Wearside Farm - Dining & Carvery — Restaurant in Sunderland

Wearside Farm: I visited here for a Sunday Lunch. I wanted to see what it's like. It's buzzing busy with people constantly arriving to take up the Lunch offers... I was met at the reception by Josey who was friendly lovely & very helpful. Josey found me a sensible table for one. I went to the Bar/Counter and a young man was very helpful on the till. Explaining how the place worked and what the meals were all about including the option for extra Yorkshires and "pigs in blankets" I took him up on the offer & opted for the middle meal. I did catch his name, but it has slipped my mind. Casey the manager who has her finger fixed on the place and has eyes in the back of her head, she will know his name. I think he has plaits in his hair. Then, when I got my meal and was sat eating a young cheerful chap with a happy face called Tom came over to ask if everything was ok with my meal and pot of tea. And asked if there was anything I needed. I said I should have put more gravy on my meal I was wondering if... He said I'll go get you a gravy boat. And off he went. He came back with a gravy boat. He was keen to engage and be chatty which is excellent coming from a young chap. I think he was aware I was on my own and perhaps he thought he would keep a weather eye on me to see if I needed anything. Next up to check around the tables to clear anything away and check everyone was ok was another lovely lady this time Lynda. We had a brief chat. She cares like Josey does. It is quite a place obviously built on its great staff. When you have staff who are happy in their role and it shines from them it makes for a more familiar family kind of atmosphere. I will be back and can easily recommend it to anyone who wants happy staff serving them who are united as a team and on top of their game it helps. I did observe how they dealt with a family that had a wheelchair user in their group. Quietly and quickly that had it sorted and the family round a table. I thought that was very good. Casey is a boss who cares for the place she manages. And her staff team is very positive. You can't ask for...

Visited again today, with friends and my mum, have a couple of things I would like to mention, firstly my mums 90 and prefers beef but only if its tender as she struggles to chew so I asked the chef at the counter, (sorry didn't get his name) what the beef was like explaining my mums issue, he very kindly offered to let me try it and proceeded to cut a slice for me, i was taken aback, ofc it was the best option rather than just say it was OK but I was so impressed with the understanding and service from him. Then as I was trying to juggle 2 plates by myself Kirsty came up to me asking if she could help do one of the plates for me! Food was spot on, my love of the parsnips from here continues. We were asked if everything was OK with our meals after we had sat down, unsure who the man was... Sorry. Food was great but we were stuffed and decided to try the foot long éclair as a take away. They had to check their was some left and we were delighted when the girl came back and said they didn't have 5 ready but the chef was making some for us! Very busy today, yet even as we walked out one of the staff who was no where near our line of sight and was on her way to the kitchen with her arms bursting with dirty plates calls "Thank you!" to our backs.... I have been in the hospitality business and customer care all my life and can't praise the staff here enough. For an industry that has such unsociable hours, weekends, Xmas day, bank holidays to have a team of staff across the whole place like here is amazing. So Thank You and keep up...

First visit. Seated straight away, a bit grubby, torn seats etc. Picked 2 standard carverys 1 with a pig in blanket, a kids fish fingers and a portion of chips, 2 coke, a water and a orange cordial. Came to £40. Orange cordial was like water. Other drinks fine. The carvery plate sizes were decent and meat was good choice, didn't get much but it was cooked nice. Pudding was just like crispy air, mash was nice, roasties were burnt to a crisp, brocoli and cauliflower had more hard stalk than top and they were hard, carrots were hard, cabbage wasn't nice, new pots were hard, parsnip was OK but had to rifle through to find a nice one, stuffing was disgusting, mash was nice. Gravy was OK bit stringy. Very disappointed for what we got and lot was left. Chips portion half of them were black marked and tasted dry inside, the kids fish finger meal was OK. Nice size and came with garlic bread and corn and was all cooked fine. The staff were lovely especially the lady who came to take our plates she was friendly and chatty. She took the little ones icecream order (free with the meal) and even offered one to my other daughter who didn't have a free ice cream which I thought was lovely. Toilets weren't clean (near kids area) one door didn't lock and there was no soap.

Overall not a good visit, a...