Hi All

Word to the wise for all the be careful, went to the Chequers for a meal yesterday. We ahve been before and the service has always been poor but the **** is usually passable.

However, yesterday we waited 30 min for our food and then when our sunday dinners arrived the waitress had to bang them down quickly on our filthy table as the watery excuse for gravy was shloshing about all over the place, it really was like brown water.

Scorching hot she managed ok with my plate and my 86 year olkd mother in laws but managed to spill the disgusting mess over my husbands leg. Good job he is a big strong bloke is all I can say, had it been my mother in law or a child it could ahve been extremely serious.

Food was disgusting as well and we had to send back half our cutlery as it was caked in old dried food....Not good, did complain but was just told to send them the dry cleaning bill with a half apology.

I know it is a value for money place but does that mean you get a whatever degree burn in the process and get meals that are really shocking !!!

Just be warned guys, its geting worse in there and now its getting dangerous !! Wear some knee pads before you go in !!!

Rant over ~

Went with the g/f last monday and can't say that I particularly enjoyed it. The place seemed very dirty.

You get what you pay for :)
Try the peacock at owler bar :thumbsup:

Strangely enough there's a sign outside places like this which has the effect of a No Entry sign to people like me. It's a Warning Sign to stay well away - it works.

It usually says something like '2 Meals For a Fiver' or 'Buy Two Meals, Get the Cheapest Free'.

That sees me driving past looking for a venue which I can be sure serves decent and properly priced food and won't be akin to eating 1970s school meals in an environment similar to a zoo where young animals (ie, children) run around screaming at the top of their voices. (This goes some way into explaining why the places are always so scruffy.)

As I've mentioned before, these places are for people who don't usually eat out ('Can I have five cokes and a coffee please?').

Strangely enough there's a sign outside places like this which has the effect of a No Entry sign to people like me. It's a Warning Sign to stay well away - it works.

It usually says something like '2 Meals For a Fiver' or 'Buy Two Meals, Get the Cheapest Free'.

That sees me driving past looking for a venue which I can be sure serves decent and properly priced food and won't be akin to eating 1970s school meals in an environment similar to a zoo where young animals (ie, children) run around screaming at the top of their voices.

As I've mentioned before, these places are for people who don't usually eat out ('Can I have five cokes and a coffee please?').

There is an adults bit mate, you don't have to sit in wacky warehouse:thumbsup:

Sorry but I disagree, two for one does not mean you ahve to sit in filth, get burnt with scorching hot water thats meant to be gravy and east substandard food.

And also get substandard service !

Thanks for the Owler Bar tip hon, I will try it out next time I go out, I wont be going to Chequers again thats for sure.

There is an adults bit mate, you don't have to sit in wacky warehouse:thumbsup:

Now you tell me!:hihi:

Now you tell me!:hihi:


LOL Dont bother trying it, youll probbo end up in hospital !

Hi All

Word to the wise for all the be careful, went to the Chequers for a meal yesterday. We ahve been before and the service has always been poor but the **** is usually passable.

However, yesterday we waited 30 min for our food and then when our sunday dinners arrived the waitress had to bang them down quickly on our filthy table as the watery excuse for gravy was shloshing about all over the place, it really was like brown water.

Scorching hot she managed ok with my plate and my 86 year olkd mother in laws but managed to spill the disgusting mess over my husbands leg. Good job he is a big strong bloke is all I can say, had it been my mother in law or a child it could ahve been extremely serious.

Food was disgusting as well and we had to send back half our cutlery as it was caked in old dried food....Not good, did complain but was just told to send them the dry cleaning bill with a half apology.

I know it is a value for money place but does that mean you get a whatever degree burn in the process and get meals that are really shocking !!!

Just be warned guys, its geting worse in there and now its getting dangerous !! Wear some knee pads before you go in !!!

