The Whittington Arms — Restaurant in Lichfield

I booked a table for my wife and I for 7.30pm and despite arriving 5 minutes late, we were informed that our table wasn't yet ready and needed to be cleared and cleaned. We were asked to go to the bar and would be called over when it was ready.

Having waited at the bar in excess of 15 minutes, and not even having been served due to the lack of staff on duty, we were informed that our table was now ready.

We ordered drinks at our table which took approximately 10 minutes to arrive. We had now been in the establishment for well over half an hour and still desperately waiting for drinks and some form of service.

We had the opportunity of calling the attention of another member of waiting staff to air our grievance at having to wait so long for just 2 drinks. Shortly afterwards our drinks finally arrived and our order taken.

The length of time to wait for our drinks was most definitely too long, however to wait about 15 minutes for 4 chunks of bread and a balsamic dip was just too much!

Whilst we appreciate the restaurant was very busy, there was only 3 members of waiting staff that could be seen and those 3 were also filling in behind the bar. Upon questioning our waitress she informed us that staff were off sick and that there was not a lot that she could do.

Whilst we sympathise with her and her colleagues it beggars belief that tables were booked when it was clear that they were unable to manage the workload.

The food that my wife and I initially consumed appeared to be of good quality however the following day my body disagreed! I suffered incredible pains in my stomach and was quite poorly for the following 36 hours. I can only put this down to the food that I had consumed at this establishment as other foodstuffs that I had consumed had been eaten also by members of my family.

I contacted the restaurant the following day to complain yet was met with a rather abrupt lady on the phone who made no apology for my previous nights experience and merely said she would pass on my complaint to the kitchen.

Not happy and won't be returning. What should have been an enjoyable experience turned out far from it, an expensive evening to feel sick the following day and no interest from...

Lovely pub, but the food.... Gastropub, I really don't think so. Five of us dined today to celebrate a birthday. We ordered roast beef (our table was at 2pm). But they were out of roast beef! OK, these things happen but really? Anyway, I'll just cover my meal experience and why I gave 2-stars to keep this shortish. Starter- scallops and pork belly. Scallops were actually tender, but only warm. Pork belly was mainly fat (also just warm) and the sauce was just odd and cold. My main course was pork belly. It was either lumps of jellified, wobbly fat or dried up meat with a huge, wet-on-the- base Yorks pud, a couple of non- descript potatoes (I think they were meant to be roast) and roast root vegetables. This was actually one large slice of parsnip, which was very, very sweet accompanied by an overly salty gravy. We also ordered sides of broccoli and asparagus. The way this was served was a bit of a joke, with the asparagus inedible, just unchewable. Not the season I know, but why then offer it. We also had cauliflower cheese. The cauliflower was barely cooked (and I don't mean al- dente) with the cheese sauce being a coagulation of yellowness with fat bubbles. I really haven't had anything as poor as this meal offering for, well years. I will also mention my Grandsons pizza, which was wet and limp. How can you get heating up frozen pizza wrong in a commercial kitchen! Drinks- wise, my Son and DIL ordered virgin bloody mary's. But guess what- no tomato juice- but they were both on the bill at the end! On the upside, the place was clean and well kept in every respect, but in no way can it be described as a gastropub, as the kitchen clearly are not skilled enough to produce even simple food. Now, other than the bill, we did not complain as we were not paying and it was my Son's birthday. Normally we would so we were at fault to for not sending the food back. As it happens, when we were in the car my DIL commented on how poor her food was, as we then all did. I did notice that the pub was easily half- empty, which perhaps tells it's own story maybe?. Try The Boat if you want to visit a gastropub. Shame really. One star for cleanliness and one star for the...

The waiting staff were fine but food n drink very disappointing, considering price too

I had seafood pasta but there was no crab in the prawn and crab linguine…. Not a small amount of crab but none at all and the portion was small like a child’s size. How can a main ingredient be missed! The Sunday lunches bought ( pork and beef) were platted with varying amounts of vegetables to point half the plate was empty! My son had a vegan burger and unlike the 3 other burgers it wasn’t offered with fries but when asked for was told yes vegan fries are not a problem. Why not on the menu? And the burger itself was also disappointing as it was small and the vegan cheese was not melted. We had a few mocktails and it was like the ingredients were just placed in a glass.

It was a family meal that was supposed to be special and our past visits here were always good but can’t say I’d rush back.

Lastly I’d joined online as on booking I was told I’d get a free dessert but I’d heard nothing back after joining so staff couldn’t offer the complementary starter or dessert and said the website takes ages to update .

Considering the poor food n drinks there was little apology or offer to discount though staff were friendly and attentive but any comments were reported back To kitchen to no avail.

following review the establishment said "reach out to speak to us about it" which i tried but they answered saying they don't respond to this...