The Fulling Mill — Restaurant in Wales

if you are gluten free please stay away your life could depend on it. absolutely disgrace what happened today. went into the Tonypandy restaurant and ordered at the bar, young blonde girl who was doing everything right taking the order asking about allergies etc. explained that we do have one gluten free allergy and would order her food last. She asked my wife to fill out the allergy tablet form which she completed fine and progressed with the order. she was having a bit of difficulty it seems with the ordering machine as to highlighting the intolerance ie gluten free. She again did the correct thing by calling one of the managers across (Adam) I believe who took over and said this is what you do etc etc. and placed the order. As she was doing our drinks a young chef came out and queried the order and she stated there is a gluten free allergy and that is for the gammon egg and chips. A few moments later another pleasant staff member (blonde hair/black t shirt) came across and explained there will be a wait for the food as the chips will need to be oven cooked and they clean everything down as they ensure and take this very seriously and want you to have a safe and enjoyable experience so you come back again. So far faultless. We explained that we would like the food together as didn't want one person to be eating alone and happy to wait. Just about to serve the food I said to my wife there's your chips as they put a green flag in the chips in a bowl separate to highlight that it is gluten free. then as the orders were being served Jan transferred these chips onto a burger ( southern fried chicken burger in a bun) which had a gluten free flag on it! and stated here is the gluten free allergy. Firstly no offence but if you have been trained in food and (apparently worked there for years) how can you even not realise that, that food is not gluten free and you have now just cross contaminated the whole thing. I physically had to explain to her how can southern fried chicken in a bun be gluten free, and not only that but the order was for ham egg and chips (as this was the only gluten free option on the menu). she took the plates back and was like I go see. Eventually the lady manager came over apologetic and blamed it on the ordering system. If common sense can't prevail that you used a tablet to highlight whats safe to eat then place that order, the chef double checking that order the receipt even stated gluten free egg and chips and you end up to this. She stated she would have a word with the staff then give a refund. As obviously couldn't eat there now. after about 15 minutes she came back and stated she would sort a refund out. We were then sat there whilst she then had a further public chat with her servers and then a further 15 minutes later had to go to the bar in which the reply was I am sorting it out now. There was no apology from Jan at all and I am absolutely livid by the...

Myself and my wife booked a table for 15:45 through the Stonehouse App.

We arrived at the allocated 15:45, however, there was nobody to allocate a table or check our booking, we were not even questioned at the bar to find out if we had made a booking. Therefore, no point using the App to book as this is not used at this Carvery.

At 15:45 we joined the extensive 25 to 30 person carvery queue. at 16:10 it was noted that the queue did not appear to be going down. It was then that i realised that there was only 1 person on the carvery and also this person was also serving up the meat for the delivery orders, it was plain to see that the delivery orders were taking priority over the customers in the queue!!!!

I approached the bar and spoke to the person i assume to be the general manager. I asked was the single handed carvery person, also doing the meat allocation for the orders being collected, to which he replied they were. i then asked why is there no secondary person to help with the carvery. 1 person carving turkey and the other doing the beef/gammon. His reply was that it was busy and they were doing the best they could and sundays is always busy. He then said it was a health and safety hazard that they could not have 2 people on the carvery for health and safety reason, due to lack of space. however, this was proven to be a load of rubbish as clearly observed all the delivery meals are actually collected at the end of the carvery, and in order to reach this, you need to go to BEHIND the carvery person..... the manager said it was the best they could do. I asked him if he thought that queuing for over half an hour and not moving was acceptable, how long does he think is acceptable, and if he was customer, would he be happy with the service. He did not give a reasonable answer, in fact he stated he was trying his best. i asked for a refund at this point.

I do not want this to be a reflection on your staff, the staff at the carvery are all really nice and friendly, and do give a good service. The food is really nice and also good quality.

I am actually in the hospitality industry and there are clearly issues with the process in which this carvery is being run. I am sure a few tweaks here and there, and the carvery could be a success for both delivery and customers attending site. while the current is in place, this service will never improve.

What capped it all off, and made me laugh, was that the waitress stated that some sunday's the queue was nearly...

Going to The Fulling Mill is a very "hands off" experience. No one greets you, you seat yourself and then you have the option to order from the till or the app (another disconnecting service we are so often seeing in the modern age purporting to be easier but is just another way of cutting staff numbers and taking away real experience). Any staff interactions here however have always been friendly but unfortunately I won't be returning for a fourth time as everything is quite bland.

The atmosphere also leaves a lot to be desired with families allowing their kids to play whatever programme they want from their iPads on full volume. They also need to address the issue of the carvery orders taking place in the restaurant and the takeaway orders. It seems they cannot manage and have one person dedicated to making these up and another carving meat which means that when the takeaways are being prepared the carver and diners have to wait. This could easily be solved - create an area for the person making up take aways to prep the takeaways and put two members of staff on the in house carvery.

I never expect too much from a mass produced carvery but have tried a couple of times hoping I'll have my mind changed but everything is quite tasteless. The beef is stringy, the mash barely tastes like potato...the veg drying out and not much choice.

It's a shame because as I say the staff are friendly. Once you've tried the roast at pubs like The White Hart (for less money and made with heart), it's hard to find something that really stands up against it.

I've also tried pizzas, a burger and fried chicken from here and it was again very bland. It's a real shame as this restaurant by the looks of things seems like it should be great - I suppose it is a chain and these days people are accepting less for what they pay for.

This review isn't so much because I believe the restaurant will actually implement improvement (I've seen every single review get a bog standard lip service reply), more to warn others against spending their hard earned...