Rant over ~

We had a BAD EXPERIENCE at two two for one pubs well you would wouldnt you, the story teller at rotherham where a waiter actually fished out of a bowl of apple pie and custard at the table the desert spoon whcih he had been carrying in the pudding bowl wiped it on a serviette then gave it back to my father in law to eat his pudding with.!!! We complained at that point and did get free deserts not meals, and also at the air baloon at Blackpool airport where i proper flipped the pub was busy and we ordered food and then drinks by the time i had sat down with the drinks the combo starter was out ont he table going cold i asked for it to be replaced and some grinning youth stood and laughed at me and said "the kitchen is quicker than the bar again we are great" at that point my main courses came out !!!
I am not a quiet person and didnt apreciate this poor level of customer service and launched into a verbal lashing of everyone in the pub, eventually the assistant manager came over and asked what was wrong ? i did explain to him and he said that they were short of bar staff at that time but they did have about 20 food staff stood around polishing knives and forks.no offer of free food or anyhihng like it I wrote and emailed the spirit group and got a letter back with a ten pound voucher in it. "for use at the pub in Blackpool" I did return the voucher to them and explained that two for one is great value but not when you have to travel two hundred miles to use a ten quid voucher..

two for one if you must, try the Walnut tree at wakefield, or the same pricing structure from diferent pub chain with a better menu at the lockeepers at worksop and as its by the canal lovely place for a drink after or before your meal.

I've been to the Chequers as well and it wasn't particular nice either. Food was ok but the place was just scruffy. We had broken chairs under our table. It was much better before it was a 2 for 1.

My goodness and I thought we had it bad....!!! I have complained this morning, they better not send me a ten pound voucher or I will flip !

Cheeky sods

The Castle at Castleton has also gone downhill (probably had a change of manager by the look of things). This happened when two families headed there last Monday evening.

1 - A pleasant summer's evening we decided we'd eat outside in their nice beer garden. The tables seat four and suffice to say that four people with a drink each would leave little table room for anything else (food, perhaps).

So we asked if we could sit on the larger picnic type tables on the lawn. Admittedly there is a sign saying food will not be served on the lawn area. However, a little discretion can go a long way, so we asked citing the fact that there were five adults, 2 children and 2 babies - we needed space. Could we sit there? Not likely. So we struggled with the tiny tables.

2 - Go inside and order the food. Since time immemorial we have always opened a tab. It's convenient, it's quicker, makes life easier. Ordered drinks, then food and asked if we could open a tab. 'Not if you're sitting outside' was the reply. I nearly spat my froth out. I honestly thought the guy was having us on. Not so. Every time we wanted to order drinks we'd have to pay there and then (with our cards. That must add up in transaction charges but that's their problem). How pathetic is this? Imagine this abroad? 'You can't open a tab as you're sat outside?'

We pointed out that we were hardly going to do a runner with kids and babies in prams in tow. My mum-in-law, I've never seen her run. Maybe someone stole a menu so the plan is let's punish all the rest of our customers.

3 - Food came. Main courses and, oh look, starters as well. Try putting a dozen or so dishes on a table 3 foot by 3 foot wide. And the order was wrong with one dish duplicated and another, well, that went walkabouts.

Credit to the young guy I presumed was manager. He apologised and said we could have desserts/sweets free of charge. So we ordered for the younger members of our group - and they never turned up. The manager left and so we thought, right, maybe it's time to go home.

My children still wanted ice cream so we headed over to the Bull's Head. They saw to us and I'm gald I went in there because it has been done out wonderfully.

Unlike the Castle, they knew what they were doing and wanted out custom.

I commented to the chap behind the bar about the debacle we had just experienced across the road. He pointed to a chap who had just been to the bar and said 'He's said the very same thing.'

Business - it's bloody easy to lose custom; it's a lot harder to gain it. The Castle has just managed to do the former - the Bull, the latter.

My goodness, seems that service to customers is fast becoming a thing of the past. I ahve worked in and run pubs and treated every customer like a precious commodity, sad thing is that some will just accept this awful service because it is 'value for money'. They believe they can get away with it because people will just accept and not vote with their feet.

