The Drill Inn — Restaurant in Lichfield

If I were to base my score on my own meal alone, then it really would be zero, however, as a party of 5 then I must give 2 stars, since two of the meals were good and a third also OK; had it arrived along with the other meals then this would have been a bonus. However, since this was a celebration meal, two of the party had finished their dinner by the time this third meal arrived, and it took the edge off the occasion as we watched him while he ate alone.The staff provided a free beer as compensation, and offered fries so he could be eating something with the restaurant of the group, while he waited for his ordered meal to arrive. How difficult is it to get the meals out together if you are anything close to competent and managing a professional establishment? Two of our party are vegan and had stipulated this when booking two weeks earlier. At the time of booking we were assured that vegan options were not a problem. Had The Drill been honest about their abilities then we would gave respected this and booked elsewhere. Clearly their acceptance of the booking for vegan diners was a misleading statement. The vegan burger (which may well have been sourced from the corner shop - it was of that calibre and suspect it was acquired only as a sop to fulfill the menu obligations) did not come with the brioche bun as advertised. The chips that apparently accompany the burger are not vegan and therefore not an option, and the half pound of boiled King Edwards that replaced the chips really did not cut it. Who has a burger without a bun, accompanied by boiled potatoes Contrary? Contrary to the promises made at the time of booking, there were no vegan options for dessert and the long suffering waitress apologised for even bringing out the dessert menu. The newly refurbished restaurant is good and the long awaited opening of the entire restaurant area provides a positive ambience. Can The Drill really afford to lose the payment for 20% of a Saturday evening party (we did not pay for two meals and one beer) and of course the loss of our future patronage and those with whom we speak? The meals that were OK, were good, but the overall experience was far from positive and for an industry that has suffered hugely from the impact of Covid, this car crash of an experience does little to help...

I’m finding it difficult to write this review… we went to The Drill Inn last night to celebrate two family members birthdays, it was the first time I have visited, my family have been before and have sang it’s praises. I’m unable to comment on the food although it looked delicious once it came but waiting an hour for mains and being there over two hours altogether unfortunately meant I wasn’t hungry once it arrived, I did however take it home and have yet to try.

Luckily the two young children eat their meals when a few of the party members had starters, but unfortunately it was another hour between finishing starters to getting mains, we did ask twice as the team didn’t explain a delay. We were a table of 7 and a similar size group of people were next to us, two small tables of people inside, the waiter finally apologised about the delay once I had explained we couldn’t eat their food due the wait and now being past hungry, my fathers starter and main was forgotten and we couldn’t wait longer for his main the be cooked, it was now approaching 8:45pm, my young niece and nephew were getting tired.

We wish to offer feedback to improve the experience, to relieve unnecessary stress for staff please consider numbers of guests to team members, we wouldn’t have minded politely being turned away to avoid this, please reread the order back to each individual to avoid missing meals. Update the guests and explain delays. The staff were friendly but seemed overwhelmed at times. We want the team and establishment to keep thriving hence not leaving a low star review.

The garden and playing facilities are wonderful for children, the garden is very well kept, it is very cared for, inside is spotless and beautifully kept also, the food looked delicious. I really hope this was a one off and wish the team and business...

We had booked bottomless for 11 people, when booking we asked wether there was a Christmas bottomless or if it would be the standard bottomless menu online, the person on the phone stated that we could have the normal bottomless, we arrived and were seated. The staff were lovely, when they brought the menu over it was a Christmas Fayre menu, which we explained that wasn’t what was stated on the phone and none of us really wanted a Christmas dinner. The male manager was very obnoxious, he smiled and said there was nothing he could do and it was basically tough luck. My friend was really upset, we had all come out for her birthday and there was no way we would be able to get in anywhere else at this time of night for that many people, I then went and spoke to the female manager myself, explained the situation and asked if there was anything she could do, wether they could just change the main menu option as nobody wanted a Christmas dinner. She went away and came back to me, she offered us 4 other options. She then gave us our time back for bottomless, gave us the first round of drinks free and she was absolutely fantastic. What a brilliant manager! She went out of her way to make sure the evening wasn’t ruined, she catered to our table and made sure my friends birthday wasn’t ruined, the staff were great, the drinks were constantly brought over. The food was absolutely fantastic, we had a really lovely time in the end. Thanks to the female manager! She definitely knows how to deal with customers properly; the male manager didn’t have great customer service skills at all. He just blank refused and was willing to let all of us walk away really upset and frustrated with the service we received.

So Thankyou again to the female manager! To the two young girls who served us all night. You...