The Refinery West Bridgford — Restaurant in Rushcliffe

We have been to The Refinery numerous times since it opened, it’s a lovely place with a good atmosphere. We have always received excellent service which set it apart from other bars / restaurants in West Bridgford.

However, we went for a mid week meal recently which has soured our previous experiences. My husband ordered the steak and was specifically asked how he wanted it cooked, to which he said rare. However, when it arrived it was blatantly well done. He debated as to whether to send it back (I don’t think I’ve ever seen him complain or send anything back in a restaurant) but in the end concluded that as he wasn’t enjoying it, it just didn’t seem right.

The waitress acknowledged the error and asked whether he would be OK to wait 10 minutes while they prepared another dish (the 10 minutes should have been a warning sign for the preparation of a rare steak). After having sat and watched me eat my meal so it wouldn’t get cold, his meal turns up ... again, the steak was well done. By this point he was hungry and fed up so ate it (while I then sat there and watched him eat). The waitress did enquire whether everything was now OK, to which he explained that it wasn’t really, but there was no real acknowledgement or apology. Likewise when the bill turned up, again no acknowledgement or apology. We paid (without tipping for the first time ever) and sadly agreed on the way home that we wouldn’t be back again.

This is really disappointing as it was our go to venue and now we won’t be going there again. A simple “apologies for the mix up, we’re not sure what happened there but hope it didn’t spoil your meal too much” would...

I rarely leave bad reviews but here goes...

I'll start by saying the waiting staff who have been here a long time are great. I've been coming since you opened.

The food has got pretty terrible though over the last few years. It used to be excellent but now it's below average at best. I remember coming for burgers 3-5 years ago and they were amazing. When compared to the other places we have in WB (Rawsha...Cuzina...soon to be Rudy's...) there is absolutely no reason to choose Refinery any more. Sorry - but you need a better chef. Changing the menu constantly doesn't help if nothing is cooked well.

The younger waiting staff aren't great and need more training. You are charging £12 for cocktails. This isn't a cheap bar/restaurant. They aren't particularly attentive and they are also terrible at making cocktails compared to the more experienced staff members. I don't want to have to worry about who is going to make my drink when I'm paying £12 for it. I've been a couple of times when young girls have made the drink and honestly, they've been terrible.

The food is the real issue though. It's a real shame that this is happening because I (and other people I know) used to come frequently - but now we won't.

If it went back to how it was I'd be there all the time.

Hopefully the owner reads this and takes note as it would be such a shame if it continues to go...

Came here for Sunday dinner and thought it looked like a nice place. Was a little worried when we saw just a handful of people there at 1.30 on a Sunday. Firstly, the young staff were lovely and friendly but appear to need training. This obviously isn't their fault but the management/ owners. Next the starters were not bad , but with only a choice of four I'd expect better. Onto the main course , we had the lamb shank ( which was nice and pretty hard to mess up) there was a red cabbage puree which just didn't add anything to the experience, with cabbage( undercooked) and carrots which were nice as boiled carrots go. Then the big problem,roast potatoes. This is a key part of a Sunday dinner, especially if you're not serving mash with it. As soon as we saw the potatoes we knew they were old , reheated or just badly cooked. We tried them and they were like rubber. So we told the waitress and she quickly sorted some more. These looked pretty much the same condition ,except that now they looked and tasted like they'd been given a quick 2 minutes in the deep fryer in vegetable oil to "liven " them up. On paying the bill I felt I had to mention this to the waitress and all she could say was " I'll pass that onto the chef" Again, probably not her fault, simply poor training and standards by the business. We didn't have dessert and won't...