Toby Carvery Arrowe — Restaurant in Wirral

UPDATE October 2022: We recently returned to Toby Calvery Arrow Park and what a difference, now under new management and it was such a big improvement on last time I decided I must change my review, your staff are a credit to you and made our visit a positive experience, the food had improved and we where served a fair portion of meat, no complaints this time and we will be returning.

We visited Toby Calvery Arrow Park for the first time last Sunday (2019), where do I begin, on arrival staff mention that we only have the table for 90 minuets and then I presume we will be asked to leave, after queing for food, we were rushed through (no manners displayed) and I was shocked to only recieve one and a half slices of turkey, I must mention that I was really impressed with the servers carving skills, I did not know meat could be sliced so thin, the gentleman next to me received the same short change as I did and he asked if he could have a very small crispy overdone piece of beef end, that I would say nobody else would want, the sever (your member of staff) told him he could have it but the server would need to remove some meat from his plate first, I was absolutely shocked at the lack of customer care, then we ordered some deserts from the menu ( see attached photo) talk about the misdiscription of goods act, as you can see we recieved a childs dish in place of what was advertised, a third of the size of the one on the Toby menu, when you are spending £80 on carveries you expext to recieve what is advertised, to be fair the standard of food is very good and the waitress at our table was very good indeed and for that I would have given 4 Stars, in line with other Toby Calverys. I have visited many Toby Calvery's over the years and never experienced this before, so I can take an educated guess that the appalling treatment we recieved and witnessed was down to the management of this Toby Calvery, if you are happy with just passing trade then carry on treating customers this way, if you want customers to return then you need to do a little better than this.

UPDATE On Managers Reply: " Meat portions are done by weight" Clearly NOT, the meat was not weighed and therefore it is NOT done by weight, and please tell me where else I can go to a carvery and be served with less than 2 slices of meat? Secondly, if you took the time to look at my photographic evidence, then you and any clear thinking person would have to agree that the desert portion is NOT the same, NOT even close, so please do not try to insult our inteligence with your feeble explanation for poor customer service and trading standards breaches.

What sort of Manager fails to apologize to a clearly dissatisfied customer, makes fanciful excuses, cannot take and act upon constructive criticism and comments before viewing the clear evidence attached???

I cannot wait to see what Toby themselves say about all this, including your 90 minuet table rule.

P.S I dropped a star in my review rating because of your insulting reply.

We pre booked out table in advance. After telling me that the desert dishes you now use are the same portions as the one in the picture and you do not have the dishes in the picture, you have now changed tac to " its a different dessert", there is only one illistration on that section of desserts and they are all the same price just different...

We arrived at 16.00pm as per the time booked on the reservation. We sat down at a table before going up to get our Carvery at 17.15pm. We were asked to grab a drink at the bar then wait in the pub side of the restaurant whilst x2 tables were paying their bill and the staff will prep the table for us to sit down. We were left to find the manager who'd asked us to get a drink as we had waited a considerable amount of time. We were then directed to another table that did not sufficiently fit 5 people and was told he would grab another table and bring it over to accommodate us. Again, we were waiting a period of time until we asked which his reply was well there is a table over there if this isn't good enough, which only happened to be a table that was occupied and only seemed vacant as those people had gone up to get their carvery. We were also put off sitting at this table despite being occupied but we noticed the table directly behind had a group of rowdy gentlemen that were having drinks only but were noticeably and obviously taking turns going to the bathroom for recreational uses (in a pub with children nearby). We raised this with the same manager we had already been let down by who replied with he will have the group removed to only find the gentlemen continuing to be served at the bar throughout our time here. The only saving grace was that one of our party seen someone she knew who was just finishing up their meal and we asked the server if we could have that table once they had finished which the server did clean the table and set it for us. The servers' name was Jenna who we were extremely thankful for making such a bad experience bareable. We understand it was Sunday late afternoon, it was busy but what we couldn't understand was the lack of professional communication from the manager and the lack of duty of care to the surrounding customers of the group of men doing what they were doing. We feel collectively that we were patient with the managers requests but it did get to a point that waiting over an hour for a table to sit down comfortably after the booked reservation time along with the lack of resolution on his part was unnecessary. This also didn't help the fact it was a meal to celebrate my...

Arrived at 1810, booked online. Greeted by management team that looked unhappy and not exactly professionally dressed, ( jeans & T shirt) they looked disheveled compared to rest of staff. Was shown to table and advised server would take order shortly. Female server was polite and friendly. There ended my joy with this visit.

Atmosphere, I had last been in this venue 5 years ago thought it was shabby then. This is not a jewel in Mitchell’s & Butlers crown in, my first impression was that of disbelief as it hadn’t got any better in 5 years. The interior is mostly devoid of all wall art & decor you’d find in other Toby properties. The decor is tired, shabby, wall art visibly missing or removed , carpets and floors visibly dirty, bar woodwork , brass looks in need or a renovation. Ceiling and painted woodwork over carvery food service area, in need of a deep clean. Food spills on carpet not cleared up, service stations generally cluttered and messy.

The wait to get served at carvery was 50 mins. I should have just abandoned play at this point. It was obvious that take out orders were being prioritised over actual customers. When we finally got served , beef had run out, famous big Yorkshire puddings Toby was famous for looked like chef had no idea how to make them as they were all in various states of disaster. Meat was pretty bland and veg was either undercooked or overcooked and hot lights weren’t helping. Roasties were soggie, mash and what I can only assume was an attempt at dauphinoise looked in various states of over cooked. I had a refillable drink, and I avoided the ice machine as it appeared to have acquired an ice mountain and look filthy. I ate half my meal and was totally underwhelmed by taste and quality. We paid our bill and left. We will never be back to this venue, there are far better places to eat on the Wirral, but there are also far better Toby carvery’s, which look nicer inside and have a nicer ambiance. This venue needs a total rethink and money...