The Railway — Restaurant in London

I am extremely disappointed and concerned about the service and food quality my family and I experienced at The Railway, Greenford.

We had to wait 45 minutes for our meals, when we asked why so long, staff told us there was only one chef and that there was a big group who made a big order straight AFTER us. When we asked about the delay, we were made to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome by the staff. The only explanation was that it’s Monday and usually they don’t have such a big orders on Mondays and they didn’t know that such a big group will place order after us. Nobody came to inform us the waiting time is now longer.

When our order arrived, the tikka sauce and onion rings were missing. The most serious issue however was the quality of the food. The beef in both my son’s flatbread and my husband’s mixed grill was completely off. My son ate three pieces before complaining that it tasted wrong. When I tried it myself, the meat was completely inedible — tasting old and disgusting. Flies were also circling the food, which was unacceptable and unhygienic. I am attaching a picture of the meat with a fly around it as evidence. At this point, I shared only my chicken with my husband and son, as we were very hungry. We decided to leave quickly, as we felt too uncomfortable to raise this again with the staff, given the rude and dismissive attitude we had already experienced.

When we arrived home (just 10 minutes later as we live around the corner), my son went straight to the toilet and vomited. I phoned the pub and asked for the email address to head office, I clearly said I want to make a complaint about the dinner we just had and I was given the email by the duty manager Maxine, but she did not ask what the problem was or show any concern at all.

This entire experience was unacceptable, especially considering we paid £45 for this meal. Not only were items missing from our order, but the food was unsafe, made my son ill, and the staff showed no care or responsibility.

We are long-term regular customers and have celebrated family occasions at The Railway in the past. After this incident, we are shocked and deeply...

The Pros:

1. It has a good selection of lagers and craft/bottled beers, as well as spirits.
2. It has a nice chilled out ambience, and is quite large so if it gets too rowdy in one area (which it doesn't usually), you can move to the other room which is quieter.
3. Table service via the Greene King app.
4. Shows live Premier League games on its screens, and Sky Sports News after.
5. A fairly large beer garden at the back, with a fair number of wooden benches and tables.
6. I love the Ice Cream Sundae they do.

The Cons:

1. A pint of lager is expensive, 2x Fosters set me back almost £10, which is ridiculous.
2. It's become apparent now to me after eating there a couple of times, that the photos of the food are heavily photoshopped (like fast food joints do). They make the food look very enticing and a lot bigger in the photos, especially the burgers. What I was served looked more like a slider with way overcooked patties and a tiny slither of bacon. The amount of fries was very stingy and a couple of small onion rings. I wouldn't have minded as much if it weren't again for the expensive price. I expect when paying a premium to get my money's worth, or lower the prices then so customer expectations are lowered as well.
3. Only one area has sound on for the football, so for particularly big games the tables get taken quickly, so you're left standing. Also they are the higher tables with the taller chairs, so if you're short like myself this is a pain. The other areas have the normal height ones, but the screens do not have any sound, so you're all crammed into that one section of the pub.
4. This is a criticism of Greene King themselves, the app for whatever reason doesn't allow you to pay using Google Pay, even though the option is there. A message comes up about not having a contactless bank card, even...

I give two stars only because we got a refund for the bad service we received. I only write further because the whole thing went miserably wrong. My friend and i have eaten multiple times here before and always had steaks and it has always been good. On 16.08.22 around 5pm we ordered a medium rare 16oz ribeye steak with peppercorn sauce. When it was served my friend and I both noticed the meat was raw. We sent it back for the chef to rectify. They gracefully changed the meat and sent a much larger piece the second time. The supervisor lady accompanied the server and waited until I tried it. Because they were waiting for me to try in a rush I cut the edges and saw it was ok and said it was fine. Straight after that I cut the next slice of meat and noticed it was still raw. My friend saw it was the same. Pictures attached. Really didn't want to look fussy but we were both hungry and frustrated. We are regulars at this pub as well and always order steak. Called the waiter back and showed him and he called his supervisor. When I explained the whole thing and said the chef doesn't know what he is doing, I was told I'm being rude to which I apologised and quickly explained what the issue was. The response of the supervisor was so blase. She treated me like I was making this all up. I am attaching pictures, let the reader be the judge. Worst experience in a long time. Sadly it happened on a day when both of us hadn't eaten for most of the day and were really looking forward to a nice steak. Would have eaten the worst food when so hungry but not raw food served twice unapologetically! Not...