Red Lion Handcross — Restaurant in Mid Sussex

My partner and I had booked the Red Lion for a Sunday roast over the bank holiday weekend, as I had my family visiting from abroad. We were greeted by friendly staff upon arrival and shown to our table, to be informed that the kitchen had ran out of the duo of roast beef and running very low on beef.

As ever we didn't mind as there was ample selection of roasts available, when we went to order three of us asked for the trio of roasts, before a manager came up to the waitress and said they'd completely ran out of roasts.

The manager or supervisor only stated this to the waitress which I overheard and didn't really explain this to the table, putting the waitress in a pretty uncomfortable position having to explain to a table of 4 that there were zero roast dinners available which ruined the sole purpose of booking a roast dinner.

The waitress to her credit did explain what else was available and what wasn't available and we all opted for steak's instead which were of course slightly more expensive than the roast dinners that we had originally booked for.

The steaks were okay to be fair, and the drinks were nice too that we had ordered, and we did order a dessert to share each which were really nice too.

When the manager who took payment asked if everything was okay, I did state that I was pretty miffed that a restaurant had ran out of Sunday roasts over a bank holiday weekend, which I feel is pretty poor.

The manager/supervisor did apologise, but then decided to reel off the "terms and conditions of the live menu" which I felt lacked empathy and consideration for the group, considering we had shelled out £180 for a meal we didn't really book for, nor was there any gestures of good will from management due to their oversight of not having enough food in for patrons that had booked to dine in at their restaurant, on a Sunday, where the most popular dishes would most likely be a...

26 of us went for 85th birthday lunch.

Good: Tasty food (especially the gravy); large portions; nice and clean surroundings; fairly swift service.

Not so good:

Expensive (but then everywhere is)

Not told couldn’t order starters on the day until the morning of the lunch itself

No deduction made or offered (even when we asked) for starters of “bread with olives” when the pub had no olives

Reprimanded by the manager (I assume) for bringing a cake with nuts on into a “nut-free pub” - I was actually told “the problem is, you’ve bought a cake with nuts on into a nut-free pub” - even though (A) I was never told it was a nut-free pub during the extensive prior communications with the pub (B) it doesn’t say anywhere on the pub’s website it is a “nut-free pub” (C) when I asked over the phone whether I could bring a cake in I was told I could and was not asked whether it would contain nuts (D) the cake was just for our party anyway and even though I had already advised the pub one of our party had a nut allergy, the nuts were on the outside of the cake and was obviously a cake with nuts on so there was clearly no way he was going to eat any.

There was also fuss made about one or two other issues which involved me / us being mildly “told off” repeatedly and also a fuss made by said manager about whether the fountain on the cake would set off his smoke alarms - it didn’t - even though no concerns were raised when we handed over the cake and fountain to the bar staff earlier on.

Also, a thank you and goodbye would have been nice, given I spent over £600.

Nice enough place, particularly if you like big roasts, but I don’t think...

We came in for a meal, we was greeted nicely and seated at a table, I had a bright light shining into my eyes which wasn't particularly pleasant but I didn't mention it, although another guest did and was told there was nothing they could do. We got our drinks and chose our meal from the menu, then we were told that the meal we had chosen was not available (shouldn't they have told us before we ordered?). We had starters and a main meal. I chose Steak as I couldn't have the Lamb. The steak came out burnt and cold, it was literally charred with black burnt bits and the butter on top wouldn't melt as it was cold, I then noticed that the mushrooms and shallot was missing, the waitress came back with a side plate with the missing items on. by that time. I had tried the steak which was mean to be cooked Medium and asked the waitress if she felt it was over cooked for what I had ordered. She said she would take it back. Another lady then came over and said 'its because it is cooked on a griddle its not burnt', I felt really bad for sending it back. I waited for around 15 minutes for my new meal which meant my friend ate alone and then I did. The new plate of food was 100% better than the first one. I was so deeply disappointed and in my opinion that first meal should never have been brought out to me. I will therefore not be returning to your restaurant. Real shame and it totally ruined...