I ahve done the latter and it may well not bother them but I will feel better for it.

Not wanting to make myself unpopular but here goes.....

I agree with the comment about two for one pubs being bad. You get what you pay for. You pay £2.50 for a meal the you will invariably be eating it in greasy cafe standards, cooked (or prepared in a microwave) by minimum wage kids.

You should also have realised that the way The Chequers try to get round this is by charging a fortune for the drinks.

But finally, (and I might get hung for being a snob here but you sometimes have to tell it how you see it) I think the quality of any place is reflected in the people that go there. At 12 o'clock on a Sunday, you see them all pushing their prams up from Jordanthorpe, fags hanging off their bottom lips, blowing smoke in their kids faces, to The Chequesrs for their cheap Sunday lunch. And at 4 o'clock you see the same ones staggering back down the hill drunk. That is the kind of place The Chequers is - cheap food for those on the social.

F. Sidebottom - you might be in for a bumpy ride, pal.

You get what you pay for :)
Try the peacock at owler bar :thumbsup:

The Peacock was pretty crappy last time I went, they got 2 out of 4 orders wrong, one plate had completely cold vegetables another had almost raw bacon.

Sent the lot back, and got very grumpy service from then on.

I agree with Nick (it has to happen occaisionally!) the last time I went to the Peacock, the food was terrible, My mum's fish was raw inside and the kids meals were revolting - the pud's were excellent tho:thumbsup:

Not wanting to make myself unpopular but here goes.....

I agree with the comment about two for one pubs being bad. You get what you pay for. You pay £2.50 for a meal the you will invariably be eating it in greasy cafe standards, cooked (or prepared in a microwave) by minimum wage kids.

You should also have realised that the way The Chequers try to get round this is by charging a fortune for the drinks.

But finally, (and I might get hung for being a snob here but you sometimes have to tell it how you see it) I think the quality of any place is reflected in the people that go there. At 12 o'clock on a Sunday, you see them all pushing their prams up from Jordanthorpe, fags hanging off their bottom lips, blowing smoke in their kids faces, to The Chequesrs for their cheap Sunday lunch. And at 4 o'clock you see the same ones staggering back down the hill drunk. That is the kind of place The Chequers is - cheap food for those on the social.

What a fantastic Post!! :thumbsup:

Not saying I agree with it all, but very controversial!! good stuff!

been to chequers, aunt sally, hobby horse (chesterfield) and Storyteller (rotherham)

didn't think much to them.

about the worst experience we had was at aunt sallys, when the food was disgusting.

my ex ordered his mixed grill, and requested that his steak be prepared "blue-to-rare".

we ordered Chicken nuggets for the gd. :gag:

all the meat on his plate was cremated. Rare? i don't think so!!!

the chicken nuggets were rock hard, so hard that we could not even persuade the ex's steak knife to cut through them.

my meal was as vile, burnt to a cinder, and inedible.

when we approached a staff member we explained how bad the meal was, all we got was a

*Staff member shrugs* " And???"

I phoned the company's head office in Stoke, and complained.

the woman who dealt with my call said "what?? they didn't even offer you a refund, a replacement or even a free pudding??"

I was sent vouchers for a free meal. Only trouble was, it was redeemable back at Aunt sally's..we had vowed that it's be a hot day in a cold place before we went there again. *scowl*

So I asked that they re-send them, useable at another one of their restaurants. Which they did.

PT

Went there with the folks for an Xmas meal last December and it was great; large portions even my 6ft brother couldn't finish off! Evidently gone a bit downhill since. I work near the Aunt Sally , and went in there for lunch on my birthday in May, with 3 colleagues - admittedly only two of us planned to eat. Arrived at 1pm. After asking twice, my remaining colleague and I were served with our meals at 1.50. Good job we have flexible lunches. Anyway, I emailed a complaint to the Spirit Group. I got an apology but where were the freebie vouchers to encourage you to go there again???

