Toby Carvery Whitchurch — Restaurant in Wales

One of the worst dinner experiences of my entire life. If I could give this place a zero out of five stars, I would. I recommend you go basically anywhere else for your meal than this place.

To start, our table was absolutely disgusting when we arrived. Whatever cleaner they are using made it feel like the entire table was coated in a sticky substance. The chairs were filthy and the booth seats were covered in food and sticky.

Our waiter, though polite, did not explain the concept of this restaurant style to us. Some of us have never been to this restaurant, and some of us are also not from Wales. So, this sort of restaurant style was entirely new to us. One of our guests had to try five times to get the drink he had hoped for. The first three occasions, they were out of what he asked for, and then the fourth time the waiter brought the wrong beverage. Only on the fifth try, did he actually get the proper drink.

Another one of our guests ordered an item off the menu. When she received that item, it only had the piece of salmon and absolutely no other items listed on the menu accompanying it. When she mentioned this to our waiter, he told us that all the other items needed to be picked up at the buffet/ carvery area. How does this make sense? All the items in that menu selection were not available at the buffet. The salmon she got was a pathetically small portion and literally cooked so long that half of it was rock hard. The worst part though is the salad she received came on a dirty plate, strictly lettuce and three small halved grape tomatoes, no dressing… and the lettuce still had dirt on it. They served her DIRTY, UNWASHED LETTUCE.

When we went up to the buffet area for the rest of our meals, all of the chefs there were rude, rushed us, and to be frank, one of them really did not seem to understand our requests and questions despite there being no language barrier.

Not one person thoroughly enjoyed their meal, one of our guests left feeling very unwell, and all of us felt as though the value did not match the quality, service, or cleanliness we received.

One of our guests spoke to not only the floor manager, but the over seeing manager who lives on site. He politely explained to her the dangers of serving people unwashed produce, and she seemed understanding. They did not charge us for our meals, thankfully. However, this to me is just so unbelievably unacceptable. Nobody there seem to have a handle on anything, and it was a disgusting experience.

Sadly, two of our guests had already pre-booked another big meal there with a different group of people. They had the same experience a week later. Everything was dirty, the service was awful, so many menu items were missing, and the food was disgusting once again. Staff were not accommodating and quite rude, the food which they did receive was unpalatable and of low quality, and both felt quite unwell after the meal.

This is one of the only poor reviews I have ever left on Google, and I usually try to see the good in things as I know service industries are always hard work having done many of them myself. Regardless, I could not just let this experience go undocumented. I truly hope no one goes here with high expectations, and that the owner, management, and staff really...

This is the second time I've been here. It's close to the M4 with Travelogue adjoined. I thought I'd give it another chance. Last time was mixed.

I arrived at 9pm ordered a pint of Stella Artois. Bar staff not particularly friendly. My second pint of Stella was served in a Carling glass. Even though I brought my Stella glass back. Stella have invested a lot of money designing a glass that allows a steady release of co2 from the centre of the glass plus it just looks nice. I can buy cheaper cans of Stella or Carling for that matter from an Off licence. I remarked to the girl serving me that it was on the wrong glass. She just shrugged her shoulders and walked away! Had she not taken my money I would have refused it. Not a good start. Let's hope breakfast is better than last time. It would appear that they mass produce everything including eggs with long intervals. They are then kept warm for the whole of the breakfast period which is 11am I believe. Last time I was in for 8.15 and the fried eggs were like rubber and the scrambled eggs had gone dry at the edges. Bacon was fatty.

It's now morning. I leave it till 9.30am to go down for breakfast. I need to go to my car in the rear car park. The rear entrance is quite a nice enclosed rear area with a bench. Unfortunately it was full of cigarette smoke due to an employee smoking next to the door. Not a good start.

I go to the empty bar to order breakfast. The 3 staff were too busy talking to each other to notice me but when another customer arrived the bar steward served him first!

Breakfast. Same as last time. Mass produced and stacked in tins drying out in perfect bacterial growth temperatures.

In tin tubs, piles of fatty bacon all stuck together in lumps, curled up at the edges fried eggs piled up, no sausages, scrambled eggs dried out. The bread and jam (in an open bowl) are left uncovered exposed to flies and the butter in a basket at room temperature. Not best practice from a health and safety point of view.

And why in these days of environmental concern do these places have those conveyor belt toasters running none stop for 3+ hours a day?

I located the least filthy table. The rest were covered in used plates and mess. They remained so for the duration of my breakfast and beyond. The tables were not cleaned until 11.17am!

In summary The location is great just off the M4 and handy for Cardiff. Travelodge adjoining. Ample free car parking and no silly spy cameras to catch you out and fine you. (I have been caught out in the past) Cardiff Gate Toby Carvery for example charges.

Sadly in warm weather the front and rear entrance doors are wedged open and smoke from smokers who gather near doorways fill the bar. I was choking at times and had to leave at the earliest time possible. I believe staff could have a legal claim for passive smoking. Why don't they put smoking tables further away from the entrance doors? I'm sure this must happen in the future. With smokers representing a minority of 15%, why should none smokers be forced to passively smoke?

Will I come again?

Yes, I pass through regularly on business and its convenient. I will come to see if things have improved but I will view breakfast before...

Use to be set up a lot better few years ago last time I went there, the serving unit housing the food was in a different place against the back wall so it facing you when you first walked in, directly in front of you to the left a little from main door and the food looked very nice and presented quite well , but serving unit now move lot further to left on side and the way the vegetables and potatoes were presented and the mess around those serving bowls was not good to be honest and what was in the bowls looked like been there for hours but don’t think it had? Also I stood there I as no pea left in bowl I asked could u get peas please and he went away came back 5 mins later and said peas be 3 mins in this time my food I have on plate getting cold by min, I then turned to get gravy and none in the bowl either asked same lad could he get more gravy as four of us waited for it to come the queue is now backing up and not now moving, finally it arrives to the quote of sorry bout that but we busy we just had load of ticket order in…… that was 3rd time I’d heard that excuse in 10 mins mind, if I was in charge of the running of the food service it be in more of a system making sure that the food hot and fresh as it can be and the service area manned correctly, as one guy was carving and serving meats and Yorkshire puddings… and he also was the one in the end went and fetched the gravy bowl, apologising for wait before rushing back to his post…. I would have had at least one person assisting him there and keep the kitchen informed of what needed in plenty of time, and to keep the rotation of veg , potatoes and other items there as fresh and replaced as and when needed keeping the hot plate clean of spillages and clean of stray sprouts etc making this area very inviting and attractive to all customers using it. To me it was a shocking mess and food but up to standard, and definitely not worth the price that had pay for it, very disappointing and badly run no one in control and poor standard in all areas! Not one to complain but it needed organising and someone take charge of situation, if I was giving it a score for all areas, it would get scores of - for quality of service 2 out 5, for food standard and display it get 2 out 5 for and overall value for money and enjoyment 2 out 5! Sorry just honest and truthful, it was much better few years ago hopefully take this constructive criticism and improve there standards and put someone in charge that area and make sure standards hit top marks and don’t slip at...