The Golden Ball — Restaurant in Rotherham

The front of house (lady with bright red hair) was utterly rude from the minute we walked in. I heard her say to a colleague, don't accept any more walk in for food. Then barked at us to ask if we'd got a booking. To which I said we had. We were stood there for around 6-7 minutes and yes it was busy and there was only 1 table with a 1pm reservation on. I asked if we could go and sit at our table, to which she said with such an attitude, "if you are confident you know exactly what table I'll be sitting you at then go ahead" It was my friends first time out after the loss of her mum so was feeling very fragile then to be spoken to (all 3 of us) so rudely I was really upset, actually I was furious but didn't want to make a fuss in front of my friends, so much so I had to ask her to be nice (away from my other 2 friends) we didn't see her at all after this, another lady behind the bar who was really lovely took our food and drinks order. The food took well over 50 minutes to come to us Which felt like ages however , when it did it was all lovely and we cleared our plates so no complaints there. I won't be revisiting though as we'd arrived there all looking forward to seeing each other and to be treated like that I was disgusted. Regardless if she was stressed and busy we should not have to have that treatment...

We have been before as a family as we enjoyed the busy friendly atmosphere... However on this occasion it was not as enjoyable!

It was very busy, and we had to wait at our table (15mins ish) before getting a drink, BUT this was not the issue!

The issue was when we came to order our drinks, I myself ordering a bottle of wine, for me and my daughter. At this point the server asked for some ID. which in itself is completely normal... not on this occasion. She stood gawking at the ID for at least 3 mins, saying to my daughter "born in 2001 were you"???? and holding it towards the light so she could "see better"!!! When she had eventually finished I said "Wow" that was intense! Which she replied, "yeah well I have to be sure"

Let me just start by saying I completely understand the importance of ID checks and the management of under age drinking is something I fully support! However, my daughter is 22, and looks it! and for her to be humiliated like that in the middle of a busy restaurant in my opinion was completely unnecessary! We were out as a family having a meal on a Friday night in Whiston for goodness sake! having a glass of wine with her meal!

Like I said originally I fully support ID Checks but just a word of advice...Teach your staff to ask for its respectfully!!

We wont be...

Gorgeous looking pub, but however, the food is nothing to shout about, and neither are the prices!! Took them nearly an hour to get our orders too us, and when the orders came, they looked like a strong case of rationing was going on, with hardly any veg, I got 3 half cut rock hard roast potatoes, and a Turkey slice, which looked like it came out of a packet, on the menu it mentioned a stuffing ball with thyme and lemon and bacon wrap, that wasn’t to be seen on my plate, so perhaps they had ran out, and non left in freezer! My mother had a chicken pie and mash (very small amount of mash) which was rubbish, again packet stuff, but I had it, as my mum really didn’t want it. Anyway we complained…. And asked if the missing food could be brought out, which they did, and was an improvement, but when we got the bill they charged the food as extra portions! £6.00! Lol!! Absolutely absurd, such a shame as the pub is absolutely lovley, very old worthy and nicely decorated and very clean. We managed to get one of our meals refunded in the end, but they failed to refund the £6.00 for the missing food, and we never saw the stuffing balls with bacon wraps. Definitely won’t be returning for a meal, but would return for a drink. The drinks options are fabulous, and a lovely setting, so...