The Upper Boat Inn — Restaurant in Wales

Recently visited with a friend for a carvery, I really don’t know where to begin! I booked online, upon entry, no host to greet us and direct us to our table. Staff saw us standing but did not approach. We just took a two seater table because that is what I’d booked. I have to say, the lady at the bar was very friendly and welcoming taking our drink and food orders efficiently. It doesn’t get any better from here unfortunately. Gammon looked lovely, we were given our meat and the staff member walked back into the kitchen. The vegetables on display looked very dry, there was no stuffing or carrots available to us. There were enough roasts for 2 people had they not been swimming in oil. The member of staff reappeared and I asked if we could have fresh roasts and also could he remove the lid from what I suspected were more carrots behind. In fairness within a minute, more potatoes were brought out in a steel bowl and tipped on top of the others. These obviously hadn’t been drained because another load of oil went in as well! Not very appetising I assure you, I ended up not having any. My friend decided to try 1 (proved too hard to cut). They forgot to take the lid off the carrots before disappearing again. I called out but nobody heard me. I saw a lady by the host station and asked if she could arrange this. All the time, food is getting cold. The worst part for us was when we went to add the gravy, both gravy pots were full of large gelatinous stomach churning lumps! I just could not have added this to my food. I spoke again to the lady that had helped me and asked if it could be strained. She explained that they couldn’t do that, although I don’t know why not. She took the one pot away and 2 minutes later brought another. In a nutshell, the food I had put onto my plate was acceptable but barely warm. Neither of us were able to finished our meals and skipped to dessert. Nobody came to removed our plates, so I had to put them onto the empty table next to us. I have to say, the ice cream sundaes were very nice, however, the toffee popcorn was missed off and brought out to me as I was halfway though. No disaster, but lack of attention. All of this can be avoided with more care and attention being paid to monitoring the quality of the food, and restocking where necessary to avoid customers having cold food. This is a fair and accurate review of our experience at this venue. I am not seeking a refund or apology, my hope is that Management will take this constructive criticism on...

Initially when I made the booking, I had a phone call to confirm everything, which was fine. I had a question, but before I could ask the caller hung up on me. Not a major issue.

We arrived at 4:30pm the time of our booking. It was a birthday get together with friends who had come down for a rugby game, some traveling from more than 3 hours away. The initial issue was parking. We had 2 wheelchair users in the party who couldn't park near the venue and had to park on the nearby street. The second issue was access. While we were warned there were a few steps inside, the door (which was labelled as disabled access) was barely wide enough for a wheelchair.

A few of us in the party had waited over an hour for food, and when it was brought to the table it was warm (not hot). As a result of the wait and then the warm food, a refund was requested and issued. Those affected then had to travel back to Chester without a main meal, some of whom were children.

As this was a birthday get together, this was a disappointment. I have never had a main meal here before but have driven past many times and thought it would be worth a try as it was convenient compared to where the game took place.

There was no communication about the wait for food, and we had to ask about it at the bar several times before it was brought to the table.

The plates weren't collected from the table either, so we ended up moving them to another empty table where they ended up piling up waiting to be collected. It was clear they were understaffed.

I'm sorry to say that following this experience, it's unlikely...

We went to the Stonehouse last night. We booked ahead to ensure we had a table. We went there because they did pizzas. When we placed our order, we were told there was an hour wait for food although you could have the carvery quicker. My wife and I then went for the carvery instead. Both of us were surprised by the two thinly sliced meat slices we were given. Never been to a carvery where they were so tight with the meat. The vegetables and potatoes were nice although the gravy was lumpy. Meanwhile my daughter and her husband waited nearly two hours for their pizza. When they did arrive, they were the worst looking pizza we have ever seen. They also used cheddar cheese instead of the correct cheese. The tomato base was very thinly spread on the pizza's and were no where near the edge of the pizza's. Earlier on, we bought crisps for the children while we waited for our food. The crisps tasted stale so we checked the date which was past it sell by date. We took them back to the bar and pointed this out. The girl behind the bar then checked all the bags of crisps and ALL of them were out of date! No manager there that night so the staff were struggling. The two stars I have given is for the poor staff who were doing there best. We would not recommend this place and we certainly won't be returning. There is much to do to get this place running correctly and to check the sell by date on the food...