Olton Tavern — Restaurant in Metropolitan Borough of Solihull

For the first time in about 4 years I visited here for a late Sunday lunch. The venue was clean & pleasamt enough, despite the decor seeming a little dated. The staff were friendly, polite, professional & attentive. Sadly the meal, though served in a timely fashion, was largely disappointing. It was less than average standard for a mediocre meal that was more than averagely priced although we had chosen only basic "pub chain" type meals. We shared a starter of bread, oil & olives. The bread was fresh & tasty so nice enough but the amount of balsamic vinegar was so little that the bread could only be soaked in just oil right until the very bottom of the pot despite attempts to reach the vinegar. For main course I had ordered a pie - when it arrived it was a good size, looked lovely & the taste was nice enough though not exceptional, sadly there was not a large amount of filling compared with the bulk of pastry. Sadly the steamed vegetables were served mixed - they were cold & dried up, as was the mash. Even the gravy was not very hot. When the waitress asked if all was well, we brought up about the vegetables which I just could not eat. To be fair she immediately went to get a replacement serving though there was little in the way of an apology. The replacement serving was hot & was served still in hot water so was not dried up but some of the beans in particular looked like they had been cooked or heated up perhaps previously. The extra side of chips were OK though slightly overcooked & again not very warm. Despite starting out hungry I could not eat all the meal & decided not to order a dessert. My companion fared better with his meal - a mixed grill that was well presented - he stated his meats were nicely cooked although again his mash was dried up & barely warm. The mushroom was not a large flat one - it was flat but barely a mouthful in size. However overall his meal was nicely presented & filling. The toilet facilities were basic but clean although the soap dispenser was empty. My previous experience at the Olton Tavern was good so I really was disappointed that the meal I was looking forward to was such a let down this time despite costing almost £30 for the two of us. I have no problem paying for good food but this was not good enough for the price. I will not be going again in the...

Attended on a Saturday afternoon for a pre birthday meal with my wife two daughters and grandparents. Food was shockingly poor although the staff were pleasant enough. Three of my party ordered prawn cocktail starters expecting a glass or ceramic serving bowl with lettuce, prawns and rose Marie sauce. When they arrived they were served on a oval and narrow flat serving plate and consisted of 10 largish prawns a teaspoon of rose marie sauce, two whole meal bread triangles and I kid you not two pieces of lettuce no bigger than a coriander leaf. I could of fitted the prawns and sauce into a dessert spoon! The prawns were covered in excessive amounts of paprika in their futile attempts to add some kind of visual delight which failed miserably.

The mains chosen were varied with myself and my wife choosing the chicken and rib combo which consisted of a small grilled and warm breast of chicken which was dry and had clearly been pre cooked and reheated and a four rib rack of ribs which again appeared to have been either reheated or had been kept in a food warmer. The chips appeared fine and freshly cooked but the side salad was poorly presented and consisted of two quarters of tomato and some finely chopped carrot, red cabbage, yellow lettuce and hardly recognisable salad dressing.

My daughter ordered the buttermilk chicken burger and jacket potato which arrived literally as two pieces of cremated coated chicken which could of easily of been mistaken for charcoal lump wood such was there visual appearance. The jacket potato was hard so my wife asked a staff member to change the potato for a soft one. The staff member took the whole plated meal away and returned with the same potato and accompanying food which appeared to have been microwaved, including the chicken burger which resulted in the burger ingredients of tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise being a mushy inedible mess. The baked potato was still hard and so she refused to eat it. I should of complained but I did not want to cause a scene for my daughters pre birthday celebrations. The total bill was in excess of £100 for what was a very poor standard of food. We will not be returning anytime soon or for the foreseeable future after this...

Went there today and had trouble using the app. When inputting our meals it asked us what options we wanted. When selecting no sauce or no added extras it would bounce back saying the option of no extras was not available and could not be added. We then tried adding just a sauce but still wouldn't accept it into our order, wanting us to add extras for £4.00 per meal. When asking staff if they could do table service instead they stated that we would just have to try and keep using the app to try and make it work. When I explained what the app was doing I was told to write down my order on paper and go to the bar so the staff could input it themselves. When I got to the bar I was asked to read out my order (wasting time writing it out when I had a hungry and unwell 1 year old waiting for his dinner).

The staff at the till was nice and processed our order and she stated that the restaurant was extremely short staffed because "no one wants to work in this weather".

The table we was sat at was wonky and warped, this wasn't noticed until our drink was on the table. The bottom of the glass was wet and the glass slid off the table all over myself and my daughter, leaving a full drink over the seat we was at and all of our clothes. We informed a member of staff about what had happened and showed the table. The member of staff glanced over and said "ok" and walked off. We was not offered another seating area, so both of us sat and ate our food on a seat that was soaking wet. No replacement of the drink that fell off the table was offered either.

The impression we received from staff was that they simply couldn't be bothered to be there and didn't care about customer service in the slightest. We felt like a massive inconvenience. Over the years we have came to the Olton Tavern and have always had a lovely time but unfortunately after today our experience of this pub is...