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Castle Tavern Steak House!
- Thread starter Andreas Rex
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CornishJon
Well-Known Forumite
I'm giving the Castletavern a skill point for the barbecued rack of ribs and steak devourerd the other day, also you did a brilliant job smartening the place up, was proper job!
Castletavern
Bar & Steakhouse
Hi All,
Hope you are well.
I have read some of your posts on the forum and I am glad that the business is getting some reasonable reviews.
I will pass on all the comments to my staff.
Once again thanks for your support and look forward to seeing you soon
Hope you are well.
I have read some of your posts on the forum and I am glad that the business is getting some reasonable reviews.
I will pass on all the comments to my staff.
Once again thanks for your support and look forward to seeing you soon
Had a meal in there tonight. Booked for 7.30 arrived at 7.15, luckily because we discovered that they don't accept plastic so had to take a quick trip to Sainsburys hole in the wall. Arrived back on time to be seated at 7.30. The staff were very friendly, had a bottle of wine.Eventually at 8.30 we were served. We had chicken stuffed with haggis served in a whisky sauce. Delicious, not too whisky tasting sauce, served with lovely new potatoes. Not sure if it was worth an hour wait but nevertheless, it was a nice meal. They were very busy. Although other customers were also getting fed up of waiting, they were satisfied after a delicious meal. Very friendly staff.
Castletavern
Bar & Steakhouse
Hi All, (Esp. labcm)
Glad you enjoyed your meal.
May I take this opportunity to apologise for the slight delay on the night. As you can appreciate all our dishes are freshly cooked and do take a little longer than normal, furthermore two parties arrived earlier than we expected them to and wanted their tables upon arrival, and naturally I did not want to upset them. This then created some problems.
I suppose I must learn to discipline myself to be a little firmer but polite.
Once again, my apologies for the delay.
Look forward to seeing you soon.
Ashley
Glad you enjoyed your meal.
May I take this opportunity to apologise for the slight delay on the night. As you can appreciate all our dishes are freshly cooked and do take a little longer than normal, furthermore two parties arrived earlier than we expected them to and wanted their tables upon arrival, and naturally I did not want to upset them. This then created some problems.
I suppose I must learn to discipline myself to be a little firmer but polite.
Once again, my apologies for the delay.
Look forward to seeing you soon.
Ashley
I hate to be the one to put a downer on things, but as there has been quite a bit of positive feedback on these here pages, I hope the comments I am about to leave will be seen as just as valid and welcome. I am not attempting to be unnecessarily disparaging about anyone, but as comments have been invited, I feel my experience is worthy of note. I won't name anyone or refer directly to anyone's position within the business.
In order to give as fair an account as possible, the following is going to be very long-winded, but please bear with me. If you can't be bothered to read it all, skip to the bit about things going pear-shaped, and then read back if you want the whole story.
Having seen the improving reviews, and some of the items on the menu, I thought I would book a table for my 30th birthday meal for myself, the folks and my girlfriend (also a forumite, as many of you know).
It is worth noting that when we entered the restaurant there were probably no more than four occupied tables. I had admittedly forgotten to inform them that somebody else had dropped out that morning so we'd only need four seats instead of five, but this didn't seem to matter as it was pretty dead, and it doesn't even come close to justifying what was to come.
