I am getting bored of saying to people X is a great place to go, going on about it, and then taking them there to have a massive bloody disappointment. It makes me look like a self-satisfied and lying prick.
The Best Beech Inn in Wadhurst is an admittedly top place to go and I have always enjoyed my food there although every now and then I get the feeling that there is a bit of unwelcome cockiness creeping in. Some of the finsihing touches are just a little bit, well, lazy.

On Saturday night we went out for a friend's engagement do. There were 35 of us in total and the chap who got engaged had booked a table for us all at W*********. We turned up at 9.30 when the table had been booked for, and the table wasn't ready. They finally seated us at 10pm. At 10.15 they brought out some prawn crackers. Then they brought out champagne for 31 people, and the other four of us wondered what we'd done wrong... When we asked for some champagne flutes so that we might join in the celebrations, they brought us 3 mismatched glasses. Anyway, when they finally decided to take our orders at about 10.30, we all knew what we wanted because we'd had so damn long to look at the bloody menu, so we ordered quickly. And waited. Drinks finally arrived a bit later. The first round of food finally turned up at about 11pm. We ate this within about 5 minutes because we were so hungry. However, by midnight, several of our friends had to leave in order to catch their last trains home, before their foos had even arrived!!By this point we were all very hacked off. The waiters had been bringing random dishes out and attempting to leave them anywhere. One of us actually said to one of them " You don't really care do you?" to which they replied "nah..."! And you know how it is when you've been really hungry, and when food finally does turn up you've gone past the point of wanting to eat and actually started to feel sick, so not much was eaten. So, we were interested to see what apologies or discount came to paying the bill! However, the manager couldn't understand why we didn't want to pay for the food of the people who had had to leave!! He tried to tell us it was because it was a cordon bleu menu and they had wanted to serve all of us at the same time. However, no one had told us this. Finally he realised we weren't going to pay about £40 of the bill (and there were 35 of us to start with, so it wasn't a small bill) and conceded in the end. However, we still had to divide the bill between the people who were left and you know what that's like... So, everyone coughs up rather begrudgingly, and when we were about to sign the last credit card slip we saw that the cheeky so and so's had already added a service charge of about £50!!! When we rightly exclaimed, one of the waiters went "oh, just sign it!" really nastily. And then said "Is it like this every time you go for a meal?" before proceding to get really nasty and personal. To have waited 2 and a 1/2 hours to be seated and served for a reserved table / meal was bad enough, but the rudeness and lack of apology or decent service from the "people" who work there was just incredible. I suspect the reason it took so long to seat us was because they had taken just as long to serve the people who were at our table before us. the blonde girl

On Saturday night (September 6 2003) I went with my boyfriend and his parents, who were visiting from abroad, to T*******. We wanted a special night out at one of the best restaurants in London, and had been lucky to land a reservation at 9:15pm. However, when we arrived at the restaurant, they had no record of us in the book, from which they deducted that we had not made a reservation at all, or made it at some obscure Italian restaurants with the word “*******” in their name. They could impossibly have made a mistake, and even if we asked them to investigate further, no one had any recollection of taking the reservation. Of course we were disappointed, but figured we had been bumped off the reservations list to make space for a more important guest, and left feeling very rejected and offended by their accusations and flawless self-perception. Surprise, surprise, today they called us to apologise. Apparently they had taken our reservation in the “wrong” book, and hence our “missing” reservation. And of course they were very sorry, though there was no question of any compensation, whatever. “But make sure to quote my name next time you make a reservation”, said the manager. Yeah, right, that will be of really great help… The food may be great there, but I don’t think we shall ever attempt to go there again. Their prices are sky-high, and they know that people dine there for an exceptional experience. However, if they don’t know how to live up to this responsibility by compensating people for spoiling their special evening, then I have other, more responsible, restaurants to give my hundreds of pounds to. Mads

Having visited T********* on previous occasions in large numbers and received wonderful food and good service i decided to take four visiting friends to experience something other than their usual curry.

