Ye Olde Coach and Horses Inn, Melton

While reading this, please take into account, this is a pub which my
friends, work colleagues and I have been to many times and have given
plenty of business.

The pub is owned by husband and wife, the husband is also the chef.

I have just had dinner at this pub this week, I went with a friend, we
were looking forward to a lovely dinner after a long day. We arrived
and the atmosphere was very nice, and we were looking forward to
enjoying our dinner. We enjoyed a very tasty starter and we remarked
on how lovely it was to the owners, and couldn't wait to begin our
main course. When they arrived, my main course was very tasty and I
was pleased with it, but my friend's meal was very...very salty, so
much so that it couldn't be eaten, even by me, and I like my food with
a fair amount of salt in it. My friend had a couple of bites and
couldn't eat the rest of it, it was way too salty, eating this meal
would have caused dehydration and headaches. This dish felt like it
had more than the daily recommended amount of salt for an adult of 6g.
The meal itself couldn't be tasted, the salt content took away the
taste of the food, it was really disgustingly salty.

Experts, including the Food Standards Agency, believe too much salt
can lead to high blood pressure and evidence has suggested links to
stomach cancer as well as osteoporosis and other ailments.

We said the meal was salty when asked how the meal was, but that did
not prompt the chef to say, "is there anything we can do?", "maybe we
could change it for something else for you?". We would have expected
something of that nature, but nothing.

We left the dish and didn't expect to be charged for it, as it was not
edible with that amount of salt in it.

When we'd finished, the landlady came to clear the table, we said the
dish was just not edible and she took the dish away from the table
and asked her husband about it, who is the chef. She returned to the
table and said "My husband doesn't add salt to any of the dishes, and
we don't think it's too salty". This really raised an eyebrow because
which chef does not add salt to their cooking unless specifically
asked not to do so�? In any case, some of the ingredient had very high
levels of salt in it. The landlady tried the dish back at our table
and said "look it's not salty". This was just pain ridiculous..we
reiterated it was too salty, as she walked away she went on to saying
in a negative tone of voice.. "I'm not sure what my husband will do,
I expect he'll charge you for it as there's nothing wrong with it!" We
found this was just plain rude. At this stage, we were just plain
angry at the rudeness and lack of customer service, but kept our
nerves about us. The delays between going away to discuss the food was
20mins, and when lady tasted the food she didn't ask, didn't use a
fork, just pick up a piece with her hands..and said it's not salty.

On leaving and paying, we disputed paying half price for the one main
course with the chef based on the fact it was only tasted with a
couple of bites, and then realizing it was just not edible. We didn't
expect any dispute from the owner and chef, but he said things like
"because you've eaten half of it, I'll charge you for half of it", and
in reality only two bites were eaten just to try it and the rest of
the dish was left completely as it was served. I said to the chef
"what about the customer is always right", the response was "why
should the customer be right?". I thought, well they keep your
business alive? for one. We paid up, as we would have been going
around in circles with the dispute, and we left expressing that we
were not leaving happy with the decision. We went about disputing this
in a dignified and calm way, we expected a full refund for a meal
that was not edible, if we'd got that, we would have gone back with
positive customer feedback, but instead we will never return to this
pub under this management, when this dish was not up to scratch, and
when it was disputed we got rudeness and sly remarks instead. We left
extremely unhappy about the outcome and the lack of customer service.
Under this management, I definitely would not recommended this pub to
anyone based on lack of customer satisfaction when you have a
complaint about something.

Incidentally, when we asked if you could take the dish home after, we
were told it had already been thrown out with the rubbish.

15 Sep 2008 14:41