The following are points about the meal we had which were, if not all irritating, at least a bit below par for a restaurant aspiring to success. These in themselves aren't enough to make me complain to any extent, and are similar to many of the comments already posted here:
- When we were shown to our table, saying we'd rather order drinks there than wait at the bar, we were left a good few minutes before being asked what drinks we'd like (not really annoying, and probably quite common, but could have been better)
- When the most senior member of staff on duty (as we found out later - I'll call him "our waiter") came to ask if we'd like a drink, he didn't bring a wine list, so we asked for one (again, not ideal, but totally forgivable and on a better day not even worth a mention), which he brought over straight away
- Five-ten minutes later a lady who we later found out holds one of the managerial positions (I'll refer to her as "our waitress") at the Tavern came to take our order - no mention of what drinks we'd like, so when we'd ordered our food my dad asked for 2 bottles of wine (an oversight that, although showing a possible lack of organisation and communication, was, once more, not the most serious problem in the world)
- When we placed the food order we noticed that there were a few choices of potato, yet the waitress did not ask us for our preferences. As she was about to leave the table my mum asked if we needed to choose what potatoes we wanted, to which she received a very slightly curt "Yeah, you can do". She then asked for mashed potato (it's starting to become apparent that this restaurant may not be quite as on the ball as many - you're normally asked what kind of potatoes you want when you order, as most people who've eaten out are aware)
- Our waitress soon informed us, pretty quickly to be fair, that there were no chicken breasts left, so me and my dad would not be able to have the Chicken Supreme we'd ordered. A little bit annoying as I'd actually seen the dish on the menu in advance and thought it sounded fantastic, but this happens in restaurants, so fair enough. I had seen a steak on the menu which I quite fancied, so ordered this. Surprisingly for steak, especially in a steak house, I was not asked how I would like this cooked. Also, our waitress had not brought a menu for us to look at to choose an alternative dish, so my dad had to ask for one. When he chose a steak, again he was not prompted to choose a preference for how this was to be cooked, so he quickly asked to have it cooked medium. As our waitress was walking off I still hadn't had much chance to choose how I wanted mine, so I called to her that I'd like it medium rare (not great waitressing, really. Why did she not bring a menu? And to not even ask how you'd like your steak cooked is surely a bit off for a self-professed steak house)
- the red wine arrived in perfectly reasonable time. However, our waiter did not ask if any of us would like to taste it (to be honest, I don't mind this as I'm no buff and would normally just request that he pour anyway), and then proceeded to fill each of our large (half a bottle's worth) glasses nearly to the brim and took the two now-empty bottles away (we're starting to be more than a little surprised here - no waiter has ever served me bottles of wine like this. Most laypersons, let alone half-decent restaurateurs, know that you don't fill red wine glasses to the top). It was also very cold for red wine (this does happen, and was still nothing to make us consider complaining, but a cumulative concern that not all was as it should be was starting to build)
- The food finally arrived about three quarters of an hour after we ordered and an hour after we entered the restaurant, or rather my mum's vegetables did. The rest of the food came out at least four or five minutes later (why was each dish not brought out straight away? We're starting to get a little bit miffed by this point, especially as we've had to wait quite a long time in a near-empty restaurant)
- When we look at what we've got, we see that my mum's got boiled potatoes, and not the mashed she's asked for (Our waiter did ask if everything was OK, and maybe we should have complained at this point, but we were really hungry, the food looked quite nice except my girlfriend's unappetising burger, and we really didn't want to have to wait another 45 minutes for the staff to cook everything that had been asked for)
- My steak was well done at one end and medium at best at the other. My dad's was redder than mine all the way through, which was odd considering he'd asked for his more well done than mine (we're less than impressed by this point, but being the unwilling-to-complain Brits that we are, and acknowledging that many restaurants cook their steaks wrong, we were willing to let this go, eat our food, pay up and get out). In fairness the black pudding and cheese on my steak were pretty good. My mum said her lamb shank was OK, but nothing special and my girlfriend commented that her burger was quite cold
- Myself and my dad both commented that it was odd that we weren't given steak knives
This is where things start to go really pear-shaped
- When I started eating my chips I noticed that the first was completely uncooked in the centre, and the same went for the next couple. Out of the five or so which I actually ate, probably only one chip was cooked (this was quite a thin one). The thicker ones were all uncooked. I asked my dad and girlfriend how theirs were - my dad said some of his weren't cooked properly, and a few moments later my girlfriend starting eating hers and said they were raw in the middle.
