Griffin Inn — Restaurant in St Helens

TERRIBLE! STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE! AVOID! THIS IS NO GASTRO PUB! Took my in laws for lunch yesterday arriving approx 1.30pm. It is hard not to be impressed by the decor but immediately I could tell from the slightly dismissive and overly stressed waitress that the numbers of customers far exceeded the staff. Having huffed and puffed when I asked for a larger table to accommodate my child’s highchair I then has to chase her around the bar for the keys to the baby change facilities which they keep locked for some odd reason. Having ordered from a menu commanding gastro pub prices we had to chase our meals up after an hour of waiting, meals that’s consisted of two bowls of soup and fish and chips, hardly the stuff of master chef. Two of the 3 meals finally arrived Stone cold and congealed, the third was no where to be seen. And the chips I was shocked to find were just oven chips. Nothing about the food was gastro pub, in fact I would say it was disgusting. Having complained about the missing meal and the cold food they agreed to “go and make fresh ones”. Finally at 3pm, 3 “fresh” meals arrived which were actually the same ones reheated. The give away was the skin on the soup and the mushy peas and my soggy bread which had obviously been microwaved on the same plate as the soup. Complaining to management was pointless as all we received was a sarcastic tone, and relentless excuses about being understaffed which appeared to be the fault and concern of the customer as he clearly expected sympathy for being overworked. He also rather dramatically announced that he “had only just come in to help out” and “shouldn’t even be in work as it was his day off”, all he was missing was some amateur dramatic fainting and he could have won an award. It was very clear he had no time for us or our complaint. In short this place is the worst I’ve been to in many many years and I wouldn’t set foot near the place again. I wouldn’t have written a review save for the behaviour of the alleged manager who brings shame on the place and the poor waiting and kitchen staff who were unable to cope under the pressure and likely would have taken the full brunt of the disgruntled customer that day. Having read other reviews however, it appears this level of service is quite normal. So I strongly suspect the managers excuse of “someone going sick” was a lie to save his own skin as his communication skills were really quite lacking so he likely resorted to lying instead. And by the way, we received no discount or gesture of good will, so it would appear this “gastropub” imposter expects you to pay full price for cold microwave food, abhorrent service and treats it’s complaints process with the same contempt as it does it’s food. Vile, disgusting place....

My Partner and I had visited for the first time not long ago and had a very enjoyable experience; service was brilliant, the food was delicious. We had got every penny's worth.

So obviously, we had decided to return. Our servers were lovely and very attentive just like they were the last time we had came. For Starters we shared the Creamy Garlic Mushrooms, although delicious it was quite expensive for what it was.

For our mains I had ordered the 10oz Ribeye, requested Medium and my partner ordered the Cod and Chips. The chips on both our meals were crispy and dry, as if they had been sat out for a while and been re-fried. My Ribeye was also undercooked Medium Rare. My partner had caught the attention of one of the bar staff to explain what was wrong with our meals. A taller blonde woman came to our table and said to me 'what's wrong then?' in a dull, bored tone. I explained to her that the stake was undercooked and our chips were dry and crunchy, she then took away the ribeye without explaining what can/will be done.

After waiting for an update, we were then seen too by another server (He was lovely) and we were offered a fresh Ribeye (the whole meal) and a portion of chips as my Partner had finished her cod but left the chips. Anyways, the replacement steak came out and it was pretty clear it was undercooked again as it was drowned in blood/juice like the first steak. I decided to not say anything as I was embarrassed and let down enough already, so I quickly finished my meal , paid the bill left not long after.

I was really let down as this night was a treat for my Mrs and we had planned on staying longer, having a bit more to drink and ordering desserts.

Summary:

Steak was undercooked and so was replacement/refired steak Chips Re-fried / crispy and dry Overpriced starters

Woman who sat us down and took our drinks order was lovely Man who sorted out the fresh ribeye & chips was brilliant as well Starters...

Im posting this review the day after my sons birthday meal which was supposed to be somewhere nice for us to take him as we had been previously and he enjoyed the food and experience but this time was awful. Firstly after trying to change the booking online and couldn't and then your virtual assistant didnt work and no one answered the phone i had to speak to this annoying robot claire who i had to hang up on and just make another booking online! I also tried to ring griffin directly after that to ask if we could reserve an outdoor table which the eventually answered and at no point where we told there was a restricted menu. The staff quite clearly didnt want to be there, there was no enthusiasm from the male server or the girl. We still didnt get told there was no batter so we couldn't order the cod and chips we were looking forward to and when we tried to order we were told no to that, no to Halloumi, no to mushroom pie and being a non red meat eater that was my dining spoilt. My sons burger came and was dry, my mums steak arrived chewy with wilted salad, my smothered chicken which id had to have with no bacon came and can only be described as slop in a mini pan and the chicken was awful and fatty with cheese swimming in the pan of sauce!! Even the chips werent nice!! As it was my sons birthday I didnt say anything as hes 12 and I didnt want to make a fuss on the table but what we had yesterday was awful accompanied by awful service and I feel guilty as my mum paid for it and it wasnt cheap. Im very disappointed.

I see you have replied saying these issues were the day before and i actually managed to get through to the pub on the morning the day after so why wasnt I told then about these issues especially as I had made staff aware it was a birthday meal. This is NOT good customer service and no we wont be back again especially as we are not local and travelled to your pub for a...