The Stag — Restaurant in South Ribble

I have been to this pub many times and always enjoyed the food. However, a couple of weeks ago I took my son and his girlfriend there for a Sunday roast, it was their first experience at The Withy Arms and sadly it was not a good one. Firstly, my son was told by the manager? that they do not accept joggers to be worn in this pub although on this occasion he would 'let it go'. We were told there was a notice outside and when we did eventually leave, we checked and the notice said NO URBAN SPORTSWEAR. Not quite sure what that means but we noticed a young female customer in the pub with lycra cropped training bottoms on together with a matching lycra training jacket and wearing trainers as well. Quite how this is acceptable but perfectly clean respectable jogger bottoms ISN'T seems wrong to me. I could kind of understand had it been in the evening but 3pm on a Sunday afternoon??? Considering today's fashion of ripped jeans, which are widely acceptable, I just find this ruling ridiculous and could kick myself for not challenging it. Quite separately to this, turns out their normal chef was off sick and their usual standard of food was not forthcoming. The roast dinner had 3 tiny roast potatoes, a bit of cauliflower the size of a 50p piece, a measly amount of carrot and brocolli and then the while thing was smothered in gravy that tasted like wallpaper paste. Normally the gravy is presented in a little jug. Twice we were asked if everything was ok and each time I commented on how it was not up to the usual standard to which the response was 'sorry, our usual chef is off with a bad leg'. Really let yourself down Withy Arms. My son will never step foot in this pub again and not sure I will to be honest. How can a pair of joggers define a person?? Are they really offensive?? In which case, what's the stance on dirty clothes/ tattoos/piercings .... you need to get your URBAN SPORTSWEAR discrimination in perspective Withy Arms. Very...

Not child friendly - no children's menu.

Eat out to help out didn't include soft drinks?!

Half of our party of 6 hadn't had their food served to them after 2 hours of being there which was over 1 & 1/2hours after ordering it including a small child. The queue took a while to order as there was only the manager behind the bar.

The half that did get served before we had reached our limit of waiting patiently, the food wasn't of a good standard.. or some would say any standard at all! The pie was burnt, gammon was mainly fat, chicken burger was almost none existing and after being served with cold veg that had been scooped on the plate with the bare hands of the person who plated the food up.. well, that was the final straw for us.. all the while the other half of the party still hadn't been served their food even though we ordered at the bar at the same time on 2 different tils.

There was a lot of chatting going on between the staff members and only seemed like the manager who was actually working. Maybe a staff meeting is needed to address these issues as we wasn't the only table who had issues with this. When we asked to see the manager, we were just grunted at with a roll of the eyes and a mutter under the breath. Not professional at all and definitely needs some training to meet the needs of the job role! Needless to say, enough was enough and after a member of the party went to the manager a refund on the food was given.

Not a pleasant experience and definitely would not...

Now I'm quite fussy when it comes to food but we heard great things about this place so we gave it a whirl. We had a rump steak with extra veg n all the trimmings and a gammon with everything. It was lovely and hot when it came, even though he Apologised for it being a bit of a wait,and during the wait he kept in touch which was fab, it still wasn't as long as iv waited in lots of other places. I have a real thing about frozen or horrible veg but it was all perfect, exactly like you would get at home,spot on. The onion rings were big and super crispy too. The steak had no gristle whatsoever and was perfectly cooked. The pepper sauce was fab too, nice consistency and great kick. Gammon spot on too, not meaning to go on but it was all hot on arrival which makes such a difference. The manager was lovely, a great host,doing his absolute best even though you could see he was up to his neck in everything, no detail was missed. A young lady member of staff also asked during the meal if everything was ok, to me that shows they care, little details like that go a long way. I have been a chef in various places and I don't go out much as I'm usually disappointed, I will be visiting again definitely. We recently went somewhere else in Leyland on recommendation but definitely won't go again.. The stag gets a 10 out of 10 from this...