John Gilbert — Restaurant in Salford

Special day ruined! Avoid at all cost! Around the end of November we booked a christening reception for 8th February at the John Gilbert pub. We arranged we would be having a buffet and we would have exclusive use of the raised area in the pub as it was a nice sized space for the number of people we were expecting and it gave us an element of privacy. The lady (I think she was called Becky) who dealt with us at the time took our details and wrote everything down. She told us not to worry about paying a deposit at the time and just pop in a week or so before the 8th of February to confirm our final numbers and our buffet choices, the pay a deposit. We decided to go and sort it a bit earlier on 7th January we went to pay for the buffet and confirm the details. The same lady who made our booking originally dealt with us again. As it turned out our party had been moved to different part of the pub that was far less suitable. All we were told was that the area we agreed on is now taken by someone else who already paid! NOT EVEN AN APPOLOGY. I cannot understand why anyone would do this!? As it was clear to see in their diary the party that has taken priority over us is no larger in numbers there seems no financial gain to the pub or even just a matter of fitting more people in better. We never received any phone call or other form of contact to question our intent of going ahead with the booking or to inform us of the change to the agreed arrangements. Imagine if we hadn’t of come in until 1st of February as advised!? Now due to the total unprofessionalism of the pub we have to find a new venue, have the already printed invitations reprinted and all our potential guests will be getting extremely short notice! This is without doubt the most disgraceful example of poor customer service and truly mighty feat to ruin such a special and important day for our daughter before it has...

My Sister and I had a late lunch here and both ordered the Red Pepper, goats cheese and walnut wrap. I asked the barmaid what it came with and she replied nothing. This was not an understatement - it arrived slapped on a plate with not even a garnish of salad. It was poorly presented and not even cut in half. It tasted okay but not mouth-watering and certainly not value for money at £5.25. We also ordered some Rosemary Salted fries to share. The portion would barely have been enough for one person and we couldn't taste the Rosemary - to us it was like regular fries simply seasoned with sea salt. We had the Apple and Cinnamon Churros (each) for dessert. In our opinion they were over-cooked as the churros were quite hard. The "dulce de leche sauce" was the best part of the dish and disappointingly it was only an artistic drizzle on the plate. I had to ask for a small pot of it so I could dip my churros in. Finally, the 2-4-1 cocktails 4-7pm. I admit its a little cheeky but as it was 3.30pm and my Sister and I had only just ordered our food so definitely would have been there til gone 4 o'clock.... I asked if we could take advantage of the offer a little earlier than the times advertised. The barmaid went to ask the Manager then came back and informed me 'The offer can start earlier than 4 and can finish after 7 but you have to wait til 4pm"!!??. I was disappointed that we were not shown a small gesture of goodwill and customer service. My Sister and I waited until 4.10pm to order the cocktails, and each at an Aperol Spritz £6.95. Both were so watered down and full of ice that we could not taste the fruit juices let alone the alcohol. The whole experience was very disappointing and I will not be...

The staff are very polite and helpful. Quality of food and drink was excellent. The venue is bright and has good decor. Unfortunately when we attended today, my husband, who uses a wheelchair, was directed to a fire door at the back. We were shocked there was no disabled access to the room and no dropped kerb for anyone in a wheelchair. Friends and family had to drag my husband from his wheelchair into the room via the fire door, navigating steps. I then carried the wheelchair up the stairs into the room. I was surprised by this. I suppose that I have been spoilt by other locations. In the 21st century one really expect venues to have dropped kerbs, ramps or even a temporary ramp that can be put down to help wheelchair users enjoy the venue. As the disabled toilet is only accessible through the bar my husband had to go to the toilet, with a bag catheter, on the porch. He was sheilded from the guests by our daughter and myself. However he had to go to the toilet in full view of the car park. Fortunately, he is a man and we have had difficulties like this on holidays abroad. Had it been a lady, this would have been much more embarrassing. As a matter of necessity, please consider adding dropped kerbs and a ramp to your back fire door. Alternatively, perhaps you could add a stair lift from the bar to the room? If you want to consider making disabled guests come in the back fire door, would you also consider putting a disabled parking space next to the fire door? Then disabled people won't have to trek across the car park. Photos are of the steps and kerb we negotiated as we left...