The Royal Oak, Pirbright

Unfortunately I'm going to have to add to the poor reviews. The pub is fundamentally mismanaged. We turned up on Saturday evening, having been told on the phone that tables can no longer reserved. We managed to get a table, however, next to one that had a �reserved� note on it! I overheard someone being told that there was a 45 minute wait for food. �Fair enough� I thought, it looked very busy. A little later I went to the bar only to be told that they were no longer taking orders because they�d stacked up so much. This was at 8.15 in the evening! Another little snippet overheard was that they were one chef down in the kitchen. At this point we finished our drinks and left. Food at this point was only being consumed on one taable in the pub!

Two thought struck me. First, given that it�s a pub people go to for food, if they knew they had issues they should have let you know at the bar when you arrived. Second, they need to get on the phone to a catering agency as soon as they have a problem. Given that previous reviews have highlighted delays it seems like they are just short staffed/disorganised in general. It's a shame as it's a nice pub otherwise.

17 Oct 2011 11:43

Charles Cotton Hotel, Hartington

I missed a bit of detail from my review in Feb 2011 regarding the service. After we were directed to the restaurant we were then told that "there's a large party coming in soon so you might have to wait quite a while for your meals to be prepared". Were they planning to wait 15mins until another dozen people arrived and then prioritise serving them? In the event sense prevailed and there wasn't any delay. Contrast the attitude though with the Devonshire Arms where we turned up on a Friday evening. The landlord told us that they had various tables reserved but by some judicious juggling, recognition of the likely tardy arrival of certain individuals and asking if we minded moving to another table later he could accommodate us.

13 Apr 2011 12:31

Charles Cotton Hotel, Hartington

This hotel is clearly going upmarket, although I understand that they are maintaining food prices at a lower (but not that low) level for now to tempt back those who had deserted them in the past. The beers were a good, generally local selection and the food was well presented and of restaurant quality. My only complaint was a slight lack of organisation and quality of service which was generally lower than the level which they seem to be aiming for. For example, asking to order food at the bar I was directed back to my seat where someone would come to take the order. They did, but not very quickly, and then we were told we had to move into a restaurant area because our table was reserved. Use of a little sign to indicate this might have been in order. Not a big issue but if you're setting yourself up as a 'quality' establishment you should be getting these details right.

18 Feb 2011 12:55