Gables — Restaurant in Stafford

You couldn’t pay me to visit this dive again. It was my son’s 13th birthday and we’d pre booked a table for 8 for 5:30. We’d ordered within 15 minutes pretty much and it came to 6:50 and the food still hasn’t been brought out. We also had a 6 &4 year old to keep entertained and an 18 month baby, who by this point was extremely upset and bored. Yes there’s a play area with toys that need a good sterilising that we begrudgingly let her play with and used the outdoors area, but it wasn’t good enough. The kids food came out first which was a good idea, HOWEVER, our adult meals didn’t come out until another 15 minutes! By the time ours came out, the kids and baby had finished and were getting more bored by the second so we had to try to eat and entertain them. Parents, you’ll know the stress of taking it in turns to swap holding baby while trying to eat! All of this could be almost forgiven if the food itself was worthy of the wait but unfortunately, we could have received better tasting food if I’d have cooked frozen nuggets and beans at home. The chips were uncanny to the skin on fries in Aldi for £1.59 except I cook them nicer. The mash was inedible, all who had the mash left it, it resembled a worse version of Smash and that’s saying something. The hunters chicken looked like it had been burnt at the stake and never removed, seriously mum had to cut most of it up to get to the unburnt part. Second to that, we’d put a birthday cake behind the bar with the hope of bringing the cake out with the candles for my son, but by 7:30 came, my partner had to leave to take baby and our daughter home as it was too much for them being their bed time and we ended up getting the cake back from behind the bar. The manager did come out and offer us 20% off our next visit, but when we saw the state of the food, we asked for the 20% to be refunded immediately from this order as we won’t be going back. Manager was unprofessional, clearly stressed out and it showed. The photo is my partners bangers and mash which he made for us last night…a damn sight better than the bangers and smash we got served...

Normally I enjoy eating here but recently the place has gone down hill massively. I went for a meal and drinks on bank holiday Monday and was disappointed beyond belief. I arrived at about 7.15pm and waited for drinks at the bar for 10mins with no one else waiting and staff not even acknowledging that I was there while walking off elsewhere. When I finally got served I decided to order food at the same time to avoid the same wait again just to order. The lady that served me was not at all apologetic about the wait and was very abrupt and rude in the manner she informed me there was limited availability from the menu. Having picked something that was available I was then attempting to pay but she was then too busy talking to another member of staff as I held my hand out trying to give her the money! My cousin who was a little less patient than me asked her if she wanted the money. Having heard this she turned and took the money with no apology for being so rude. We then went and sat down and discussed how appalling the service was (the food was just as bad if not worse than the service when it came). As we were talking we noticed that having been in the place now for about 45mins there was 5 tables full of dirty dishes and glasses that had been there since we arrived and then a further 3 that had been vacated since we arrived (this was just what we could see from where we were sat). This with staff standing at the bar talking instead of clearing up. Having then had our meals we left promptly and the same woman that served us was about to clear some glasses from a table nearly an hour and a half after it had been vacated! When walking out I said thankyou politely even though I was far from impressed at anything and there was never even a reply. This was far from any experience I've ever had in the past when I have had some brilliant times and banter back and forth with the staff there. It's safe to say that until I see a sign saying 'under new management' I shall not be going back, and that would be my recommendation to anyone even thinking...

I pre booked in advance to guarantee our party of 9 could sit and eat. This was booked successfully for 13:00 on Sunday 2nd October.

Once we had arrived, it seems the table hadn’t been prepared in advance and instead, they had to push three dirty tables together. There weren’t enough chairs so we had to individually search the restaurant and get our own. Frustrated, we sat down and prepared our order.

We walked up to the bar and I was asked to take someone else’s pint to their table because the staff member behind the bar couldn’t do it. Strike one.

Next, once i’d ordered my drinks, one of them was only 75% full. Strike two.

Third, the staff member couldn’t operate the till properly and struggled to find a steak sauce, growing increasingly frustrated and raising their voice at the bar. On top of this, if you have side salad rather than chips, onion rings and peas, you pay the same price. I’m not sure how you work out charging the same amount for less food but it certainly irritated us.

Finally, the food came out and the peppercorn sauce was missing, the steaks were drastically over cooked and the chef refused to do anything about it.

The service was honestly, nothing short of abysmal.

If we experienced just one small irritation, we could let it slide but the whole experience from start to finish was horrendous and has left me contemplating whether it’s even worth visiting again or taking our business elsewhere.

Got a refund after an argument where the staff tried to convince me that the steaks here were better than a Michelin star chefs - awful service, horrendous restaurant, never...