The Cross Scythes Totley — Restaurant in Sheffield

First a disclaimer, I don’t want anyone to think we were unreasonable customers: we changed our booking by half an hour with 2 hours notice and asked to swap tables on arrival as two of our party could not seat comfortably. We were very quickly asked for our initial drinks order and the staff were very accommodating of our requests. Unfortunately service went down hill from here. 40 minutes until our meal orders were taken. We actually called a waitress over who was clearing another table, I’m not certain when our order would have been taken otherwise. Being now quite hungry, we ordered a couple of bowls of halloumi fries to share while waiting, it was maybe another 30 minutes before these arrived. Our main meals arrived 1hour and 45 minutes after we arrived for our table booking. Perhaps the friendly staff, all appearing to be 20somethings, have never had the task of entertaining a 4 year old for nearly 2 hours whilst hungry, so that he isn’t too loud or disruptive for other guests!! (All credit to our boy, he did well). We ordered extra drinks from the bar while waiting. An extremely smiley barman took our order without writing down or logging anything. I repeated that it was to be added to our table bill which seemed to spur him on to logging something on the till. What arrived wasn’t what I requested. We tried to make the most of that, and were good natured about it. Our food was lovely, my Sunday roast was particularly delicious, perfectly cooked meat, lovely selection of roast veg, although lacking any green veg that you might expect with a roast. The kids liked their burgers and hot dog. My husbands steak was cooked well, although over seasoned and salty. He gave feedback via a waitress but there was no indication this was passed on and no gesture made to acknowledge this. Under usual circumstances we would have been quite satisfied. Our 13 year old summed it up: “delicious, but not worth the wait”! We’ve been to The Cross Scythes many times before and recommend it to friends. But service today was particularly poor. I hope the team can have a rethink about their training and service. We hope for an experience more on a par with what we’ve had in the past if we choose...

Updated review:

The Cross Scythes has been a staple in my life. Somewhere I enjoyed the best meals in totley growing up, worked through my adolescent years and summers home from London, and somewhere I genuinely looked forward to returning to, it gave me that nostalgic feeling of home with its inviting corners, tasty beer and fantastic local produce.

Just what has happened to this once wonderful pub? Throughout the pandemic Scott and Ben fought to keep standards high, even at their own cost. Now this place which holds importance and fond memories for so many is fronted by a soulless, profit driven outfit lacking in basic empathy and human decency. Standards have slipped to a new low in recent trips home, but still I remained optimistic.

Christmas Eve/Day at the Cross are a staple in my family. I was so looking forward to catching old friends and enjoying some great drinks, but this was not to be. Upon entering the pub 4pm most of the drinks were out, including Lager/Guinness and most other popular mainstays. Real ale all gone. By 9pm what remained was cider or John Smiths, with a handful of wines available. The atmosphere in the pub was sour, with people already making alternative arrangements for the following day.

Now, I am aware Stonegate are selling up, but this is no excuse. You know the pub will be busy at these times, you know your staff will have to face the backlash, you know you are letting your community down.

As I enjoyed my Guinness at the Shepley Spitfire on Christmas Day, we heard about the ensuing chaos at the Cross, and I can only offer sympathy to the poor staff who’s Christmas was undoubtedly ruined, alongside the many guests trying to enjoy their day.

Good riddance Stonegate, please don’t come back to Totley. Roll on the new owners who know how to act with basic decency...

Opened under new management just yesterday and got to say not that impressed. We picked to come here as previously the Sunday roast dinner offered as many Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and as much gravy as you wanted. That is no longer the case. And of course the prices have gone up! So more expensive and less food. Granted we came with two young children so it wasn’t going to be a relaxed meal and we are aware that we don’t want to ruin other people’s meals out but only at the point of ordering our meals were we told that there was no roast chicken left, give the waitress benefit of the doubt that maybe that had just occurred but she said there had been none left for a while. The roast dinners were fine, not blown away. The kids meal peas were inedibly undercooked but a great waiter dealt with that quickly and brought out some beans instead. Had to use the disabled toilet to change the youngest and unfortunately the floor was covered with water. Overall, sadly we won’t be back and I used to really look forward to a treat Sunday roast at the cross scythes. We appreciate teething problems when under new management but when the cost of eating out is now going up it has to be reflected in all aspects of the experience. Advice to the restaurant, prioritise kids meals. Happy kids = happy parents and also gets us out quicker so others...