The Railway Inn, Botley

This is sadly a dissapointing gastronomic experiance. I had heard reports that the food was good I decided to take my wife along for an evening meal. Our starters were acceptable and then the main dish issues raised their ugly heads. My wifes chicken came out well cooked and they then delivered what can only be described as Road Kill on a plate. It was supposed to be Rack of Lamb on a mash potatoe base with a cranberry jus. The potatoes was slopped in the middle of the plate with three lamb chops thrown on top and a cranberry and onion gravy poured all over the plate. The vegetables consisted of peas, carrots and a lump of cauliflower. This had clearly been microwaved as the peas and carrots had started to shrivel. I cut into the meat of one chop only to discover that it was comnpletley rare. I then complained to the waitress that it was still raw meat and she took it away back to the kitchen. She then re-appeared stating that the chef said thats how it should be served at this point i felt that it was insulting my intelligence. I said that she should remove this item from our bill and I would be happy to pay for all the items we had consumed starters etc and beverages however I would not pay for the lamb. She toddled off and then the manageress/landlady appeared and seemed quite aggressive. This is where the customer service was evidentley absent. She became excited once I had explained I would not pay the 15.95 for a lamb dish that I had not consumed. I was told that I would have to pay for it and that the meal was served how it should be. I was then fobbed off with an explanation of what 'pink' meat was. I informed her that I had spent many years as a butcher and also as a chef within a very busy and local publice house. At this point two other tables then piped up that they were not happy with their meals. this seamed to anger and distress the Manageress/landlady further. I was told that I would have to pay or else. I stated that I would not and if she felt so strongly she should get uniformed officers to attend and I was within my consumer rights not to pay for the inadequatley cooked meal. We were then left alone and my wife and I then obtained a menu to calculate the total of our purchased food less the 15.95 road kill meal. We went to pay at the till and found two young chaps whom I beleived were kitchen staff, staring heavily at us which made my wife very uncomfortable. I paid the young lady at the till the amount less the 15.95 and went to leave. At this point one of the young men the shouted TW*T at me as I walked out the door. As we started to leave in our car the manageress/landlady came running out and said that we had nshort changed her by 8 pounds. A discussion then ensued and I noted that the two young chaps had come outside as what can only be described as 'the heavies'. I totted up the receipt and it was apparent that we had genuinely left some mony off of the bill. We offered up 10.00 as recompence to the short changing and the lady then just walked off. The two young men then threw a barage of abuse. I would strongly advise diners not to attend this venue as they obviously have no idea of customer service what so ever and should you disagree with the managements decision you are then pressured into giving them what they want by the perceived threat of violence.

Diners Beware

3 Aug 2007 23:36