We ordered five dishes to start with and share which were delicious and served quite promptly. To follow, we had ordered three racks of lamb and two pork wrapped in filo pastry. The lamb was received promptly and consumed a good ten minutes before 1 pork dish arrived. When the pork dish did arrive we informed the waiter, who we later found out was in fact the manager, that we had ordered 2 pork dishes. He apologised that he had not written down the 2nd pork dish and asked what we would like instead as the pork takes time to prepare. Whilst i can appreciate this i was disappointed that the chef was unable to prepare 5 dishes that could be eaten at the same time. I asked for the dish that was the quickest and would be given to us free of charge given the error and the earlier lateness. The waiter agreed and said he would bring the chicken dish. In the meantime myself and my sister who had both been expecting the pork shared the 1 pork dish. It was delicious. A few minutes later the chicken dish arrived and i set about cutting it up so that my sister and i could share it. I was shocked to see that the centre of every chicken piece was red raw in the middle. It was so raw that at first we wondered if there was some kind of jelly filling in the centre. There was not. We promptly brought over the waiter/manager again and pointed out the problem. He swiftly whipped the dish away back to the kitchen. Fearing that he would bring us another dish equally as uncooked i followed and asked to have a word. When i told him that i was not willing to eat any more of his food and that we wanted a reduction in our bill for bad service and for being served uncooked food, he became aggresive and refused to discuss it. He stormed off and left me standing there. My sister then tried to explain the situation to him calmly thinking that i had perhaps approached the situation badly. She soon found out that i had not when the waiter/manager swiftly became aggresive with her as soon as she broached the subject. After discussing the situation further with my friends the waiter/manager approached the table again. Again he became aggressive when we tried to discuss it and point out that he had served us uncooked chicken. This time he shouted at us all to shut up! At this point the whole restaurant was watching. He then ordered us all to pay up and get out. Of course this did not go down well and i told him that if he didnt calm down then we would just leave. This seemed to do the trick and after a few more minutes i managed to calm him down and he agreed to remove the dish that we received late from the bill along with the uncooked chicken. When he brought the bill over he had had the cheek to add a service charge of £4.00 (not a lot but its the principal!). We all thought this was unecessary and crossed it off. In the end we paid £64 for our meal.

This is a copy of a letter which I sent to W********** Customer Services. ( to date no reply from them )I see from the local papers they are advetising for new staf ie chefs.!!!!! I and two friends decided to visit your W******** Restaurant in Lancashire on Sunday 24th August before going on holiday and can only say that the whole time we were there it was a complete disaster.

On entering, a waitress showed us to a table, then someone else suggested we wait at the bar to be seated, I don't know why we had to wait as the place was nearly empty and now I know why. I then went to the bar to order drinks - a Gin and Tonic which when it arrived was a glass with Gin and filled up to the top with tonic, no question as to how much tonic I wanted or would I like draft tonic or bottle ? That was replaced to my liking. Then the meal, three starters, 3 main courses were ordered. The 2 soups which came were very nicely presented, but stone cold, how can that be? After complaining they were returned to us - warm !. On complaining again they were eventually returned edible, with apologies. I ordered 2 steaks and another dish for main courses. 1 steak was ordered well done, but the second (mine), was ordered medium rare but when they came, the well done one was only just edible as it was very tough and dry. The second (medium rare) was past well done and can only assume that whilst our soups were being repeatedly warmed up, the steaks were being cooked and left and warmed again. Apologies again were given and an offer to replace my meal which I refused as by this time the other two friends had finished their meal or what they could eat of it and so I ate the tough dry excuse for a steak. What was left ( most of it ) I took home for the dog, which even she turned her nose up at. One main course was deleted from the bill We left very disappointed and can say that the restaurant should not be named after a great ********* but that of Roland the Rat. Sitan Eatwell

My most recent visit to R******* Friday, April 23, 2004 went something like this: After a long day at the office, I came in for a late dinner (8:24pm) exhausted, and hungry. Upon entering I noticed what looked to be a private party. After standing at the front of the restaurant and no one acknowledging my presence, I proceeded to walk to the back to inquire about a seat. I was assumed to be a part of the party initially which explained the inattentiveness of the staff. After clarifying that I was not with the party and wanted to dine in I was given a seat and my order was taken. There I sat with my glass of lemonade waiting for my order of Baby Back Ribs.