The Vine Inn — Restaurant in South Staffordshire

A group of us came here last Friday for the fajitas with a table booked for the evening. We had an indifferent greeting from the young female bar person who waved her hand saying "you are sat over there". Not too bothered we found our table. 15 minutes later I had to go and ask for the menus which was slightly annoying as it was not at all busy. I saw the fajitas (which had been advertised) were not on the menu. The chap behind the bar stated "its on a separate board at the other end of the bar". I asked for it to be passed over by which time my patience was wearing a little thin but I remained polite. Fast forward 20 minutes before I asked for someone to take our order.The three staff were stood chatting together behind the bar. The food arrived promptly. Five of us ordered the fajitas and were most impressed. The best I have had to be honest. No staff came to check on us and asked whether we needed more drinks so we fetched our own. Once finished we waited a good while for the bill but again no staff appeared. Slightly annoyed we went to the bar and saw the three bar staff huddled together chatting away. The girl who served us was also checking her mobile phone as you do. It was quiet in the pub so I was disappointed by the total lack of customer service. They seemed pretty clueless I have to say. Real ale was good but a tad expensive for the area. Overall, the food was excellent but what should have been an enjoyable night was marred by the indifferent and lazy staff who obviously need further training. I appreciate the problems employing new staff in the hospitality sector but a good experienced supervisor should be able to sort this crew out. To their credit I see that the manager replies to the reviews which is commendable.

#In the interest of fair play the wife and I returned 2 weeks later to give it another go as everyone is entitled to a bad day. It was much better this time round but disappointed that the fajitas have been taken off the menu. However, I had the steak which was really good. There were different bar staff who were experienced and efficient which was pleasing. The meal was a tad slow coming out bearing in mind it was not busy at the time we went. Overall, it was loads better. We live local and have heard countless times that on a sunny day when the pizzas are flying out that there is often a very long wait. As this is a popular order then may I politely suggest you purchase another pizza oven? It would surely pay for itself in no time and prevent a lot of...

I have given a one star review purely because there isn't an option to give zero stars. The things wrong with this pub are endless. First of all we drove back from kinver to start our 45 minute journey home and saw this lovely looking pub on the canal and thought we'd give it a go and had high expectations. And as soon as you walk through the door the expectations start to drop. Poor maintained decor, random sets of curtains with one side tied back and one not, no one has clearly wiped the bar all day, flaking paint on the walls. We ordered our drinks at the bar and our food at the same time, drinks glasses were dirty, sour faced staff, filthy, sticky bar. Food came out an hour later and I am not joking when I say the food was probably the worse food I've ever eaten in a restaurant. My steak was well done when I asked for medium rare, same as my partners, with her egg looking like a joke rubber one, the chips were stone cold and I payed £8 for a kids hotdog and chips I quite frankly wouldn't feed to my dog. After not eating any of our food and waiting an hour for it we told staff who refunded us, but I don't feel this was reasonable compensation consider the lengthy wait. At least a round of soft drinks or something for the inconvenience. The toilets are absolutely abismal aswell, I wish I'd used the toilets before ordering the food as you can normally judge a places kitchen on their toilets, let's just say if the kitchen is as poorly looked after as the toilets then I'm not looking forward to being ill tomorrow. Then you leave and there is a smoking shelter for the staff right in plain view on the car park, where you have the chefs with their feet up and barmaids laughing and joking and smoking away. So unprofessional. This place should be shut down, stripped out and redone on every level as it's a beautiful location. I wouldn't return if the food was free and they entered me in a competition to win £100 that only...

Booked a table for 5 people on the decking, when arrived I was waiting in the queue and someone who the bar attendant knew came in and so the bar lady stopped serving and went and showed this friend her table! I got to the front of the queue and said I’d got a table reserved and was told it’s outside just look for the number. When I went outside there was someone sitting at my table and when I said I’d reserved it I got abuse from this lady because there was no reservation sign and she had been sitting there while! We asked for a menu and was told to find one. We got our condiments and the waitress asked if she could take them because someone else wanted them! We ordered food and the fish and chips my dad had was lovely however myself, husband and son had pizza because we had heard good things about it. However it took an hour to arrive (this was fine we didn’t mind) but when it came it was undercooked. There were so many people ordering it felt rushed and not cooked properly. The staff were walking around with food asking what they had ordered because they did not know where the table number were. The young ladies serving just didn’t seem like they knew what they were doing. And to top it off we wanted a nice peaceful meal by the river after our canoeing but instead there was a signer, it was too loud so we could not hear each other talk. It ruined the nice peaceful afternoon we were after. Overall very...