Matchstick Man — Restaurant in Salford

Just come home from Matchstick Man, first and last time there. We pre booked a table for 6 adults and 2 children approx 4 days in advance for my daughters 11th birthday so they were aware there was a booking in for 6pm.

We arrived and were told to all book from the same table number on the app by someone on the bar which we did. 2 combo starters. 6 adult meals and 4 side of fries. We requested on the app for the combo starters to come out AS starters. Fairly quickly 2 mains arrived. Then another 2. At which point I pointed out we had ordered 2 starters. We were told she could take the mains back to put under the light and wait for the starters but that "we would be waiting a while". Like it was our fault and were ready to penalise us. I told her to cancel the starters and just bring the mains at which point she pretty muched dropped the food on the table and stormed off. No apology. When questioned why mains were arriving before starters we were told the Greene King app doesnt allow you to select starters and will all come through as going out together despite anyone who uses the app knowing the app does in fact ask wether you'd like it as a main or starter. 40 mins later 4 of us had finished eating and 4 were still sat with no food. Waitresses back and forth hadn't thought to question why 4 people including 2 children were sat with no food. We questioned why our food hadn't arrived and were told they were unsure and they would look into it! 2 waitresses had zero idea where our food had gone. We were told they had let a chef leave early as it was quiet so it was busy. There were about 40 people in the pub at this point including ourselves. My mum and daughter went to the bar to question what was happening as about 10 mins had past with no update and were met with 3 people with absolutely zero clue what was happening. At this point my daughter commented to her Nanna one of the girls on the bar was swear word beginning with F rude. This apparently caused this girl to run to the kitchens in floods of tears. Next minute the manager comes into the pub with an attitude asking who swore. The other girl behind the bar had no idea anybody had swore. The manager wasn't interested in the fact that she had 8 people who were in the middle of an absolutely abysmal experience in her pub. Only that one of us had supposedly made her grandaughter cry. Bear in mind she wasn't there but was 100% certain her grandughter wasn't rude. When we began explaining what was going on and the fact the comment was made to another person not directly to her grandaughter quiet enough to where 2 others stood beside her hadn't even heard it and that she was in fact rude. We were pretty much called liars! Once she realised she was getting abit wobbly on her moral high ground she asked us to leave and if we would like to write to head office her name was Tracey! If we were the type of people to kick off and be rude, surely this would have happened alot earlier than this, when sat watching tables of food arriving to them over 30 mins after we had ordered? And surely would have been apparent to everyone in the pub not just 1 of 3 people behind the bar. There was a comment made from a frustrated customer being met with incapable staff. The manager was absolutely uninterested in anything other than her grandaughter had supposedly been made to cry. She was unprofessional and rude herself.

The correct way to deal with this coming from a hospitality manager would have been to have got the facts together and made a professional decision. Not walked into a business establishment and act like a scorned grandmother with absolutely no interest in resolving the issue at hand.

This pub is clearly run where compliments are welcome, complaints are met with an attitude, hostility and opinion of grandiour that has no place from a manager running a business, who sits on her moral high ground as a grandmother and not as a professional...

Avoid! If I could give the place 0 stars, that's the rating that the place would have received. The management/landlords were absolutely disgusting to their customers last weekend and I have never seen anything like it. The male pub landlord had an issue with a group of 3 young ladies sitting by the bar after his employee accepted an old 20 pound note from them (the girls were tourists). The landlord was becoming more aggressive and intimidating to the girls while trying to resolve that situation, making the girls appear visibly uncomfortable, so another customer stepped in to see if she can help at all. The pub manager, Tracy, then shouted at the customer that tried to help and her friends and told them to get out for no reason. The male landlord had then came over to the table to take their drinks that the customer had just bought and the customer and her friends were of course unhappy. The male landlord ended up spilling alcohol on customer's phone and bag, soaking them, as he was so determined to take the drinks away from the customers. The customers had been told that police is on their way so they were waiting to speak to the police to understand what they had done to get this treatment and to get the refund for the drinks that they had just bought and have been taken by the landlord. The situation was escalating, with the male landlord using abusive spoken and body language, he told customers to go away using foul hand gestures when the customers complained about his and Tracy's attitudes. He even snatched a chair from the customer that tried to help the girls at the bar while she was still sitting on the chair! The pub got shut early because tension was rising. The male landlord appeared to have been provoking the customers on purpose to try and escalate the situation to become more serious, possibly to cause more drama so that the incident appeared more serious to the police. Tracy was equally disgusting in her behaviour, being utterly disrespectful to the customers and she should be ashamed to call herself a manager of the place when her job is to manage situations like this politely and efficiently. No customer wants to be shouted at, intimidated, treated like they are nothing and discriminated against. I will not be returning as a customer as it was a very...

Barman was extremely rude the moment myself and partner walked into the pub. Walked in, went to the bar, barmen aggressively shouts at me to queue up. I've never had to queue in a pub. Normally in English pubs we go to the bar, bar staff are generally aware of who to serve and there is generally an order to doing things. When others queried this, the barman sounded rather annoyed and said he's forcing everyone to queue because he unilaterally feels like it. Other patrons were visibly annoyed. I was shaken. We are visiting Salford/Manchester and have had a great time. The first time we drank here, it was lovely with great service. Tonight, it has been diabolical. The barman was very abrasive and rude to all at the bar. Customer service was lacking. I'd have loved to visit the pub next time I was visiting, but the experience with the barman has put me off to the extent that we may try and avoid Salford altogether. I am neurodiverse so the negative experience has wider ramifications. All I wanted was a pleasant drink and to watch the trams pass by in peace. Thanks a lot, Matchstick Man, for the atrocious service and negative vibes. I do not appreciate being shouted at as a customer. I was not rude or aggressive. I had literally walked in as a tourist and came out feeling like I've been assaulted by a member of staff. I...