Toby Carvery Barnes Park — Restaurant in Sunderland

I have eaten at the cavery before and enjoyed it. We went for the festive menu, the original server who left before we had dessert, seemed to be having some personal problems that she was intent on discussing loudly with people in the bay behind us. When we ordered pre meal drinks I said I would want a wine with my meal. After waiting some time for her to come back to take our order, she walked past saying if you are having carvery just go upand get it. We were not aware we could do this in terms of billing. On going to the cavery the 'chef'had tobe called outto carve our meat. I thoughtthe portion of Turkey was small and poorly carved leaving chunks at the bottom uncooked. The vegtables were luke warm and had been stood out for some time. There were hardly any peas which were shriveled. The carver had run back to the kitchen at haste and I could not find anyone to ask. Then the cranberry sauce was empty and no one to ask. The server did not reappear to take more drinks orders. About half way through our meal she asked if everything was ok. I hada mouthful of food and she walked off before I could answer. I called after her I would like another drink. Just a minute she said. She served other customers desserts then went back talking to the table behind us. I had to shout to get her attention to order another drink. Having ordered the drink she went back to talking. I like to drink with my meal, but she left without delivering the drinks. A man with a chain and keys walked past twice and eventually brought our drinks. My husband had finished eating and I had nearly finished having paused for the drink, the food was now cold. The man then took over service and we had dessert. No one came back to offer coffee so we left without. Paying at the bar as we left. Very...

We visited at 5pm on a Wednesday and it wasn’t busy so expected attentive service. This was not the case.

The person who greeted us seemed to just want us to sit down and eat as quickly as possible with the least possible input from them. They barely allowed us to explain we had a booking before marching us to our table.

We were seated near a large group, which was fine. But the children were singing songs about cat wee - there was no staff in sight.

The member of staff who seated us just assumed we wanted the carvery and told us to wander over when we were ready. I didn’t particularly want a carvery but felt I didn’t really have a choice as they had gone before we could reply.

My meatless carvery was ok, the cauliflower was watery and there weren't any veggie roast potatoes available. My daughter had some turkey and said that was nice.

When we were ready to leave we could have probably just left without paying as we had to go searching for someone to be able to pay. The server was chatting to people (didn’t appear to be customers, perhaps friends?) and made us wait for her to finish talking before allowing us to pay.

For the price we didn’t expect anything amazing but you do usually get staff who seem to actually want a job.

There was one young person serving who we have to commend, they seem to have been quite inexperienced but were trying their best and weren’t getting any help from the other server.

Overall not a great experience and we won’t...

I received a £10 off a £25 spend, so i booked online and myself and my wife went tonight (9/10). We decided to eat from the Set Menu, which was shown as £11.49 for 2 courses. I ordered the Cheesy Mushrooms and the Carvery. My wife ordered the Salmon & Prawn Wellington and a Seasonal Crumble for desert, so, 2 courses each. We also ordered a tea and unlimited soda. Food and drink great i must say, no issues there (although there were 3 of us waiting for 4 minutes [i timed it] for the chef to serve the carvery!). I paid the bill, scanned my £10 off code and left. It's only now that i have checked the receipt. It appears i have been overcharged, as the Set Menu had not been processed. I would have presumed your tills would be programmed to recognise the Set Menu, but clearly not and the waitress, who was very nice, clearly didn't put it through. It wasn't until my wife checked the receipt that we noticed. Bill should have been £29.37, less £10, £19.37. I paid £22.86 as been charged full price for starter and desert. The difference is nominal, but this is not good practice - how many people have you done this to. However, the food was good, the service was fair and i will be back, but will make sure i check...