‘there’s no _ (insert meat variety)’ ‘what we have left is all there is so you can’t delay’ and also there is a stockier build chef on the cavery who is as grumpy as this manager and serves the meat like he’s paying for it and he’s experience was gained service school dinners. These two people knock off stars for me, but the great staff make up for them in some way.

I know it’s a Toby Cavery so I don’t expect the Ritz level of service, however it the previously mentioned staff can be happy then an expectation has been set. If the management were happier if sets the tone for the staff. Also if I’m paying for a service, it would be nice to have at least a smile from the staff you interact with.

The food is good most of the time, some of the veg can be dry and overcooked at times. However the meat is usually succulent and perfectly cooked, nice to see rare beef and not shoe leather!

Since the refit the ambiance is nice, you do get the occasional herd of feral squealing children running around which can be dangerous especially around the food counter. As this is not the fault of the venue, it hasn’t impacted my rating, just an...

We booked 3 tables and arrived early to ask if we could be seated close to eachother. The manger told us it wasn't possible as all their tables were full to which be accpeted and didn't think anything of it until we were seated and noticed more than enough tables available for us all to be seated together so twice we asked why it wasn't possible for us to be seated together given the tables were available but on the second time of asking the manager siobhan was extremely rude infront of my children, told me to shut up while using her hand to silence me then went on to tell me I dont have the first clue about running a restaurant so don't question her in how or why she had decided to seat us in 3 different corners of the restaurant as far away from eachother as she could of put us. All while sitting two people to tables of four inbetween us Her customer service was some of the most shocking I have received! She upset my daughter so much that myself and my daughter didn't eat although she did tell me I wasn't aloud to eat here. The tone she used and the way she handled being asked a simple "why" was absolutely despicable and very unacceptable. The two ladies sat opposite us also on a table for four were also appalled by siobhans behaviour and said that i handled her telling me to shut up with her hands alot better than they would of if it them on the receiving end of siobhans outrageous service. On a brighter note Nigel who served our drinks was the complete opposite he had brilliant customer service was friendly very understanding and polite you could tell he felt so uncomfortable but there wasn't anything he could do to help the situation. But he did apologise for siobhans behaviour Thank you...