Friar Tuck

Came here for a family meal for a birthday and everyone really enjoyed it. The staff are all lovely and very welcoming. We was a large group booking and all the food came out together and the food was lovely. We will definitely be going back. We reserved a table and because there was so many of us they gave us a sectioned off area and said we could go in early to decorate the tables with balloons. Overall a lovely place and not expensive. I would highly recommend Friar Tuck.

We found this place a few months ago and first impressions were great. We called in fairly regularly and the atmosphere had been really nice and the food really good value for money. Usually it's a larger lady that does the food and drinks and she's great. Friendly and makes a good burger and fries. We visited this evening (14/12/2023) at around 5pm and a woman with multiple tattoos was serving. She was particularly unfriendly and impatient. My partner and I both commented on how unwelcome she made us feel. We were served really poor quality food (especially in comparison to previous visits). Burgers were cold, salad unwashed with old lettuce, old tomatoes with blackened core, red onion not peeled correctly and cheese that did not melt as burger was too cold. Our son ordered a pint of cider that was stale and had a bitter after taste. I returned it to the barman who swapped it out for a bottled cider instead. He was far from his usual self and there was a bad atmosphere behind the bar which we picked up on straight away. My partner has been sick since returning home. Really disappointed with our visit and it's gone from one of our favourites to somewhere that we have no desire to visit again. Very, very disappointed. Consistency is key in any food business and good customer service and a friendly demeanour are pivotal in ensuring customer retention. Sadly, this was missing tonight and it's highly unlikely we will visit again. EDIT*** Response to owner response. I'm not sure what aspect of the wording of the review you find disgraceful to be perfectly honest. The only thing I can see would be the "fairly butch lady with tattoos" which was being used in a descriptive sense rather than an offensive one. I will update the review to reflect that (and remove it) if you consider it a disgraceful use of language that has had "a profound effect" and apologise to any staff that were genuinely offended by the use of that term. No staff had banter with us that night. We apologised repeatedly to tattoo lady as we changed our order a couple of times whilst deciding what to eat. Rather than accept apologies from us with good grace and a smile, she was impatient with us instead. If you have the CCTV you will notice me looking away from that lady for a minute and biting my tongue because I was ready to comment on her attitude. In the interests of diplomacy I decided to bite my tongue rather than make a scene. When I first came to the bar to return the drink you (assuming you are the guy with little or no hair) were stood with another older lady and I stood there right in front of you both for some time waiting to return the drink, before being told to "go over there, we are not serving here" by that lady (in not a very friendly way). I did this and then stood there for a while and you eventually came yourself to replace the drink. Not once did you crack a smile or even say "sorry about that". We thought you were down to earth and friendly on previous visits so I was quite taken aback by your general demeanour in all honesty. It's true we have had banter with your staff on previous visits and even left the usual girl a £5 tip on our previous visit for the good food and good service (the larger one for want of a better term). None of that changes our experience on the night and that is the reason why we left our negative review. The fact that you are denying our experience speaks volumes. Look back through your CCTV or ask the staff that collected the plates and you will see that none of us touched any of the salad as it was neither fresh nor cleaned. The burger was not hot enough and that was evidenced by the fact that the cheese atop them did not melt at all (not even a bit). Please don't presume to tell us what our experience was or deny its authenticity. It was our experience from our perspective and we have been nothing other than truthful in sharing that experience here.

Came here for a family meal for a birthday and everyone really enjoyed it. The staff are all lovely and very welcoming. We was a large group booking and all the food came out together and the food was lovely. We will definitely be going back. We reserved a table and because there was so many of us they gave us a sectioned off area and said we could go in early to decorate the tables with balloons. Overall a lovely place and not expensive. I would highly recommend Friar Tuck.