- I decided not to eat any more chips, and at this point had eaten a good deal of my steak. My girlfriend had eaten her burger and was debating whether to eat the uncooked chips. We were starting to get a bit annoyed and my mum said that maybe she should say something. A couple of minutes later our waiter came and asked if everything was OK, so my mum said that actually no, we weren't very happy. We mentioned a couple of things that were wrong, but the main one, and the tip of the iceberg as far as we were concerned, was the chips. I told our waiter they were uncooked and this was his immediate reply (check this out for customer service):
"They're the same chips as everyone else has had, and nobody else has complained"
Now, I've been eating chips for 30 years, and I've also made potato dishes myself that haven't cooked properly - I know the difference between a cooked chip and raw potato. As I pointed out at the time, what everyone else in the restaurant had eaten and what they though of it is academic. Did he expect me to suddenly change my mind and say, "Actually, you're right, I'm sorry for pointing out something wrong when nobody else has - please ignore me as I'm an idiot who hasn't eaten out before"?
Now, if his response had been different, no doubt a happy conclusion for all parties would have been reached. For example, if he'd said straight off, "I'm very sorry you're not happy, can I offer you [insert compensatory item here]?" I might not be writing this now. (He did later offer a free dessert or coffee, but by that point we were far beyond wanting any more of their food.)
- We basically then went on to discuss other problems, such as my steak, the portion of which I hadn't eaten our waiter took into the kitchen to inspect. He then returned to tell me that the steak was indeed medium rare, as he and other staff had cut into it and blood came out of it. Now, the end of steak that I hadn't eaten was, as I've said, medium at best - it was very slightly pink. The fact that my dad's "medium" steak had been rarer than mine didn't exactly make me think that the staff examining my steak were necessarily the best qualified to be judging how well cooked mine was either. And if there was blood coming out of my steak, I'm Kelly Brook.
Again, our waiter was more concerned with arguing and making excuses than ensuring we went away happy customers.
We continued to argue, particularly about the chips, and he continued with such statements as:
"We cook our vegetables properly; if you want your food all mushy you're in the wrong place"
As I've said above, our waiter did eventually, begrudgingly, offer a free dessert or coffee, but we'd been arguing for a little while by this point, and certainly didn't want to stay for any more of the Tavern's fare. We'd started to become more than a little appalled at the handling of a genuine complaint.
My dad pointed out to our waiter at one point that despite the "steak house" sign outside, no steak knives were provided for people eating steak. In return he said, "You don't need steak knives to cut steak." This speaks for itself really. All my dad could say was, "Why do they make them then?" Unsurprisingly, a satisfying answer for this was not forthcoming.
When I commented on the length of time taken to supply the food I got the explanation that "This isn't a fast food restaurant; we cook everything from scratch." If that's a satisfactory explanation for the four dishes we had taking so long in such a quiet restaurant I fear for any of the customers who go in when it's busy.
I can't remember exactly whether it was before or after we'd told them we were only prepared to pay for our wine and half our food (this was based as much on the despicable customer service as on the fact that on the whole we'd probably eaten just over half our food*) that our waitress became involved, and things became quite unpleasant. We had already pointed out that we weren't happy with our waiter's attitude and that we didn't expect any more arguing or excuses, and that his stance did not constitute customer service. When my mum said the same to the waitress, who had adopted a very hostile attitude, her reply was:
"I'm sorry, but if you give me attitude, I'm going to give it back!"
Does anyone think this sounds like an acceptable way to address customers? If we had been abusive it might have been understandable, if not acceptable, and although we were admittedly pretty pissed off by this point, we were far from abusive.
At one point she actually started mimicking my dad, basically mocking the way he was trying to get his point across.
It's also worth bearing in mind that we had asked who the most senior member of staff was and it turned out to be our waiter, rather than our waitress, yet our waiter stood in the background while our waitress provided us with the least acceptable treatment any of us have received in any restaurant/bar/pub/shop/bank whatever other public place of business you care to mention. In most customer service arenas, I would imagine her conduct would have been worthy of disciplinary action, yet he stood back and actually let her do it. Many years ago I used to work in McDonalds, and this attitude would not have been acceptable there, so why is it in a restaurant that supposedly takes so much pride in its freshly made food.
Not only this, but the level of professionalism dipped further when she went in the kitchen and started to relay the course of our argument to her colleagues at the top of her voice.
Some friends of mine actually phoned me from the other end of the bar at this point, as they had come in and heard the commotion and wanted to know what was going on. It actually made us laugh as they'd just ordered and wanted to know if all was as bad as it seemed.
