The Owl at Lichfield — Restaurant in Lichfield

Not having been to the Owl before I had checked out the menu and was impressed and read the reviews too which swayed me so I booked on a Sunday. I had looked to see if there was a separate Sunday menu but couldn’t find one so was looking forward to sampling the dishes but later found out it was a Sunday menu off someone at work. Nevermind we thought , we will have a nice Sunday dinner. The pub was lovely with nice decor and the staff were really friendly and helpful and this is what the three stars are mainly for as the food let the pub down we felt. The menu promised more than what was delivered. It described meats, roast potatoes etc... with veg and all the trimmings and lots of gravy but we were disappointed with large plates that were mostly empty. 2 small slices of meat, 2 potatoes and a small Yorkshire pudding with a bit of gravy on it. Everyone was looking a bit confused as there were 6 of us but the waitresses said they were bringing all the veg out which came out on 1 plate with 2 selections of veg on a serving size which would have struggled to serve 2 dinners let alone the 5 meals that were supposed to have veg. I did ask for more veg which the waitress was only happy to get but again a small serving of only 2 veg selection. ( it was a nice swede mash though and some mixed greens) but no one enjoyed the tough slice of stuffing once we had figured out that it was indeed stuffing. My young Nephew had decided to opt for the burger which he thoroughly enjoyed though so he was happy so there’s one plus for the food. The puddings were nice enough although my wife had opted for the caramel Eton mess which she said was okay although it didn’t appear to contain any meringue and was mostly just cream with some brownie in it and also the biscuit was missing from the chocolate compote dish but the waitress soon sorted that out. As a sum up, I would say the pub and staff were great but for it being one of the more expensive Sunday dinners in the area, we were left wondering what warranted it.? Unfortunately it has put us off wanting to try the week menu which is what tempted us to try the pub in the first place as we all went home still feeling peckish and slightly...

Deeply disappointed with what was the best of Lichfield. We arrived on a Monday night, quiet as you could imagine. My partner ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, I ordered a peroni and a water. The water never arrived, despite being on the receipt, the wine tasted like vinegar when it did arrive. Food was as nice as it always is, but service sloppy. One member of staff has developed a grating habit of shaking his keys which he wears round his neck whilst he is serving, unsure as to why but I am glad the entire restaurant is aware that he is capable of locking a door. I went up to the bar to order another beer and pay the bill, taking my partners wine with me. I said you can take this (my partners wine) it tastes like it has been open 3 weeks. I received the bill to discover we had been charged for a Chardonnay, which she wouldn’t have been remotely inclined to order. I asked Mr Jingle Jangle which she had been served the Chardonnay or the Sauvignon Blanc and Mr Jingle Jangle responded whichever is on the ticket. I returned to the table we were sat at and told my partner, she had a look at the wine menu on our table to discover not only had we been given a wine we didn’t order that was disgusting but we had been overcharged. Fed up with a day of doing something over than jingling my keys round a half empty restaurant, I let my partner go and approach a member of staff who we have spoken to on numerous occasions, who has always been lovely and more than helpful. My partner approached the bar supervisor, on his day off and was more than helpful in rectifying the situation. The bar supervisor being very apologetic and Ian who we have seen many times albeit this one has always been welcoming and lovely. It’s a shame that the revolving door of staff that we have seen over the last 2 years has resulted in the incompetence of Mr Jingle Jangle. I’d love to return to what we once thought was the best pub in Lichfield but with the rudeness, incompetence and laziness of current staff, I think I will have to wait 2 weeks until we can see an...

A lovely looking pub restaurant let down by poor service and sub par food quality.

On our visit, it took 20 minutes after being seated before anybody came to even take a drink order. We ended up placing our food and drink order at the same time, with the drinks then taking a further 10 minutes to come out.

The starters fortunately came in good time, we're well presented and tasty. Our mains arrived around 20 minutes after we'd finished our starters, but arrived in stages, with it taking at least 5 minutes between the first and last dish being served (there were only 4 of us). Unfortunately the food quality of the mains was mixed. The steak and ale pie was meat in a dish with a lump of puff pastry on top, the burger looked good, but was fairly bland, the pizza looked and tasted like a frozen item from a supermarket, however the fish and chips were pretty good.

After having finished our mains and the plates being taken away, it took so long for anybody to ask if we wanted something else that we had to go and find a server to ask for ourselves. We found that the waiting staff were all stood in a corner having a chat. In the end we opted not to have anything else given the service and food quality we'd already experienced.

This place could easily be a lot better if the service staff were switched on and perhaps if the menu was a bit smaller, concentrating on quality rather than quantity. We won't be returning...