Toby Carvery Old Forge — Restaurant in Stevenage

Made to feel like an inconvenience on a Wednesday lunchtime. The lady who served us at our table was wonderful though, very lovely and friendly, unfortunately it went downhill from there. It really wasn’t busy at all, we were the only ones standing at the carvery waiting to be served. The old carver guy was pottering about and didn’t even acknowledge us for around 5 minutes, he was extremely rude and after reading all the other reviews I’m not quite sure why he is still in a job. After finishing our food we realised the time and had to leave, so instead of waiting to pay our bill we decided to go to the bar to pay so we could leave quicker. That was the worst idea! We stood at the bar again not being acknowledged, whilst two members of staff were putting glasses away chatting amongst themselves, it felt like we were standing there for an eternity before anyone even made eye contact with us. A man came along to the bar whilst we were waiting and the older lady behind the bar stood there talking to him and taking his drink order. We were absolutely shocked that she totally ignored us standing there. Eventually a lady who seemed friendly at first asked us what we wanted, we said we wanted to pay the bill, she said “ok what was your table” we said we couldn’t see a table number, so as I was pointing over to where we were sitting, she abruptly said “I know darling, but I still need to know where you were sitting” she then turned to the older staff member and asked if she could serve us as she was busy, the older lady said “well not really as I need to sort this table out their drinks” my friend had to walk over to the table that was literally in eye shot and the only empty table there to show her which table we were sitting at. She just started tapping away at the till, I asked if I could use my blue light discount to which she sighed and said “yep hang on” my friend asked if we could split the bill, again, another sigh. We were looking forward to a quick lunch out together after both going through some personal things; and we actually both left feeling really rubbish and wish we had never gone! I will add that we did not say anything to the rude staff members as they didn’t seem to care about our custom anyway. After reflecting, I feel that this needs to be addressed with them, you do not know what people are going through in life, and the way you speak to somebody could really affect them. I would like to be contacted with regards to our...

Had a booking at 5.30, were not seated until 5.45 in an extremely crowded area, we were told by the lady who showed us to the table that we a server would be with us soon, 15-20 minutes went by and we had not spoken to anyone however tables who were sat after us had been served. We had to flag down a member of staff who then told us we had to go up to the carvery and we can order there, had we had known we would have done sooner. The service of the carvery was ok, could have been a bit quicker but understandable as it was busy. We then sat down with our meals and a server came to us and then asked if we wanted drinks which we ordered, we waited for our drinks before starting our meal however they did not arrive so we started to eat which was not the best as the restaurant was extremely hot and due to being pregnant would have needed a drink with dinner, not having one made me feel quite nauseous. We then had finished our meals and still no drinks… 35 minutes after asking for 2 waters. My partner and I then decided to see if we could pay at the bar as the service was so slow we did not want to wait, we then pay at the bar and the bar man charges us for the wrong table which is not his fault as the team did not communicate with him. I then go back to my partner and he was about to be charged again for the meal!! It was only until I stepped in that they realised the mistake of the tables. The server took us back to the bar and to who I assume was a manager or supervisor and said we still need to pay for drinks to which we stated we did not have any drinks as we did not consume any so we should not be charged for them, the server was quite pushy in saying that we still needed to pay for them however the manager/supervisor said we have nothing to pay for as we did not consume them and gave them back. Had we have known it was to be like this we would not have come! It was really disappointing to have an...

Absolutely awful. The tall old grumpy guy who cuts your meat really needs a check in on. As someone who hasn’t visited a Tobys before, I wasn’t made aware that to get a second serving of meat you have to pay the full price again. I went up for second serving not realising that it’s only for vegetables, and got greeted with a very stroppy attitude from the main guy who cuts your meat to say he recognised me and that I had to pay full price again for more meat and spoke to me in a very rude manner as he claimed he vaguely remembered me coming up already and then slammed the plate on the top of the hot light in his moody manner. Quite appalling behaviour from who I assume is a senior member of staff. Whilst I was in line someone before me was served meat yet when I went up previously I had already seen them take meat so the fact I received shocking customer service because old mr grumps recognised me but not them shows how awful he is and that something needs to change. As someone myself who works in customer service. It’s part of the job to ensure even if a customer gets something wrong you approach and deal with them in no different way to anyone else. The service that I received from that old grumps who was sucking on sweets and serving cold meat compared to the lady who’s name was Jody who was our table server, I believe is inconsistent as he needs a check on, whilst she was lovely. For £14 I got 3 small slithers of meat that was cold. I most certainly won’t be returning and as for that member of staff who I don’t know his name but can only refer to him as tall, grumpy and miserable, something needs a change. Shocking experience, Cold food, Roast potatoes were soggy and bland, no broccoli, food mixed around in all the dishes....