The staff did eventually see sense and give us a reduced bill, which we paid, and then we swiftly left. On the way out our waitress actually said to me, "We'd appreciate it if you didn't come back. Please leave now." As if we'd be going back after that shambles! (What had happened to the more senior member of staff by this point is anybody's guess.) So I replied, "Don't worry, we won't be, and we'll be telling everybody else not too as well."
Now, the last statement wasn't quite accurate, as it's not really my place to tell all you good folk what to do, but I've just told you what happened to us, as I feel the Tavern's prospective customers should know what to expect should they have a complaint to make.
I was also being ordered to leave as I greeted my friends who were trying to wish me happy birthday on the way out, and as we walked past the kitchen the staff were apparently trying to humiliate us by cheering and one of them shouted something like "She shoots, she scores" about our waitress's, in their eyes obviously masterful, handling of our complaint.
No doubt many of you have had wonderful meals in there. Some of the people in there at the same time as us seemed to enjoy it, as, I was later told, did my friends who had ordered just before we left, but that's not the point. In our case the quality of the food wasn't very good, regardless of what everyone else's experience has been, and the quality of the response to our pointing this out was much worse. Unfortunately, it seems to be the case that anyone who complains is deemed to be wrong (as we were actually told we were at one point, which was nice).
The only other place that has come close to treating us like this (interestingly enough, they used the "Well you're the only ones complaining [so by default you must be wrong]" excuse, too) was a restaurant we visited on Xmas Day when I was 7 or 8 years old, and they closed down years ago. Wonder why.
* I'd eaten most, but not all, of my steak, about five of my chips, and all but whatever else was left when we made the complaint; my dad left a bit of steak, about half his chips and whatever else he refused to eat when our waiter started arguing with us; my girlfriend ate her small burger and hardly any of her chips at all; my mum ate most if not all of her food. When we said we'd only pay for half, our waiter said "But you ate your meals!"
In order to give as fair an account as possible, the following is going to be very long-winded, but please bear with me. If you can't be bothered to read it all, skip to the bit about things going pear-shaped, and then read back if you want the whole story.
Having seen the improving reviews, and some of the items on the menu, I thought I would book a table for my 30th birthday meal for myself, the folks and my girlfriend (also a forumite, as many of you know).
It is worth noting that when we entered the restaurant there were probably no more than four occupied tables. I had admittedly forgotten to inform them that somebody else had dropped out that morning so we'd only need four seats instead of five, but this didn't seem to matter as it was pretty dead, and it doesn't even come close to justifying what was to come.
The following are points about the meal we had which were, if not all irritating, at least a bit below par for a restaurant aspiring to success. These in themselves aren't enough to make me complain to any extent, and are similar to many of the comments already posted here:
- When we were shown to our table, saying we'd rather order drinks there than wait at the bar, we were left a good few minutes before being asked what drinks we'd like (not really annoying, and probably quite common, but could have been better)
- When the most senior member of staff on duty (as we found out later - I'll call him "our waiter") came to ask if we'd like a drink, he didn't bring a wine list, so we asked for one (again, not ideal, but totally forgivable and on a better day not even worth a mention), which he brought over straight away
- Five-ten minutes later a lady who we later found out holds one of the managerial positions (I'll refer to her as "our waitress") at the Tavern came to take our order - no mention of what drinks we'd like, so when we'd ordered our food my dad asked for 2 bottles of wine (an oversight that, although showing a possible lack of organisation and communication, was, once more, not the most serious problem in the world)
- When we placed the food order we noticed that there were a few choices of potato, yet the waitress did not ask us for our preferences. As she was about to leave the table my mum asked if we needed to choose what potatoes we wanted, to which she received a very slightly curt "Yeah, you can do". She then asked for mashed potato (it's starting to become apparent that this restaurant may not be quite as on the ball as many - you're normally asked what kind of potatoes you want when you order, as most people who've eaten out are aware)
