The Royal William IV - Pub & Kitchen — Restaurant in Lincoln

NOT VERY 'ROYAL', WILL NOT ACCEPT COIN OF THE REALM ! My last two visits here during the past 12 months have both been a disappointment. First one we left after we waited 45 minutes for drinks that had been ordered. I will move on from that one as it was during the Covid restrictions.... Visited last week and ordered 2 drinks and even one for the bar staff. Was impossible to pay though as only cards accepted. I never use a card for general drinking/dining. When I did try card there was problem with it being 'not supported' but it has worked at other establishments. I suggested bar man could use his card and I would pay him. No chance, fair enough. I asked if it was because of no change in till and offered correct money (£20.50) 'no'. On asking why..... 'we don't take cash because of Covid'. What a joke. Everywhere takes cash now and this is an excuse that sadly several companies have tried. As a retail business owner myself, we all know why. It prevents, staff thefts and saves on banking costs! Well this turned out to be a false economy, for them. I had to leave the drinks on the bar, (including the one I purchased for the staff member, before I realised he didn't really deserve it), so free staff drinks all round then, as it is unlikely these freshly poured drinks were thrown down the drain. Sadly.... for them, we intended to return for food after dropping off the dog that was with us. This plan was now dropped and we ended up spending our £80 odd in Wildwood on High Street, where incidentally, they are happy to accept cash. Disgraceful attitude/policy at Royal William and with a name such as this they will not accept legal tender emblazoned with the head of our Monarchy. Hardly very Royal is it? What a faux pas. Now to be fair, there is a small notice on the board outside, which unfortunately, I didn't see. How much business has this place lost do to this pathetic rule? How many others passed by due to this? Advertising that they don't take cash is hardly going to bring in MORE custom is it? When I see pubs and restaurants going under, or complaining that business is hard, it really wouldn't surprise me if this place has to cut staff or worse, and it will be no-one else at fault apart from Royal Williams' management 'team'. I wont be trying them again, which is a shame, I gave it 2 stars because the place looked clean and tidy, and the kitchen was giving out some nice smells. Would have been better if I could have tasted it though. Incidentally, I would bet staff accept cash...

NOT DOG OR PEOPLE FRIENDLY. We were looking for places to eat out in Lincoln and saw this place accepted dogs. They even have a big sign on the door saying dog friendly. As such we decided to take our dog with us. We walked in and a waitress stared at us till we asked for a table, then told us we couldn’t take our dog past a certain point and “would have to find a table in the dog section.” That section was full but a kindly gentleman said he would be finishing soon and we could have his table. We awkwardly stood around waiting in the middle of the restaurant while the staff who heard all this stared. When the gentleman left we started sitting down only for another waiter to tell us we couldn’t sit there. We asked why and he said it wasn’t in the dog section. The boundary was actually further back than the other waitress said so we would have to find a table there. All those tables were full and to add insult to injury it was full of people who didn’t have dogs. The table we were trying to sit at was just past the boundary but apparently they preferred to leave it empty. That’s up to them but the waiters were very dismissive and essentially herded us out the restaurant. I’ve been to other places like the Cosy Club where there’s a dog section and when it’s full they offer to save you a table if you come back later but here it was very obvious we weren’t wanted. Which was very annoying as we would’ve left the dog at home if we’d known it would be that much faff. Thankfully Nando’s turned a blind eye to us sitting outside with her as their staff have some gumption and actually...

Extreamy disappointed rude and unhelpful manager frankly disgusted ... yesterday I took a friend to lunch in the lovely weather we sat outside as there were no tables inside we had looked forward to our day off for a while a large group had moved the umbrellas for shade we moved to the side of the pub next to another large group you have to scan your table and pay up front ... our food arrived the lager group next to us then all litt cigarettes this was disgusting as our food had just arrived so I picked out table up and moved it away under the tree in the shade we sat back down to eat... the manager came out and demanded abruptly and very rudely. That we immediately move the table back this caused great upset and embarrassment to my lady friend... I explained calmly that we were not prepared to sit in secondhand smoke and asked if he could move us to an alternative table.. to my surprise he point blank refused and again demanded we moved the table back ... at this my company looked quite upset in tears and asked if we could please just leave so we did we did not tough the food no refund was given in all honesty I know it was hot yesterday but this is the worst eating experience i have had in my life a shame as the food looked great i will be contacting my back today to revoke the payment this ruined what should have been a lovely day ......I run 2 companies if I had an employee like that manager he would be fired on the spot ... sad and...