Knot & Plough — Restaurant in Stafford

We arrived and paid for our meals at 19:25 tonight which were two regular carveries. We were asked by the young bar man if we would mind waiting as we overheard the carvery server asking to hold us off whilst he replenished and he would let us know when it was ready. We went to our table, table 11, with our drinks. As we were sat we were able to view what was happening at the carvery serving area which had no activity around it until we went to get our food. By 19:50 we were starting to feel frustration at lack of replenishment, activity, or acknowledgement to the wait. We went to the bar to ask if there was any update as to when we could get our meal and we were updated after a couple of minutes we could get the non-replenished, very sorry looking food from the carvery serving area. Whilst the roast beef could not be faulted, alas I can not say the same for the rest of the food quality, from the under cooked roast pork to the dehydrated peas. Whilst I appreciate the volumes of food the venue must serve and deliver, and the pressure this can cause, I also have reasonable expectations of food to be of a reasonable quality When I sought out what appeared to be the lead on duty tonight to ask about was there a feedback card, which in fairness was provided fairly immediately, we were asked if there was anything I could be helped with. I explained that it wasn’t a positive experience, the long wait time for the carvery, whilst acknowledged, was not apologised for, we were just advised that the lead person didn’t know what happened, when I also pointed out the quality of barely cooked pork which was more fat than meat in an inedible state I was advised that the pork was belly pork and to expect fat. I agree pork is a fatty meat, however, when paying for the dinner and experience I expect the meat to be cooked fully, and pork does require cooking to render the fat cooked, not congealed. The Yorkshire puddings came out soggy as if they were steamed, the veg was not very nice, from bland to too long under the serving trolley lights to being not value for money aiding to poor experience already. However I can praise the roast beef which was well cooked, so I removed the two slices from my plate to bring home for my dogs as the rest of my meal was inedible aided by poor quality food and service. I work within customer feedback and when I advised these things I felt it could have been handled differently instead of just the remark pork is fatty, there was no attempt at a complaint resolution tonight, which I felt was poor and either reflects on poor empowerment for colleagues or poor culture to recognise customer...

We had our company Christmas lunch today. Around forty of us, pre ordered. We arrived at about 12.30 and by 1.15 we had still not had our starters. They arrived eventually but by then people who had ordered carvery were queuing for their food. Some of the prawn cocktail starters came without bread so we had to ask for that. The queue for the carvery was very long but that was to be expected given the number of people. When we did eventually get to be served, the young man behind the carvery was rude and clearly unable to cope with how busy the place was. By the time some of us got to be served there was no turkey left. My colleague asked for more gravy as the container was empty. The person serving the carvery went into the kitchen to get the gravy which meant there was nobody serving food. When he brought the gravy out, he dropped it into the container as if he was angry it had been requested. The food itself was well below standard even for a chain establishment. The beef was tough, the pigs in blankets were undercooked and the cauliflower was rock hard. Some people had ordered desserts and the waiting staff basically dumped them on the table and told us to sort it ourselves. My colleague had chocolate brownie and the sauce was congealed on the plate. A waitress brought out another colleague's dessert and he asked if she would take it back to the kitchen for five minutes as he'd only just finished his main course - she responded with 'aaaah' and left the dessert with him anyway. All in all the visit was shambolic. We understand the place was busy but we had prebooked and surely they should be prepared for more people at this time of year?! Our company paid a lot of money for the meal and, quite honestly, it was well below the standard expected even for this...

The Knot & Plough - Stafford.

Having been a customer of the restaurant before, and a regular of The Spread Eagle, another in the Marstons family, I decided to recommend it to my girlfriend, Laura, and her parents when taking them out today, for a late Sunday lunch today.

In hindsight this decision was a big mistake. The meals were dreadful…

I ordered a chicken and cheese melt sandwich and Laura chose the turkey and stuffing ciabatta with a portion of nachos. I have attached the pictures I took, which tell the whole sorry tale.

I am sure you will agree that these meals look dreadful, unappetising and clearly prepared by someone with little thought and absolutely no care and attention for their customer.

Never have I seen such a poorly prepared, expensive bowl of nachos. The sandwiches were terrible too.

One of your Managers tried to save the day with with something resembling real customer service. She agreed that the meals were not “to standard” and should “definitely not look like that”.

She took one meal away and returned with, what looked like a completely different meal. Unfortunately she was unable to give me a reason why the first one looked so bad. She did say the team were 10 days into a new menu, but surely you’d expect them to be on their “A game” by then.

I'm not normally one for writing complaint letters, leaving reviews, or publicly shaming service industries for poor service. I know how hard it is having worked at one of the premier restaurants in Shropshire myself. However, I do feel extremely let down by this whole experience and wonder how you can explain what happened and how I can rebuild trust to visit your...