- Our waitress soon informed us, pretty quickly to be fair, that there were no chicken breasts left, so me and my dad would not be able to have the Chicken Supreme we'd ordered. A little bit annoying as I'd actually seen the dish on the menu in advance and thought it sounded fantastic, but this happens in restaurants, so fair enough. I had seen a steak on the menu which I quite fancied, so ordered this. Surprisingly for steak, especially in a steak house, I was not asked how I would like this cooked. Also, our waitress had not brought a menu for us to look at to choose an alternative dish, so my dad had to ask for one. When he chose a steak, again he was not prompted to choose a preference for how this was to be cooked, so he quickly asked to have it cooked medium. As our waitress was walking off I still hadn't had much chance to choose how I wanted mine, so I called to her that I'd like it medium rare (not great waitressing, really. Why did she not bring a menu? And to not even ask how you'd like your steak cooked is surely a bit off for a self-professed steak house)
- the red wine arrived in perfectly reasonable time. However, our waiter did not ask if any of us would like to taste it (to be honest, I don't mind this as I'm no buff and would normally just request that he pour anyway), and then proceeded to fill each of our large (half a bottle's worth) glasses nearly to the brim and took the two now-empty bottles away (we're starting to be more than a little surprised here - no waiter has ever served me bottles of wine like this. Most laypersons, let alone half-decent restaurateurs, know that you don't fill red wine glasses to the top). It was also very cold for red wine (this does happen, and was still nothing to make us consider complaining, but a cumulative concern that not all was as it should be was starting to build)
- The food finally arrived about three quarters of an hour after we ordered and an hour after we entered the restaurant, or rather my mum's vegetables did. The rest of the food came out at least four or five minutes later (why was each dish not brought out straight away? We're starting to get a little bit miffed by this point, especially as we've had to wait quite a long time in a near-empty restaurant)
- When we look at what we've got, we see that my mum's got boiled potatoes, and not the mashed she's asked for (Our waiter did ask if everything was OK, and maybe we should have complained at this point, but we were really hungry, the food looked quite nice except my girlfriend's unappetising burger, and we really didn't want to have to wait another 45 minutes for the staff to cook everything that had been asked for)
- My steak was well done at one end and medium at best at the other. My dad's was redder than mine all the way through, which was odd considering he'd asked for his more well done than mine (we're less than impressed by this point, but being the unwilling-to-complain Brits that we are, and acknowledging that many restaurants cook their steaks wrong, we were willing to let this go, eat our food, pay up and get out). In fairness the black pudding and cheese on my steak were pretty good. My mum said her lamb shank was OK, but nothing special and my girlfriend commented that her burger was quite cold
- Myself and my dad both commented that it was odd that we weren't given steak knives
This is where things start to go really pear-shaped
- When I started eating my chips I noticed that the first was completely uncooked in the centre, and the same went for the next couple. Out of the five or so which I actually ate, probably only one chip was cooked (this was quite a thin one). The thicker ones were all uncooked. I asked my dad and girlfriend how theirs were - my dad said some of his weren't cooked properly, and a few moments later my girlfriend starting eating hers and said they were raw in the middle.
- I decided not to eat any more chips, and at this point had eaten a good deal of my steak. My girlfriend had eaten her burger and was debating whether to eat the uncooked chips. We were starting to get a bit annoyed and my mum said that maybe she should say something. A couple of minutes later our waiter came and asked if everything was OK, so my mum said that actually no, we weren't very happy. We mentioned a couple of things that were wrong, but the main one, and the tip of the iceberg as far as we were concerned, was the chips. I told our waiter they were uncooked and this was his immediate reply (check this out for customer service):
"They're the same chips as everyone else has had, and nobody else has complained"
Now, I've been eating chips for 30 years, and I've also made potato dishes myself that haven't cooked properly - I know the difference between a cooked chip and raw potato. As I pointed out at the time, what everyone else in the restaurant had eaten and what they though of it is academic. Did he expect me to suddenly change my mind and say, "Actually, you're right, I'm sorry for pointing out something wrong when nobody else has - please ignore me as I'm an idiot who hasn't eaten out before"?
