The Talbot — Restaurant in Staffordshire Moorlands

Lovely decor and the welcome was good. Warm cider, this was changed to warm lager. Waited a while to take our order although not busy. The meals for the four of us came separately with a period of waiting. The pie my Husband had had literally no filling, he didnt get the chips he ordered. My friend had a signature burger which was disgusting, it was black where it had been burned. He has a side salad which was a joke, 2 pieces of lettuce, 2 cucumber, 2 cherry tomatoes cut in half in an ashtray size bowl. He had fries which were also burned and cold. I had a mushroom burger which was disgusting and when I asked the waitress if it was meat she said it was processed mush formed into a burger....and my side salad was the same pathetic attempt as the one my friend had been delivered. We did complain and were bought extra chips...we had to ask for condiments and my husbands pie came back with extra filling but was definitely not beef and red wine as advertised. He also had chips that he ordered on the plate that was taken to change the pie but when it came back there were no chips. He had to wait yet again to ask for these as well as cutlery as this was also taken. The whole experience was shocking so I asked to see the Manager, no way were we paying for this food, we could not and did not eat it...He didnt charge and I should think not. We travelled quite a way to visit this pub and we were sorely disappointed and had to have a take away on the way back...a ruined Evening and money spent on petrol for no reason..we wont ever go back to this pub as we were so let down by both the food and the service. Oh by the way the Manager also added that he knew that the cider and beer was warm as he was waiting for someone to come and look at the pipes....perhaps they should have sold just bottles from the fridge...just...

Unfortunately 1 star the lowest option, otherwise I would have opted for less.

We have visited tonight, in a group for a Christmas meal. We arrived at 19:00 and didn’t get given a menu until 19:45, so started off on a bad note to begin with.

Two people out of our group booking ordered a starter which came at 20:05, which was fine. Once the starters had finished we waited an additional 1 hour 40 for our mains. Having been told when we ordered the wait was 45 minutes.

We asked one for the waitress’s if they had any update on where the meals were which she stated she’d go and find out, little to our amazement she never returned to our table for the rest of the evening. Upon speaking to the manager, about our concerns and complaint, he said that she’d gone home.

We then went to the bar to ask due to this waitress not coming back and they assured us that our meals were due to be sent out after the next tables.

The food arrived eventually, at separate times, most of it cold and missing sides which were stated that came with the meal on the menu. A few of us had the turkey dinner, the roast potato’s were like bricks. We sent some of the food back to be warmed, which they did. One of our parties mains came out once we had all finished our mains. We planned to have the 2 course meal yet nobody had time or wanted to order their desserts as we would have well and truly been waiting until Christmas for them.

We felt like our group was being ignored due to the lack of communication with some of the staff. We also asked for condiments on multiple occasions which never arrived.

Left feeling disappointed, and most importantly hungry. I wouldn’t entertain wasting your money and/or time visiting this establishment until they sort out how to run the place and deal with the general public. Poor from the beginning...

Well if the staff hadn’t have been bribed into leaving 5 star reviews for the pub then the place would have been shut down.

Speaking as a previous member of management.

I joined Vintage Inns from a private business in hope that I would progress into managing my own place with them one day.

Unfortunately I struck unlucky with the manager I was employed by, Ella. Quickly realising this after 2 weeks, she was a totally different person to work for than she was during my interview process! Attitude from hell and treated me like I was one of her minions!

The staff receive zero training and zero support from her. These guys are not to blame for the problems that are going on and any professional manager would accept responsibility for these issues and sort them out.

The hygiene is shocking, coffee tasting bitter due to the machine never being thoroughly cleaned. The ice machine and glass wash, both filthy and again not being cleaned. I have never seen the lines get cleaned once, the ales coming out cloudy and tasting strange.!

The management has failed the staff here and this shows from all the bad reviews from unhappy guests! Especially failed me! The staff leaving 5* reviews speaks for itself. The locals who have been coming in for years have also been failed with some stating it’s the worst they have ever seen, the place is barely hanging together.

Assistant manager getting screamed at by Ella after working a 15hr shift (3 weeks into the job) in front of another member of staff, completely undermining my authority and so unprofessional. Normally I wouldn’t mention names but I feel this is completely necessary as the person in mention is the only one person who let’s the place down with her main focus being her daughter, the head chef and not...