Toby Carvery Worthing — Restaurant in Worthing

We have been to the Toby Carvery in Goring for years but this visit was extremely disappointing and one of the worst visits we have ever had. Upon arriving, we were greeted by the front of the house hostess, who had such a nonchalant attitude, it was hard to feel welcome. She took forever finding our booking, staring vacantly at her screen and then proceeded to quickly show us to our table and left back in a hurry, mumbling something which made us feel like an inconvenience. We were surprised to be sat in the bar area since we had specifically requested NOT to be sat there so went back to her and she simply stated that the other side of the restaurant was for disabled people only (???). This bears to question as to how disabled people can make it up the stairs in the main restaurant area? When we went to the carvery to get our lunch, we only saw one person in a wheelchair and the rest of the guests were not showing any disabilities anywhere in that part of the restaurant. One of us requested a bit of everything from the all the meats and was given literally crumbs from the turkey and tiny slithers from the other meat joints. I would never dare serving such pitiful portions at home to my family. The carver serving was swearing quite blatantly in front of the guests "we do bloody everything here" and rushing people with their orders, again, not the welcome you would expect when you pay to go out for lunch. The mash had run out so I requested a new pot and had to stand there for 5 minutes before some new mash was brought out, while the rest of the vegetables on my plate were going cold. Paying £15 for slithers and crumbs of meat and £12.99 for a meat free carvery (having simply veg on the plate) is a very steep price especially when the environment is not welcoming. If there has been a recent change in management, you may want to rethink your new staff and bring the old staff back as the previous front of the house manager was always welcoming and could never do enough to help. A very disappointing experience, not conducive to renewing a visit anytime soon.

Just as an update, further to the manager's response below, I called the given number within 30 minutes of that comment being posted. The phone just rang and rang until it went onto voicemail. I left my name, number and reason for the call. That was over a week ago and I am still waiting for someone to call me back! I guess that is just a confirmation of the (non) service...

Went for breakfast. Apparently unlimited. When we paid, I wasn't reminded of what time breakfast service closes. Perhaps I should have asked.

So got some oily fried eggs, dry bacon and very liquid baked beans, as well as a nice potato cheese bake. There were also hash browns and black pudding as well as a large Yorkshire pudding or puddings. Looks like the Yorkshire's were baked together, but then had to be surgically separated with a set of tiny teaspoons. Unless they exploded in the oven to give this really other-worldly appearance.

We turned some bread into toast in that slow travellator machine, but I'm always intrigued why there is a setting for burning the toast. And why, on this day, despite the protective cover, that the burn setting was chosen. I have yet to meet someone that intentionally toasts a slice of bread until it is black, and I'm 60 years old! And yet here we were - dark black toast produced. In the absence of staff, we simply sat down with our offerings, but had there been some staff bobbing between tables, we would have spoken up. Meanwhile , on the other side of the display, we were fortunate to get a coffee from the full pot.

Many of the tables were full of discarded breakfast remains from previous diners, so staff were somewhat slow to collect these.

So finally, after some eating and chatting, I noticed it was 11.10 and decided on another coffee with an accompanying slice of toast with marmalade; but to my surprise, the coffee pot and toast machines had gone.

Meanwhile, turned around to see the first carvery roasts of the day, that made it to the serving area. Where I guess they sit under the lights to dry out until lunch starts at 12.

I rarely if ever, visit a Toby carvery for breakfast because we don't have one near where I live, and only did so today because Octopus Energy gave me a voucher. So it's a pity that serving times weren't mentioned at the till point, or that staff didn't sweep round with a verbal reminder, while collecting dishes from the nearby tables. Although I got one free breakfast for my party, via the exorbitant cost of my Octopus gas and electricity supply, I did expect to be able to get one more coffee under the Toby Unlimited Coffee scheme, but that was an unfulfilled dream.

Next month, I will try breakfast again; otherwise the carvery in...

It dose feel a little bit like you’re in an old people’s home for lunch..... However the food is great.

Tables are packed in close, so don’t expect time for a private convocation.

This was the second time in a couple of months we’ve been to this Toby restaurant. It’s never been the best place to have a meal, but it is what you’d expect from this company.

The last time we went we assumed it was just a bad day, but unfortunately it was the same issues this time…..

The restaurant is extremely hot, all the doors and windows are open, so I can only assume they have ongoing issues with air conditioning? When you go up to the carvery you have to wait ages, approximately 5 minutes for a member of staff to leave the kitchen and serve. Then because the queue has built up, they have to stop serving to get more ingredients to serve. The main reason to go to a Toby is the Yorkshire puddings, last time they were too chewy to cut and eat, this time they were a little better on the texture, but tasted so flowery it was unpleasant to eat. Self-service drink machines were not working last time, so for a refill you had to go to the bar. This time that wasn’t even an option, we were just given two bottles (small bottles) of Coke.

On the plus side, the service was excellent, you never expect much from the service in a Toby, but our server Sophie was excellent. Also, some of the side dishes had been changed, a very pleasant addition was roasted parsnips, which were cooked perfectly.

At the end of the day, we will keep visiting Toby restaurants, it’s the best and cheapest way to satisfy your roast dinner cravings, but I do hope things will improve.

Original review from 5 years ago:

Also the staff feel like they are forced into production line mode. This doesn’t allow them to give the best customer service. This appears to be the fault of the company, not the staff.

Need a roast dinner ASAP, this...