How long should food service take?

[PeeAche]

Our meal yesterday (4 Sunday roasts in a country pub) took just over 45 minutes to arrive.

I asked about them after 35 minutes and then again at the 45 minute mark (kids were desperately hungry) and eventually the manager said "I'll get yours plated up next".

At the end, there was a problem with the bill (loads of extra meals and food added that we didn't have). They argued the toss with me about all the extras, actually trying to get me to bloody pay for them (£150 bill!) which then emboldened me to point out that over 45 mins for grub was way too long. But the manager disagreed and said it's an ordinary wait time in any restaurant. He also pointed out that he had hurried them along for us, which made the wait time even less.

Now I'm wondering if he's right and my expectations are too high? Obviously, I have eaten out before - but it's making me doubt myself! 🤣

I mean, I just think they were a terrible pub! But anyway... here goes:

I think 45 mins is too long - especially when the only thing on the menu is roast dinner - AIBU!?

YANBU. Anything over 20 minutes is unacceptable unless they are actually cooking your food to order.

I worked in a lot of restaurants when I was younger 45 minutes is too long, especially when you've got one meal with a few variations on the menu. It sounds like they are very disorganised.

What time of day was it, and had you booked?

If it was a Sunday lunchtime - 1pm ish - just a drop in and hope type pub meal, I don't actually think 45 minutes is outrageous if they were busy. If you had booked a table for a specific time, then I would expect food to come within about 20 mins of ordering.

Very poor service arguing over a wrong bill though!

It is a long time yes. It sounds like they were overwhelmed if they made other mistakes.

Maybe they were short staffed (as many pubs and restaurants are at the moment) and the manager doubled down rather than admit that.

I think 45 minutes is quite long, but not worth a complaint. I often find that if you don't order starters, then 45 mins is a normal amount of time for the main courses to come - I've no idea how restaurant kitchens are organised, but if often feels to me that time for starters is built in to the time it takes for main courses to be served.

Ooh tricky one. Our favourite pub for Sunday roasts takes about the same time - they don't keep food hot all day, they cook it freshly throughout the day (and they're super popular so the food doesn't hang around). I don't think 45 minutes is unreasonable depending on the freshness of the food / business of the pub - however our local normally warns us of longer waiting times and we know what to expect, so probably don't mind as much! It is a long time if is a carvery type pub where food is just under hot lamps, but not such a long time if it's fresh.

What would annoy me more would be the arguing over the mistakes on the bill tbh! It makes them sound more disorganised, so the wait would have been down to that potentially rather than freshness of food.

We booked a table for 2pm and arrived on time.

Yeah baby, I feel vindicated now! I've never worked in food service, apart 2 years under the Golden Arches while at uni. So it did leave me wondering if I need to lower my expectations!

Yeah, the bill thing really irked me. My DH thinks they let someone leave without paying for all of theirs, because they accidentally put them on our tab instead. So when they realised what they'd done, they tried to make us think the meals were ours and pick up the slack.

Also, I don't plan on complaining. I'm too lazy and I hate confrontation 🤣

For the bill thing, YANBU
For the wait, I'd not mind, but that's,me.

Longer than I'd expect. Rule of thumb for me is 15-20 mins for food to arrive. But it varies a lot!
I'd give them a partial pass because Brexit and Covid have made staffing a nightmare, but they should have dealt with the issues better. e. g. I stopped at a busy pub a few weeks back and they said they had space, but couldn't take an order for half an hour. That set expectations sensibly so friend and I had a nice drink by the fire and then ordered and went away happy customers. That's how you do customer service when busy.

Waiting that length for a Sunday Lunch is not acceptable it is the easiest meal of the week for a kitchen to get out on the table.
I ran my own kitchen when we lived abroad & would do 50/60 Sunday lunches between 12-4pm the longest anyone waited was 15mins as everything was already prepared and ready to plate up and send out.
As for the argumentative manager he was so wrong in his attitude so I would be using my feet and never go there again I hope your bill was sorted to your satisfaction.