The problem with Aunt Sally specifically is that they know they've got a captive audience of workers from the immediate vicinity who don't want to or haven't got time to go further afield. I've been to The Chequers twice and not had a bad experience - yet :suspect:

Hi all

Sorry to pop back in with this one but thought I would give you an update on this event.

I have heard from the company and they have assured me that an investigation will take place and that they will inform me of the outcome.

Of course I dont expect much to come from it but if I have saved one pensioner or child or anyone for that matter from getting a 1st degree burn from this place then I am happy enough, I would rather not get a voucher as 1) I would never go back there and 2) they would probably spit in my dinner if I did ! haha

Just thought I would let you all know the latest, if your interested !

Kash x

I'd just like to say that they're not all that bad the Ridgeways Arms is one of the old Spirt Two for One pubs, although they are now owned by punch taverns i believe, but anyway the food there is quite, in that it's still teh standard run of the mill food, eg scampi and fish and chips, but it always tastes alright, looks presentable and isn't burnt.

And the management there are great!!

The Chequers, I've had a bad meal there, albeit a couple of years ago. These days, the minute I see "Wacky Warehouse' I drive on! The Blackamoor takes the biscuit, where I was charged 50p each for Yorkshire Pudding on the Sunday Roast, listed as 'Sundries'. The Amraj at Crystal Peaks on New Years Eve charged a group of 4 of us £14.70 service charge on a Buffet?? Is there knowhere worth going now???

Maybe i don't have very high standards, but I've not had a problem with the chequers. Again, you get what you pay for, but as a place to go if you cant be bothered to cook its fine by me.

The food is adequate, the service ok, it does exactley what it says on the tin, so to speak.

the peacock is very good but yuo will pay more for this. a good place to go is the waggon and horses at millhouses very good food and a very nice landlady. she was very helpfull and very pleasent. one of our meals came and it was'nt to spec so she then appologised prefusely and then set about dragging the chef back in to the kitchen throwing the meal at him and with in 5 minutes the meal was back and it was to the highest of standards. the food is reasonably priced and was a very entertaining meal. if the chef from the waggon is on this site England won 5-0.:thumbsup:

We went to The Chequers recently too and had no problem, in fact compared to the Brincliffe Oaks (Nether Edge) and Waggon and Horses (Totley) we were very pleased.
The Brincliffe had two very dirty highchairs, god for bid if anyone else with kids had wanted to eat there at the same time, there was a severage smell which started building up and after 15 minutes became intolerable, the drinks order was wrong and took 10 minutes to be served (1 pint of shandy and 1 lemonade with pineapple juice) then for some reason I checked if I could use plastic to pay for the meal, I knew I could since I've eaten there lots in the past - don't know what made me check. Answer - no, new management and we haven't changed the machines over.
We left!
Waggon and Horses have no child facilities at all anymore, none at all.
Off to The Chequers, served in a decent time, food was fine although one steak cooked slightly more than required. No problems otherwise.
The two for one was a bonus to us, we had planned to eat regardless and it meant less of a headache for us as we didn't have to wash up and so on afterwards (huge headache with two foodily creative twins!)
The Chequers is ok, the Brincliffe is vile!

The Chequers, I've had a bad meal there, albeit a couple of years ago. These days, the minute I see "Wacky Warehouse' I drive on! The Blackamoor takes the biscuit, where I was charged 50p each for Yorkshire Pudding on the Sunday Roast, listed as 'Sundries'. The Amraj at Crystal Peaks on New Years Eve charged a group of 4 of us £14.70 service charge on a Buffet?? Is there knowhere worth going now???

the last time I went to the Amraj, there was this fairly noisy group of people across from us, who were drunk as skunks.

one of the "ladies" at that table was so "brahmsed" she was trying to climb on the table, and take her top of.

it really spoilt our meal...

If I'd wanted to have a pseudo-lapdancing session, I'd have taken my hubby to Spearmint rhino or something.

