Duke of York, Gate Helmsley

2 out of 10

I'm new to north Yorkshire and treated my parents to here on their first visit because of the good reviews it gets on Beer In The Evening.

I was surprised how empty it was on a Sunday afternoon given how popular it sounds on here. There was more choice than usual for vegetarians. For meat lovers, the quality of meat was great and the mixed grill was bigger than usual and included a big piece of black pudding. But these big portions are reflected in the price. The mixed grill was about �16.50. We had mixed grill, sirloin steak and a vegetarian dish,

Why have I given it such a low rating ?
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Their failure to fulfil the meal offer signs they have up.
The signs say "From mid-October, 7 days a week, buy 2 main meals and get the cheapest 1 half price. Offer excludes the carvery"

With how it specifically says "buy 2 main meals", customers placing larger orders have the right to nominate which of their meals they want to pair up to apply this offer to. But no, the landlady said "you are having 3 meals so it must be the cheapest of the 3 that you get half price"

.....Excuse me, the offer was "the cheapest of your 2 meals" and not just "the cheapest of your meals", so the customer is entitled to decide which 2 meals to nominate for the offer.

So I said to the woman "No, I can choose which meals make the pair because if I ordered just the mixed grill and the steak, I'd get the steak half price and seconds later I could come and order the 3rd meal" (which was just a relatively cheap vegetarian dish).

She replied "technically you are correct but that is not how I want to do it"

It should say "Special Offer! Get half of your meals half price! e.g. Buy 2 meals and get the cheapest 1 half price Buy 3 meals and get the cheapest 1 half price. Buy 4 meals and get the cheapest 2 half price."

Whether or not a pub/restaurant adheres its offers, and gives you exactly what it says on its menu are the most important factors to me when it comes to rating it. So I've given this one 2 out of 10

2 Nov 2008 20:35