The Lord Louis — Restaurant in Plymouth

Ive always enjoyed previous trips to the Lord Louis however it seems to have gone downhill a bit since then. My friend and I booked in advance and due to my being someone with a hidden disability I knew there would probably be feral kids screaming their heads off so I made a note to take my noise cancelling headphones which let me tell you make a meal at the Louis so much more relaxed and peaceful. Upon arriving we were shown to a table in what seemed like the noisiest area of the restaurant but luckily someone on the table next to us moved and we relocated. So down to ordering which was fun. We opted for the large carvery option and was assured that our carvery tickets would be bought to us however almost 20 minutes after ordering we were still waiting for our food tickets. We were actually offered our dessert before our dinner too which was quite funny. Despite appeals to the server and host at the door we still didn't receive our food tickets and were instead given a receipt of our order which when presented to the server at the carvery counter he mentioned we didn't have the correct tickets. He did serve us though and was very polite and courteous however we ordered a large carvery each and there was only 2 meats available namely gammon and Turkey which I never order at a carvery but we had no choice as the beef was still cooking and there was no other meat options. Next onto the accompanying options which I had to guess what some of them were as they were not labelled but there was plenty available. Onto the sauces and gravy there was also no labelling especially on the gravy so it was impossible to tell the difference between normal gravy and vegetarian gravy if that's what it was. I feel labelling is important at a carvery as some people may be allergic to some of the options and it would take guesswork out of the equation. The food on a whole was delicious and well cooked although it would have been nice to have more meat options but due to the slowness of the service getting our tickets to us we missed out. Before leaving I visited the disabled toilets which look like they've never been cleaned as there appeared to be faeces on the wall near the toilet as well as stains on the wall. The vent above the toilet itself looked like.it hadnt been cleaned in forever which I was diagustwd by. The facilities were in need of repair as there was a hole in the ceiling above the door and a broken lock on the door. A replacement lock was fitted but I fear anyone using the toilet in a wheelchair may struggle to reach it. In the restaurant itself there was a section of wallpaper hanging off the wall next to our table (No. 16). Unfortunately my phone died before we left the restaurant so didn't get a photo of it. The Louis could do with closing the premises temporary to deal with these issues and update the restaurant as its definitely lost some of its shine as the best carvery...

We booked for a large family group of 15 for a Boxing Day 3 course meal. This included 13 adults and 2 children’s meals. We phoned weeks in advance to make the reservation. Then heard nothing for many weeks expecting an email to complete the pre-order meal choices. I had to call days prior to the main days as I had heard nothing via email. The email I received wouldn’t allow the pre-order to accepted or for the deposit to be paid. I had to go in person to make payment and give pre-orders. Sadly this is just the start of the bad experience.

On the day we arrived 15minutes early like advised. We sat and our drink orders were taken and then there were missing drinks! We waiting 45minutes before I approached one of the staff to ask about the starters coming out! The younger lady who brought some of the meals out was quite abrupt when asking who’s meals were who’s! The starter meals were ok as far as we were all concerned.

The main meals were not great in general. The chicken stack meal which my daughter had was very dry & rubbery and part inedible. The carvery meats were nice fresh and good proportions - that’s the good bit, but the potatoes were extremely dry and some looked like they had been there all day. There wasn’t a great selection of vegetables to accompany the carvery either. No cauliflower, no sprouts, no broccoli or parsnips. This was suppose to be a Xmas carvery and it was just dry and underwhelming.

Then the pre-order desserts!!! A member of staff came back to our table and advised us that they had ran out of some of the pre-order desserts! There was no Brownie, Xmas pudding or toffee pudding & these were the main orders on our group booking. We were offered alternatives but by this point no one could be bothered to wait for a substitute dessert as we were all disappointed.

I paid for the 2 courses which everyone had and we left feeling very dissatisfied with our Boxing Day family Xmas get together meal. The whole meal and drinks came to £327.77 but this did not include additional drinks which were purchased at the bar due to the poor staff table...

We haven’t been for a while as we had some no ideal experiences previously and I we wish we hadn’t this time. Getting a table was not an issue, there was plenty of space as we came relatively early (16.30) ordered 4 carveries and a kids pizza meal. The pizza meal was all good and my grandson enjoyed it. The carveries however were a different story. There was no Beef on offer only Gammon and Turkey. When I questioned the server about this he said that theres no beef and you should have been told when ordering. We then moved to the barely stocked veg section. I also asked about this and the same server said that’s all that’s on offer! Okay it is what it is - let’s eat. My granddaughter then found a hair in her meat just as she was about to eat so the meal was taken back to the carvery counter. As there was no one there I spoke to a pleasant guy at the bar who quickly got someone to come out. The guy who did the carving was extremely rude and unprofessional about the hair said I’ll have to check with my manager! This took several minutes to sort by which time the person who was waiting for this to be sorted meal had gone cold (that’s how long it took!) So this meal was returned and the same person who did the serving didn’t seem to like this. He again had to check with “his manager!” Anyway, second meal eventually replaced. Overall a disappointing experience. The only upside to the whole dining out experience was the lady who was behind the bar (I think she was called Kat / Cath) servings drinks and clearing tables. She was particularly good with my grandson who has addition needs and really made the effort with her service. If it wasn’t for her this review would sadly...