The Robin Hood — Restaurant in Tendring

We were regular customers for many years. However, last 3 times we were extremely disappointed. First time, no non alcoholic beer and food was clearly worse quality ( fish very greasy and over cooked), second time, still no zero beer and 5! Position missing from the menu. We had only main as starters were not available. Last time, just last week, big changes! We have been asked to find the table by ourselves, no table service anymore! Table was dirty and sticky! Staff not interested in you at all! And smell at the bar horrible! We decided not to eat and left. I’m afraid we won’t be back anymore.

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Dear Sian, (unfortunately your email is not in your response, therefore please see my response below:)

Thank you for responding to my review of The Robin Hood. I appreciate the effort to address our concerns, but I feel it's necessary to clarify some points, particularly since your reply seemed to undermine our experiences as customers.

You mentioned that customers are generally telling you that you're doing a great job. While this may be true, our recent experiences, unfortunately, tell a different story. As regular customers ourselves, we feel our feedback should be given equal consideration rather than being seemingly dismissed.

Specifically, regarding the non-alcoholic beer, it was indeed unavailable on two separate occasions within the last 3-4 months. This was a significant gap, especially since it had been a consistent choice for us in the past.

Concerning the menu items, I cannot recall the exact dates when multiple options were missing, but this certainly occurred during one of our visits. The absence of choices was noticeable and impacted our dining experience.

Our last visit on 13th November was particularly disheartening. We were asked to find our own table and contrary to our previous experiences, had to order and collect our drinks from the bar. We were also instructed to return to the bar to place our food order. This self-service approach was a stark departure from the full table service we had experienced and enjoyed previously. Ultimately, we felt compelled to leave without ordering food due to the overall decline in the atmosphere and service quality. Notably, two staff members near the door saw us leaving but did not acknowledge our departure or inquire why we were leaving. This lack of engagement starkly contrasts with the warm hospitality we once enjoyed.

I understand that every establishment can have off days, and we appreciate the ongoing efforts to improve. However, it's crucial for us to share our genuine experiences to provide you with a clear picture of the current customer perspective. Regular, firsthand observations at the pub might offer you a more accurate picture of day-to-day operations. Engaging sincerely with customer feedback, without questioning its veracity, is also essential for genuine improvements.

This will be my final feedback on this matter, as I feel all necessary points have been addressed. I hope these insights are constructive and lead to the positive changes that The Robin Hood once...

I attended this venue upon recommendation Saturday last week with my wife and two granddaughters 6 and 5 years. We had a very positive experience both ordering the steak and ale pie meals plus 2 meals from the children’s menu. The staff were extremely efficient and friendly. In fact we had such a nice experience we booked a table for 7 at 6pm for Tuesday the 23rd July.

Upon arrival this time, with my daughter and son in law plus their young son who came from London to see us for the day we were led to a table.

On this occasion the waitress came over and introduced herself before reeling off a long list of items that were not available on the menu.

We were told there was no fish, only one pie and numerous other items even including chips were not available. This she blamed this on a busy few days.

Although the menus was very limited we decided to stay as my daughter had a 2 hour journey after dinner to get home with her young 2 year old and so we ordered.

The children’s food arrived there was no issue and soon after our food arrived. My son in law and I ordered the Burger signature meal at £17.75. Upon starting my meal I immediately noticed that my skin on fries were cold and tasteless not even a good as McDonald’s fries. I cut in to my burger to discover it was burnt, barely warm and extremely dry. It was appallingly poor and inedible. I called our waitress and pointed this out to her, she apologised and offered to supply me another meal or something different.

I was so disappointed and to be honest shocked at how poor the meal sent out was I declined the offer. She offered me another pint of Guinness but I refused the offer as I was driving.

I asked my son in law what his meal was like and he said it was poor, very dry and similar to mine but he eat his meal.

I would add that the incident and extremely poor standard of food sent to me completely ruined the evening. I cannot understand how number one when we had booked a table there was such an extreme lack of choice and if there was a shortage why it was not replenished.

Whilst my family were eating another couple came in and sat nearby us they were given the same account as us about the limited menu and within a short time voted with their feet.

Finally I would that I was not charged for my meal but I would not recommend this venue and look forward to any observations that the proprietor may...

We visited on 18 August 2024 as a party of 9 - 6 adults and 3 children, having pre booked we were sat in the bar area even though we had requested 2 tables near each other in the restaurant part of the pub. The member of staff behind the bar said to us “I might come over to your table and take your order, if I’m not too busy”. This seemed a very unprofessional way to speak to paying customers. We went up to the bar to order food and drink and was only then informed there was an hour wait for food. We decided we were prepared to wait and ordered food. We were then told there was no gas and couldn’t order draft beer or soft drinks from the gun. We waited 50 minutes before a member of staff informed us that they had run out of fish and one of our party had to change his meal. The first lot of food arrived and it was a further 20 minutes before all party members had their food. We could see other staff members hanging around outside the pub which could have helped the solo waitress to bring our food. We then waited a further 5 minutes for vegetables and gravy to come. The gravy was brought out by the chef who apologised it has been served in bowls rather than jugs and explained that they had run out of everything in the kitchen and was hoping the area manager would pay him a visit the next day so he could tell him what he thought of the restaurant which we found highly unprofessional for a member of staff.

The gravy that was brought out to us was stone cold as was all of our food by the time we had waited. The restaurant was extremely quiet and we could not understand the reason for the delay.

The manger came to speak to us and we did receive an apology.

• In relation to the response below from the manger stating that we did not pay for drinks. We did in fact pay for 2 rounds of drinks coming to £75. So that...