Now, if his response had been different, no doubt a happy conclusion for all parties would have been reached. For example, if he'd said straight off, "I'm very sorry you're not happy, can I offer you [insert compensatory item here]?" I might not be writing this now. (He did later offer a free dessert or coffee, but by that point we were far beyond wanting any more of their food.)
- We basically then went on to discuss other problems, such as my steak, the portion of which I hadn't eaten our waiter took into the kitchen to inspect. He then returned to tell me that the steak was indeed medium rare, as he and other staff had cut into it and blood came out of it. Now, the end of steak that I hadn't eaten was, as I've said, medium at best - it was very slightly pink. The fact that my dad's "medium" steak had been rarer than mine didn't exactly make me think that the staff examining my steak were necessarily the best qualified to be judging how well cooked mine was either. And if there was blood coming out of my steak, I'm Kelly Brook.
Again, our waiter was more concerned with arguing and making excuses than ensuring we went away happy customers.
We continued to argue, particularly about the chips, and he continued with such statements as:
"We cook our vegetables properly; if you want your food all mushy you're in the wrong place"
As I've said above, our waiter did eventually, begrudgingly, offer a free dessert or coffee, but we'd been arguing for a little while by this point, and certainly didn't want to stay for any more of the Tavern's fare. We'd started to become more than a little appalled at the handling of a genuine complaint.
My dad pointed out to our waiter at one point that despite the "steak house" sign outside, no steak knives were provided for people eating steak. In return he said, "You don't need steak knives to cut steak." This speaks for itself really. All my dad could say was, "Why do they make them then?" Unsurprisingly, a satisfying answer for this was not forthcoming.
When I commented on the length of time taken to supply the food I got the explanation that "This isn't a fast food restaurant; we cook everything from scratch." If that's a satisfactory explanation for the four dishes we had taking so long in such a quiet restaurant I fear for any of the customers who go in when it's busy.
I can't remember exactly whether it was before or after we'd told them we were only prepared to pay for our wine and half our food (this was based as much on the despicable customer service as on the fact that on the whole we'd probably eaten just over half our food*) that our waitress became involved, and things became quite unpleasant. We had already pointed out that we weren't happy with our waiter's attitude and that we didn't expect any more arguing or excuses, and that his stance did not constitute customer service. When my mum said the same to the waitress, who had adopted a very hostile attitude, her reply was:
"I'm sorry, but if you give me attitude, I'm going to give it back!"
Does anyone think this sounds like an acceptable way to address customers? If we had been abusive it might have been understandable, if not acceptable, and although we were admittedly pretty pissed off by this point, we were far from abusive.
At one point she actually started mimicking my dad, basically mocking the way he was trying to get his point across.
It's also worth bearing in mind that we had asked who the most senior member of staff was and it turned out to be our waiter, rather than our waitress, yet our waiter stood in the background while our waitress provided us with the least acceptable treatment any of us have received in any restaurant/bar/pub/shop/bank whatever other public place of business you care to mention. In most customer service arenas, I would imagine her conduct would have been worthy of disciplinary action, yet he stood back and actually let her do it. Many years ago I used to work in McDonalds, and this attitude would not have been acceptable there, so why is it in a restaurant that supposedly takes so much pride in its freshly made food.
Not only this, but the level of professionalism dipped further when she went in the kitchen and started to relay the course of our argument to her colleagues at the top of her voice.
Some friends of mine actually phoned me from the other end of the bar at this point, as they had come in and heard the commotion and wanted to know what was going on. It actually made us laugh as they'd just ordered and wanted to know if all was as bad as it seemed.
The staff did eventually see sense and give us a reduced bill, which we paid, and then we swiftly left. On the way out our waitress actually said to me, "We'd appreciate it if you didn't come back. Please leave now." As if we'd be going back after that shambles! (What had happened to the more senior member of staff by this point is anybody's guess.) So I replied, "Don't worry, we won't be, and we'll be telling everybody else not too as well."
Now, the last statement wasn't quite accurate, as it's not really my place to tell all you good folk what to do, but I've just told you what happened to us, as I feel the Tavern's prospective customers should know what to expect should they have a complaint to make.