I don't think u can beat Damons at Crystal Peaks. I have been there loads of times, and never had any bad food or service at all. They are always very busy - a good sign! I know they don't do "two-for-one" but its great if its your birthday - you get your main meal free, and a birthday cake!

Went to Damon's back in March and just though it was stuck in a proper time warp. Food was ok but not somewhere I'd be beating a path to if I wanted a meal.

I know what you mean BobsGirl, it does look like something out of the 80's. Do they still give you that crappy cake if you go in on your birthday? :gag:

a very nice landlady........one of our meals came and it was'nt to spec.........set about dragging the chef back in to the kitchen throwing the meal at him

She sounds delightfull, I'd have left if she treated her staff like that in front of me, there is no excuse for that kind of behaviour.

the ruby lounge in town is a nice place to eat, the chef even came out and asked how we wanted everything cooked etc.

Went to Chequers yesterday. wont be going back for a long time! The food was okay, but there were tables with dirty plates on them when we walked in just before 4pm and tables cleared but not set, and the same tables were still not cleared or set when we left again at 5pm. (plus ours then of course). There was wallpaper ripped off the wall and the young lads they have serving there just couldn't give a toss. The meal was slapped in front of us and he mumbled something like "enjoy yer meal". he then went to join his mate outside the kitchen entrance and had a game of throwing the tea towel at each other! I felt like going over and asking for the Supervisors job as that was what it needed to make them be more professional, stop messing about and get the dirty tables cleared! The place itself needs a make over, and brightening up, it was so dark and dingy, I like a bit of light when I'm eating.

ooh think ive been there

only for a few drinks tho :P

what ever happened to the Sunday lunch at home with the family?
The Chequers thirty years ago was great.

Couldn't agree more. Another alternative is: EAT IN RESTAURANTS - DRINK IN PUBS. :loopy: Kindergartens with burger and chips are O.K. for those who like that sort of thing but should be described as such. :suspect:

Damons, yuk!! The smell of the place is enough to put you off. Goodness knows what the residents in the houses opposite think about it. You can smell the greasy food as you drive past the place. Been just the once, processed american style rubbish!

Couldn't agree more. Another alternative is: EAT IN RESTAURANTS - DRINK IN PUBS. :loopy: Kindergartens with burger and chips are O.K. for those who like that sort of thing but should be described as such. :suspect:
I think there is a place for food in pubs, but many of them now are catering for the 2 for £6 market. Like someone said in a previous post, what do you expect for £3 each?? A place I find which works very well with food/drink pub is the Shepley Spitfire, good sized pub and also a good sized eating area which incidentally is no smoking. Its just a pity I have to drive all the way from Mosboro for a decent place to eat!

You get what you pay for :)
Try the peacock at owler bar :thumbsup:


FABBO PLACE!! LURVE IT

I love chequers, fair enough, its always busy and sometimes the food is late, but its two for one, cheap and cheerful, you can't go wrong for a good little meal.....brill!! -x-

All i can say is whenever i visit there the vegetarian food is divine
particulary the balti's and the battered veg i have never had to complain once

The chequers used to be a decent place to go and get something to eat but was taken over not long back and seems to have gone downhill very fast since then. I disagree about you onlt get what you pay for as we have a 2 4 1 the Sir jacks near us and we've never had a problem, the food is always lovely :love:

Oh yer just to add I haven't been back to chequers for a long time after I caught the waiter who had served us our food going in the toilet with his serving towel in his hand then came out and wiped his hands on it!!!! :gag:

the peacock is very good but yuo will pay more for this. a good place to go is the waggon and horses at millhouses very good food and a very nice landlady. she was very helpfull and very pleasent. one of our meals came and it was'nt to spec so she then appologised prefusely and then set about dragging the chef back in to the kitchen throwing the meal at him and with in 5 minutes the meal was back and it was to the highest of standards. the food is reasonably priced and was a very entertaining meal. if the chef from the waggon is on this site England won 5-0.:thumbsup:
I hope you got a free dessert as an apology?:D