Toby Carvery Castle Bromwich — Restaurant in Metropolitan Borough of Solihull

I recommend to avoid this place even if you have nowhere else to go. The place failed in the two basic requirements for a food service establishment— food hygiene and service staff. As a tourist in the UK, it was supposed to be my first time to try a proper English breakfast from an established Carvery. Sadly, the experience ruined the breakfast for me as well as any British Carvery establishment for that matter.

To cut the story short, halfway through our meal, we found a short, straight, dark-colored hair mixed in with the baked beans that my friend was eating. It is important to note that this couldn’t have come from either of us as she has straight shoulder-length dark blonde hair and I have curly dark brown hair.

We immediately walked over to the till to inform the wait staff as we did not want to call attention to the situation at our table. Sadly, instead of an apology or any sort of recompense as to be expected in situations like these, we were curtly told “it can happen since it is an open layout. It could be from the customers, you or any of the wait staff and it is impossible to say. Feel free to get another plate for a new serving.” This was appalling to hear and just plain disturbing to know that the restaurant and the staff are not taking the usual precautions to avoid such incidents and just chucking it off to “an open layout”. This means that there is a very real possibility one can expect foreign matter (other than just hair) to end up in the food that is being served in these open layouts. I am not being picky nor difficult, mind you, as I come from a 3rd world country but let me say this — I have not encountered anything remotely similar to how the staff at Toby’s responded to this situation even from street food vendors in the Philippines, let alone an established restaurant franchise. Nothing about the situation should be considered as “can happen” and can’t be helped. Also, the response from the wait staff should not put off customers but rather give the impression that despite the situation at hand, the crew is doing everything they can to make sure it doesn’t happen again even if it is just for show — this is how you ensure customers may consider coming back to give the establishment a 2nd chance.

In case the management of Toby’s happens to chance upon this review, we visited on August 20, 2025 and the photos were taken at 9:54 AM. We spoke with the 2 female staff at the till that were on shift at that time. Sadly, we were not able to get...

Three of us went for breakfast and arrived at 10.30am. There was a wait to be seated podium but no one there then a customer told us as he was passing to go to the bar. At the bar there where 4 workmen waiting and another customer but again no one serving. One of the workmen was getting frustrated knocked on the counter but no answer and then went to try and find someone and my wife did the same but both were not successful. We were waiting nearly 10 mins when a gentleman finely turned up and said sorry for the wait. He started serving and one of the workmen asked for orange juice so the barman had to go away and get some two to three minute passed and the other customer waiting in the que suddenly said F@#k this and walked out. Eventually we got served but it was gone 10. 45 so my wife said to the barman as we had been waiting so long and breakfast finishes at 11.00am can we still get refills of our tea after 11.00am and was told yes. We eventually got to the breakfast bar but there was hardly anything left and after the workmen had got their breakfast there where no mushrooms no eggs or sausages only a little dried out bacon some tomato, bean and only what can be described as anemic looking undercooked hashbrowns that went to mush if you tried to pick them up as another customer found out The chef came out and we asked him for some more eggs and sausages he came out with fried eggs in a black metal bowl swimming in oil but said we would have to wait for the sosages. While we were waiting it was now 11.00am and still no breakfast a lady came out cleaning up she said are you still waiting for food and we said yes we also asked her because we are still waiting will we still get refill of tea and she said no as it was after 11.00 am and had to get ready for lunch my wife then said but we were told we would at this point I said that enough (the sausages still had not come out)I wanted a refund. The lady said she was sorry and to go back to the bar where again no one was there only a customer waiting. The lady then turned up and said is there no one here again but at that the barman turned up I got my refund and left. It says all you can eat and free refills. If breakfast finishes at 11.00am then there should be extra and time after 11.00am to allow you to enjoy your breakfast. We arrived at 10.30am which should have been plenty of time to get and enjoy our breakfast and not leave after 11.00am with out anything as there was no...

From recent visit: Over priced, lacked choice. Servers stated that we would only get a slither of meat, unless we paid the £1.99 for a bigger plate. Despite paying the extra £1.99, the slices of meat were still minimal. A normal carvery was expensive without having to pay the extra. Lots of choices were not available. Roast potatoes and parsnips were soggy and not cooked correctly. Gravy was very watery.

Older visit. Worst carvery ever. Visited several Toby's before and they're generally good. First off, we was greeted by a large male that asked us what we wanted to drink, we ordered bottomless, so just required a glass. We was told that he would bring glasses over. Five minutes later, no glass. I then decided to ask for my glass, his response was that a female had brought them over. He then went to the bar, two minutes later got our glasses.

There was barely any customers of which i found weird as it was 17:10.

Whilst looking at the poor selection of stale dry food, we heard a loud blast of music as the chef came through the kitchen door to us. Chef covered in tattoos, not the appearance of what i would expect from such establishment. The meat servings were very stingy and was my dry, looked like the meat had sat for a long time. Roasters looked unappealing and most of them appeared under cooked and tasted as such. Veg was all dry, despite stirring all the veg. Mash was just what i could imagine as prison slops. Gravy was very thick and lumpy. Cheese cauliflower was thick and had all settled and tasteless.

Then we went to pay and their epos wouldnt accept our wowcher. For some reason wowcher charged me twice and received two receipts and two different wowcher codes. Ive checked my halifax and was charged twice. The big bloke demanded both codes, no idea if I've lost both codes, i hope not for such poor food and service. Kept on stating that our food hadn't been paid for.

This is the first time ive ever posted such a...