The Fleet Inn, Twyning — Restaurant in Tewkesbury

I have frequented The Fleet intermittently over the years, as my family have good friends that live in the village of Twyning. The place has exchanged ownership several times during this duration and, as such, my review will pertain to my experience this past weekend.

The Fleet is situated fantastically on the River Avon, with a great view of the plains. The restaurant itself is incredibly well presented with the interior and facilities being very clean and well-maintained.

The food was as good as it has ever been. We partook of a series of roasts which were excellently cooked, flavoursome, well presented and respectfully sized portions.

However, the service was disappointingly mediocre and did not compliment the food in the way it should have. It took us half an hour from arrival to receive our drinks and we had to chase a member of staff to come take our order. We ordered a bottle of water for the table, which was brought with the other drinks and were asked if we required additional glasses for this, which we said yes. Again, we had to chase a member of staff to remind them to bring aforementioned glasses as this took a further 10 minutes. Additionally, when the drinks were brought my wife's beverage was not amongst the order and we had to chase this with the servers. Furthermore, we were not asked if we wanted another round of drinks when the first round was consumed as...no one came round to take an order and we had to chase with the team, again!

We finished dinner and were debating on dessert. It took a further twenty minutes after completion of dinner to be asked if we wanted dessert, all the while our plates were just sat there. Desserts were ordered, which, like most of the food, arrived very promptly, and to a high standard, but one of the desserts did not materialise. In the end we gave up on it and went to pay for our meals (having to request the missing dessert be removed from the bill as we would otherwise have been charged for it).

It's such a disappointment that the service, at least from this experience (and the feedback also discussed with other locals), is that the servers are more interested in chatting amongst themselves than really being "on it". We twice had to ask a server what the vegetarian roast option was because after the first time (you guessed it) the member of staff did not return. The second server had to go ask in the kitchen what it was (they actually didn't even have a vegetarian roast-option). On a Sunday the only thing the servers surely need to remember is what the vegetarian special is, as this must be the only thing different to their normal menu. It cannot be hard to drive this into the team before service. It would indicate that while the kitchen team are clearly capable and competent that there is an underlying issue with the front of house team not being correctly motivated and managed and would kindly suggest that the front-of-house manager use this feedback as a tool to reinforce...

This is our local pub. On the positive the food is excellent and the management have addressed the poor service times from the past and notify you of any possible waiting times. Yesterday my husband and I went for an evening meal to celebrate our 45th Wedding Anniversary. I booked a table in the restaurant. When we arrived we were told we had a table outside. Thankfully this was rectified and we were given a quiet table in the main restaurant. There was a large party celebrating a birthday in there but they were on the other side and no issue. We discussed with the waitress our celebration and thanked her fo the quiet table. Half way through our meal 2 ladies appeared with a pram and were sat right next to us feet away despite there being plenty of room elsewhere in the pub and the main restaurant. (As confirmed by the manager) Shortly after their starter arrived the newborn in the pram was picked up and started to scream he/she did not stop! No apologies and no attempt to feed the newborn. This would have solved the issue. We got up and left cutting short our celebrations. It is my feeling that adults should be able to go to a restaurant without the issue of young children / babies disturbing an evening we should be able to go to a restaurant and have a quiet evening. ( Hence not having a table outside where children were playing) I know maybe it's over the top but having a screaming baby right next to you rather distracts from any conversation. I mentioned this to the manager as we left and was told did you mention it to your waitress pretty difficult when both parties are already sat. Should we have picked up our meals and moved? An apology was offered however in my opinion more thought should be given to adults who wish to eat a quiet calm atmosphere. A very sad ending to what was a big but quiet celebration for us. In future I will need to state a child free area. Reply to Manager's comments. When I booked I asked for the restaurant dogs are not allowed in the restaurant!! Don't presume what your customer wants. If you really thought baout it who would wish to drag 3 large dogs for a special meal when we live 2 minutes away! What are we supposed to do when given a quiet table and nearly finished our meal, very difficult to get up and move! When we were given our table there were no issues with children we are not mind readers. You sat a baby next to su despite there being pleny of...

So I hate to be negative but i'm sure someone at The fleet would want to know.... location is fantastic, it gets busy on sunny days, very busy ....but that is consistant and has always been the case. I think the pub should be prepared/used to it by now and frankly welcome the massive level of business it generates rising to the challenge to maximise revenue. What i have seen over serveral visits is the staff fire fighting....they are busy and maybe this brings staff that are not regular, im not sure ...Our most recent visit we were told when looking for an alternative to roast potatoes or chips "we have no potato's that arent fried..no boiled, no mash, no jacket" this is unusual in any pub....I guess on reflection they buy in ready roasted aunt besie styley. Maybe we should have checked ahead of the visit, but I have never experienced this at any other pub ever.... the staff member that told us wasn't rude, just very matter of fact with little explaination... offered no real alternative and when we couldn't have any potato we ordered additional veg we got charged. It's not a big deal just adds to the disappointment. Roast beef and vegetables it had to be...Dad was very dissapointed. its not the first time we've been disappointed. It's happened several times from shuting the pub early due to it being quiet (after deciding to pay for a taxi home to enjoy an evening with an old friend who was in the area...this was a few years ago to be fair) to changing the official food ordering availability on a recent visit due to being busy... They stopped food at 2.30 instead of 3 I think due to being busy as they said it would take ages for the food to come if we ordered...I said we would wait, that option was then withdrawn. we'd been waiting for over an hour as it was to get to 'correct table for food service' unfortunately another day spoilt. In addition I'm not sure adding an optional 10% service charge automatically that "can be removed" provides a good gauge of how the pub is performing...it just adds insult to injury and hides the all important customer feedback. Anyway I think it's just down to communication really and concidering how it might effect people. It feels a little although management think the people just keep coming because of the location so it doesnt really matter... but...