The Riftswood — Restaurant in Tamworth

After a particularly poor experience and disappointment in June 2023, I was contacted by the Manager of this establishment and kindly offered a complimentary visit, which we undertook on Saturday 9th September 2023.

It was a particularly warm day , upon arrival, we were greeted by Kieran himself, who took us to our table of choice. It was creditworthy that, given the high temperatures, diners were being suitably distanced between tables and, that use of the conservatory seating area had been prevented: Notices had been strategically placed to advise would-be diners that Kitchen staff were being a given a break between 15:00-16:00 in the interests of Health & Safety – laudable sentiments and actions representing admirable due diligence and duty of care.

Meeting our host in person gave me the opportunity to have a more informal chat: I was shocked to learn that, despite the venue's popularity, Corporate Chiefs deemed that the premises did not warrant investment in refreshing its now worn and appearance, and that this issue was not due for review for a further two years.

I could empathize with his frustration of, having worked to so hard, post-COVID to rebuild a business effectively smashed to pieces by the pandemic – only to have received several past snipes over the same issues from people quick to judge, but too apathetic to commit in putting ‘pen to paper’ in demanding its owners inject sufficient reinvestment into a local Hostelry to achieve recovery and growth

It seems remarkable that against a clear lack of investment or apparent interest by their Master, Team Riftswood remain very pleasant, professional, and strive to deliver a high standard of service and customer care: equally remarkable is the comparatively low staff turnover given their current working environment.

We had a very enjoyable and tasty meal: the menu is varied, very reasonably priced and need no 'updating’ – in other words, ‘if it’s not broken, don't try and fix it!’ Of the building itself: it simply needs freshening up with a new coat of paint and basic maintenance inside and out: it certainly doesn’t warrant a complete reworking into another overpriced folly of misguided 2020s marketing and decor design, devoid of atmosphere, and that alienates its core customer base – with a correspondingly short business shelf life.

The same venue could, with a minor cosmetic changes,and given its current varied menu, cheery atmosphere, customer demographic mix, friendly staff, provide an ideal ‘Informal Business lunch’ location on weekdays for my own Company Clients and no doubt those of many other small/medium-sized local businesses whom, post-Covid, run on thinner Expense Accounts and, given an increasing move towards working from home since the pandemic, now conduct business meetings in much less formal attire and environments than was previously the case.

However, and as much as I would like to (with best will, intention, and imagination), bring strangers in for first visits and to sample good food, service and value, the current state of worn décor and general appearance effectively kills any prospects of my being taken credibly.

To this end I am going to award a 4/5 Star Rating: Top Marks for a Host Team of individuals that go the extra mile daily and deserve every success, credit and reward for their endeavors– a One Star deduction for lack of investment in rejuvenating a popular going concern, attributable to inertia by a Management Team clearly of ‘Bean Counter’ mentality in failing to recognize and realize the true potential such a valuable intrinsic business asset; people and premises combined.

A clear message to the same group who appear to thrive off Fiscal Analysis alone:

'There is more to life than cutting corners in focusing solely upon profits: your panacea will not appear within the Tables and Graph lines of a Quarterly PLA Report.'

Food for thought (excuse the pun!), but I hope that this feedback helps the cause – and we’ll be back soon, albeit with a paintbrush as and...

Firstly if we hadn’t of asked for a receipt we would never of known one of the 3 adult meals was missing, we asked for dirty fries and just got normal which then had to be sent back and done, which resulted with the other food on the plate not being very warm. The chicken dippers on the 2 of the 3 kids meals was over cooked, when plates was removed from table we asked for the deserts (3 x kids 1 adult) about 15 minutes later the adult dessert was brought out, we then had to wait nearly a hour & half for the kids desserts which was just the ice cream. Even though we had been to bar numerous times to ask for them to be brought out. We booked our table for 5:15 to allow time to eat and the little ones to have dessert and get home before they got tired. We was celebrating a birthday so it was meant to be a nice treat for the family but instead it’s put us off returning or recommending especially if you...

We came because we saw that kids eat for £1 we saw this advertised on the kids menu but when we got the receipt we paid full price for the kids, it was then explained that because we chose a drink and desert we don't get the kids eat for £1 this was not in plain sight in the menu, the lady taking our money did not explain this, we only found out because we questioned it. My meal came out and it was burnt, I was really disappointed as normally perfect. They didn't have cool original for doritos. My little girl went to the toilet and come back with tears because the toilet roll had fallen on her, it was resting ontop of the toilet roll holder and fell off, I suffer with mental health and I didn't feel strong enough to question or report any of this but I'm disgusted with paying a £50 bill to get treated like this. I will not be recommending this place to anyone any more and I really don't think we...