Garrick

Would rate this evenings visit to the Garrick a 2.5 star as dislike is too harsh and Ok seems too lenient. Since 2010 when we started to visit Stratford and the Garrick on a bi annual visit , we were very impressed with the service that was on offer.However, since COVID we have noticed a decline in service in the restaurant and the occasional meal. I don't expect the pub to offer a Michelin style service but not so long ago, someone would take your food and drink order at the table,whereas today, especially at weekends it feels like being in a scrum just getting to the bar to place your order.You couldn't even see the chef's special because a group of rowdy males were standing in front of it. Unfortunately, this evening wasn't a pleasant visit.Not sure if the closure of 2 restaurants in Stratford had something to do with it but the pub was extremely busy with a minimum wait of appx 45 minutes as they had a party of 15 plus to deal with , even at 6pm on a Saturday evening Not sure if there was a mix up when we arrived but it seemed the pub wasn't aware of our reservation even though we had booked it and had an email confirmation. However, they did manage to find a table and advised of the delay in food. As stated by many reviewers, when you go out for a meal you hope that the food though basic is of good quality. Unfortunately this wasn't the case tonight. The Korean Chicken burger I ordered was in parts both undercooked and overdone and missing a BBQ sauce, the other order of a steak sandwich found to be extremely tough. When I mentioned this to a staff member, they could only apologise and offered a free drink or dessert. It seemed I wasn't the only one complaining about the food quality as well. I did feel that both kitchen and bar staff were overwhelmed with tonight's service and struggled.

There is another pub in Stratford that has adopted a scheme where staff in the restaurant area have tablets to automatically place your order. Maybe the Garrick can look into this