The Colebrook — Restaurant in Metropolitan Borough of Solihull

The Colebrook is our second nearest local. In May 2018 we decided to surprise our son on his 21st birthday weekend with a number of things, including a meal at the Colebrook, balloons, cake etc. We knew it wasn't his favourite pub (I like the place) which just made what we had planned all the better for the look on his face. Shivaun was fantastic, and set aside a number of tables in an alcove for 20-odd of his friends to turn up at 7.00pm (the surprise), and reserved us a nice big round table for the family meal at 6.00pm just next to the alcove. When his friends arrived the look on his face was worth the set up, and the realisation that the cordoned off area next to us was for his friends was priceless. His face went from happy enough to very smiley to amazement as more and more of them turned up, some of who we knew he hadn't seen for a while. We bought them all drinks, most of them ordered food, and then the cake came out, happy birthday was sung and lots of laughter. Our son and his friends all went off clubbing at 10 while the rest of us walked home.

Everybody was happy, and none of it would have been possible without Shivaun and her helpers. ;-)

About the pub itself, lots of different beers, and while yeah I'm a Carling man as is my eldest son, he also likes to try other beers from time to time so that's all good. It gets very busy from about 5.00pm onwards during the week, but (usually) quietens down after about 10 o'clock. We tend to do a first double round if it's busy, (same as at any other pub) as the first pint lasts about 10 minutes if that. Its always seemed to have a good and friendly atmosphere whenever I've been in. The food passes my wife's test (she's very picky about taste and appearance, hot food being hot, etc) so a thumbs up there - we like the Ember Inns menu. It's quieter during the day time and quite pleasant to be there.

One last thing. A tip about the toilets. Don't use the downstairs one of an evening (it's showing its age like me), use the upstairs one at the other end of the pub. It's clean and modern and I reckon most people either dont know about it or are too lazy to walk up a flight of stairs, because there never seems to be anyone else...

After spending a nice day out with my partner we decided to finish the evening of by having a few drinks. As we went to the bar we was rudely informed that we wasn’t allowed up at the bar together ( due to Covid rules which wasn’t sign posted ). I only wanted to see what drinks were available as there was no menu. I asked the lady behind the bar if a certain drink was sugar free and got a very rude response back even other customers recognised this rude response and I had a lot of people staring at me as I sat at the table. I suffer with anxiety / confidence as it is. My partner was also spoke to with a lack of respect. He was ordering our drinks with his hands on the bar ( which wasn’t sign posted not to) he was told off by the rude lady. She said to her other colleague ‘ id leave some chocolates on the bar as treats to people who didn’t put their hands on the bar ‘. We wasn’t sure what she meant by that but it left us both in a bad mood and spoilt the night for the pair of us so we decided to go home and not finish our drinks. We don’t go out regularly and feel very disappointed that our night was ruined like this. It drew unnecessary attention to both of us and certainly won’t...

Booked a table for 10 for a family gathering. The pub itself is quite nice and cosy and the staff are pleasant enough. Unfortunately, the food today was dreadful. Food came out to the table at different rates, some people sat and watched others eat. Items and extras missing and food allergies nearly blew some minds during the ordering process. The waiting staff themselves said that it was beyond chaos and blamed it on another table of ten arriving despite the booking system messing up and not acknowledging their booking. We think they were actually short staffed in the kitchen as the place wasn't super busy and the bar and waiting staff seemed to have it together just fine. We are just praying now that the refunds for missing items go through without a hitch...

Edit Thanks Shivaun for the response. The delays in orders were due to the staffing issues experienced on the day. Everyone went to the bar at the same time except the two quick orders on the app who made their orders as everyone went to the bar. It is not in our control if your staffing is short or if the person taking the order cannot alert the kitchen to hold orders until all are received etc as many...