I was also being ordered to leave as I greeted my friends who were trying to wish me happy birthday on the way out, and as we walked past the kitchen the staff were apparently trying to humiliate us by cheering and one of them shouted something like "She shoots, she scores" about our waitress's, in their eyes obviously masterful, handling of our complaint.
No doubt many of you have had wonderful meals in there. Some of the people in there at the same time as us seemed to enjoy it, as, I was later told, did my friends who had ordered just before we left, but that's not the point. In our case the quality of the food wasn't very good, regardless of what everyone else's experience has been, and the quality of the response to our pointing this out was much worse. Unfortunately, it seems to be the case that anyone who complains is deemed to be wrong (as we were actually told we were at one point, which was nice).
The only other place that has come close to treating us like this (interestingly enough, they used the "Well you're the only ones complaining [so by default you must be wrong]" excuse, too) was a restaurant we visited on Xmas Day when I was 7 or 8 years old, and they closed down years ago. Wonder why.
* I'd eaten most, but not all, of my steak, about five of my chips, and all but whatever else was left when we made the complaint; my dad left a bit of steak, about half his chips and whatever else he refused to eat when our waiter started arguing with us; my girlfriend ate her small burger and hardly any of her chips at all; my mum ate most if not all of her food. When we said we'd only pay for half, our waiter said "But you ate your meals!"
BBC
You knows it
Wow! Jimbob that has to be the longest post ever!!!
The whole experience sounds fairly shocking especially on your birthday. Nothing leaves a sour taste in your mouth like bad customer service (maybe uncooked chips!).
I've been in a couple of time to the steak house and despite a couple of glitches I have foud the service to be good. To be honest though if i was ever treated like that in a restaurant then i wouldn't set foot near the place ever again and would make sure anyone i spoke to knew of my experience.
That's the thing about customer service, you can please a hundred customers but you only need to upset one to ruin your reputation. Maybe the castle tavern staff need to learn this valuable lesson before it's too late!
Happy Birthday btw
The whole experience sounds fairly shocking especially on your birthday. Nothing leaves a sour taste in your mouth like bad customer service (maybe uncooked chips!).
I've been in a couple of time to the steak house and despite a couple of glitches I have foud the service to be good. To be honest though if i was ever treated like that in a restaurant then i wouldn't set foot near the place ever again and would make sure anyone i spoke to knew of my experience.
That's the thing about customer service, you can please a hundred customers but you only need to upset one to ruin your reputation. Maybe the castle tavern staff need to learn this valuable lesson before it's too late!
Happy Birthday btw
FooFighter
Well-Known Forumite
was there a 'real' cook there at the time?
Seem to be a lot of cooking faux pas for a chef to put that quality of food out
Seem to be a lot of cooking faux pas for a chef to put that quality of food out
oh dear.I have to say that we did have one other problem and that was a foreign body in the wine glass. This was dealt with very professionally and they replaced the bottle and glass and with a smile I have to add. They must have been having a really bad day but there is no excuse for bad customer service.
To be fair, I can excuse that - even the best chef makes the odd mistake. It was the service which really let them down.FooFighter said:
I always think that when a company or business provides you with a faulty product it's a chance for them to make themselves shine with how they handle it. Unfortunately, the Castle Tavern staff missed this chance and made things far worse.
ritaritanothingsweeta
A few posts under my belt
That's a hell of a review jimbob. As you say, forget the meal, if the service is bad then that's everything ruined.
Come on Ashley, what's your answer to that. I think if what he's saying is true then at least an appology is in order and waitress repremanded. Good Customer Service, you should know that in your young managerial life.
Come on Ashley, what's your answer to that. I think if what he's saying is true then at least an appology is in order and waitress repremanded. Good Customer Service, you should know that in your young managerial life.
Anders_Panders
Official 6000th poster!
Yeah this was the worst customer service I have ever encountered anywhere. You don't expect to get back chat (sometimes agressive) to every comment you make- totally unprofessional.
Happy 30th!
Happy 30th!
Anders_Panders
Official 6000th poster!
no comment...