Barlow Croft — Restaurant in Manchester

I’m am not usually a person to leave a bad review as I would rather not leave one at all, but as a manager myself and I run a business I feel the way the situation was handled was totally unacceptable and disappointing.

We booked a table for at least 10 of us for a birthday meal and me and my sister had a carvery. For every open carvery we have been to it’s always been fill your plates and have as much veg as you want, so after we Started eating we thought oh these are a bit dry and went to get a bit more fresh veg as we saw them bringing fresh ones out. When we went up the lady behind the food station started causing a scene and shouting “no only once!” But shouted for all the customers to hear. First of all that is extremely rude to start shouting, when we didn’t know. We even said sorry we didn’t know we couldn’t refill our veg and offered the plate back. Even though when my auntie was here last Sunday she said everyone was refilling their veg? The rude lady gave us the dirtiest look and flicked her hand as in just take it. Even the gentleman standing near us was like has that really just happened.

We simply said there was no need to be rude and you could of simply said, ladies you aren’t allowed to do that instead of causing a scene and being extremely rude about it.

I went to the bar to speak with the gentleman who we believed to be the manager. I explained the situation and his response was “that’s not the first time we’ve heard a complaint against her and she is from Poland and comes across as rude”. Seriously? What kind of excuse is that! So unprofessional and to top it off I went to speak with my family outside the glass doors facing the bar and the manager didn’t even go to the woman to have a word yet stood staring at me and talking about me clearly to another team member.

I did not cause a scene when talking with him at the bar as I didn’t want him to feel embarrassed because it wasn’t him I had the problem with!

Totally unprofessional in the way they handled the situation.

I wouldn’t go back purely because of their staff. (Our waitress was lovely though)

The food overall...

Barlow Croft is a well placed, large and open spaced pub owned by the Green King company. Very modern decor and tastefully laid out. Predominantly an eating style pub serving a wide variety of pub style meals with a wide choice on the menu. They do have a pool table, Sports are also shown on TV. Located near to TenPin, Ciniworld, Nandos, Wagmama, Fiveguys and the Wacky Warehouse it's an ideal meet-up place before moving on elsewhere. Travelodge is next door which also make this venue a good position as this Travelodge does not have a bar or serve food. I visited Sunday morning to try out the full English Breakfast which had been recommended to me a couple of nights earlier when I stopped off for a drink. The venue is nice, clean and very open, seating inside is comfortable and if the weather is good seating outside is also an option. Staff are well presented and smartly dressed and some will engage in conversation if you kick start it off. As well as the menu items there are daily specials. Parking is easy in a well lit carpark, disabled spaces are positioned right outside the entrance. Toilets are clean and to an excellent standard. Baby changing and disabled toilets are easily accessible. This is a nice venue, I would highly recommend it. Food cooked to order and arrived hot, overall the breakfast was nothing special, eggs looked perfect but for me the yoke needs to be runny, hash browns were bland and the beans were a little on the dry side. Sausages were perfect and very tasty. I'm not normally critical about an English Breakfast but to be honest after travelling around a lot I've had my fair share and think I'm in a good position to judge if this is good or not. The 4 Starr rating is because I was over charged on this visit, no idea how this could happen as its all on the touch screen tills with the prices already inputted. Once this was pointed out the staff member refunded the difference with no issues. If this review was informative enough for you give it a thumbs up or like to let other know...

Today we visited your restaurant Barlow Croft, part of your chain The Greene King in Parrs Wood.

Let's start from the beginning...

The alcohol missing from the Purple Rain which also came 'blue' - i was advised that 'they are blue now' - a manager made another, and it was purple. Daadaa

Ordered cavery for my 2 children but had to ask 3 times for the cutlery...on the 2nd occassion i was advised that he would bring it shortly- however said staff member leaned against the bar and started to hydrate oneself. I followed him and took the cutlery myself.

This happened for a 2nd time when the adults got their carvery.

Lastly...or furthermore 'ice-creamgate' this was at the point i gave up. I ordered 1 1x Choctastic Sundae along with X2 THREE scoops of VANILLA ice-cream drizzled in STRAWBERRY sauce to table number ONE ... 20mins past... i asked the Team Leader how long it would be..anyways turns out it was ordered for table number THREE.

TWO scoops of CHOCOLATE ice cream drizzled in CHOCOLATE sauce arrived. I was losing the will but i don't appreciate not recieving what i paid for. So, off i pop to Team Leader and point to the menu where it clearly states THREE VANILLA SCOOPS drizzled in Strawberry sauce.

Here we go... 5mins or so later the waiter walks right last our table with our order... i kept silent - and just watched him offer it another table.... so after realising error he came over with....wait for we TWO scoops of vannilla ice cream drizzled in.... CHOCOLATE sauce.

I left it there... drained.

Almost there...

Ready...? The spoon for the Sundae didn't fit about 2 inches from the bottom - yer know, where all that good stuff lies? Yer know gooey chocolatetly stuff? N drinkin from a Sundae glass isn't a good look especially fellow customers. It looked barbaric...

Can't complain about the food - at least the chef is doing a good job.

I look for to your swift...