Green Lane Chippy — Restaurant in Wigan

What happened? The customer service in this place has gone downhill massively! I used to come here almost every week. The past few times however, have just been one bad experience after another. Rude staff, always seem to have a chip on their shoulder, they make you feel like you're an annoyance just by simply ordering food. No manners, no thank you, no goodbye, it's like they can't wait to get rid of you!

I'm not usually one to leave bad reviews, but I've had enough now, I live locally and was probably one of the most regular customers, but now I feel I should just go somewhere else in future when I fancy a 'chippy'.

A few months back I came to get my usual grab and go chips for my dinner. My partner was home so I thought I'd bring her back a surprise treat. She's vegan, so I asked if they sold vegan pies. A yes or no answer would've been fine. But no. I was told by one of the men who works there something along the lines of "yeah, but they take about ten minutes", to which I said I'd be happy to wait, but their response was "you wanna wait ten minutes?", said in an irritated tone. I was then told by another man at the till "vegan pies cost £££ by the way." I can't remember the price I was told, but he was clearly trying to talk me out of buying a vegan pie for my partner. In the end I just ended up asking for another portion of chips, told the man at the till I'll just not have the pie if it's an issue.

I don't understand how a paying customer could be treated with so much disrespect? I get the whole veganism thing is alien to most people, but if vegan food is something that is avaliable, then why scoff and make paying customers feel stupid for ordering it? Especially when the customer is happy to wait patiently if it is cooked to order?

I work in the food and hospitality industry myself, and I can honestly say that my restaurant would never treat customers this way! There's no excuse! The two men who tried to talk me out of ordering the pie were obviously in a managerial role. I suppose they've never heard of the term 'lead by example', the poor staff have terrible role models to look up to, no wonder the majority of them are miserable most of the time, I feel sorry for them, knowing the managers running the place have no respect for their customers; I can't imagine they treat their staff very well either.

If you can be bothered to read this Green Lane Chippy, take note, because you've lost a whole family of loyal, regular customers, due to your inexcusable actions. I've given your restaurant and it's staff far too many chances to redeem yourselfs! I don't know the names of the two men that I mentioned, but I'm sure this review is detailed enough for them to remember me!

And yes, the group of four ladies and two babies that you served the other day were my family, one of the babies was my daughter. Tried to have one of the prams moved out of the way? Disgusting! Coming home to find my partner upset because of your horrible treatment was the final straw for me. Now all of your potential customers can see this review and will hopefully think twice about paying a visit. 'Award...

I phoned the chippy beforehand to check for vegan options. They did several, so we decided to go and eat in at their restaurant next door. We arrived at a really busy time for traffic on the road and couldn't find parking. As I was getting served, I explained I was the one who phoned about vegan options, and unfortunately, we couldn't find a parking spot. One of the guys behind the counter told us where we could park, but if there wasn't any, he told us to come and park outside the shop and he would move his car for us.

I thought that was exceptional service.

We found a parking spot and ate at the restaurant. You need to ask for the vegan menu, and you're safe with gluten-free options such as gravy, curry sauce, chips, and mushy peas. They also had 2 different vegan pie options and several items on the dessert list.

We chatted the whole time to one of the ladies who's worked there for over 15 years. We also chatted to the owner, and he was extremely enthusiastic about offering lots more vegan options and if there was anything we wanted, to phone 2-3 days beforehand, and they would do their best to order it in and cook it for us. Never has any restaurant/cafe offered this service before. The amount of interest they showed in veganism was amazing and went off several times to check ingredients for items they had in. They also said they were gonna get vegan custard in again and more vegan lemon cake. We left the restaurant with full tums and the knowledge we can go back and not ask a million and one questions about if something is cooked separately or if it is 100% vegan. At last, we've found our chippy...

We booked to go to Green lane chippy today. We booked a table for 4 people and room for two prams to which the restaurant said was fine. When I arrived at the restaurant with my pram, I was made to feel like a complete nuisance. I was asked if I could move my pram elsewhere, I said I could temporarily but would need it back as my baby needs to sleep (he’s 7 months old and can’t stay in a high chair for long stretches of time), I was huffed and puffed at, told my pram was in the way and given a sour attitude and dirty looks across the room.

I didn’t say anything at the time as I was with my grandma and didn’t want to cause a scene, but decided to ring later in the day to file a complaint, genuine feedback as I felt one member of staff was rude and thought the business should know. Turns out the rude member of staff was the owner, who I had the displeasure of speaking to on the phone. When I tried to explain I didn’t appreciate the way I had been treated, I basically was told I was wrong, and that he wasn’t rude to me, then continued to say “I’m not rude love, you’re rude”, “I’m sorry if you think I was rude, but I wasn’t”.

Still in complete shock that that’s how a business owner treats paying customers. Definitely won’t be going back. Food is nothing special, they’re still riding off the back of awards they won in...