DH and I decided to go to a Carvery after looking after the grandchildren,Daren earlier this evening. It’s on the way home and meant we wouldn’t get stuck in commuter traffic. I’ve not been to one for years!
The one we chose, a Toby carvery, is just next to the motorway slip road. There were about 4 cars on the car park and a couple of tables were occupied; mainly it was empty. We stood waiting for 5 minutes until someone came to see to us, asked us if we had a booking and said that as we hadn’t they couldn’t serve us as they only had enough food for the reservations they already had. It was 5.15 on a Tuesday evening!
When we walked out and sat in the car laughing, we realised we reeked of cooking fat and boiled cabbage 😳. Looking at the building we saw it was basically falling down - I think we had a lucky escape.
there was another Carvery a few 100 yards further on so we went there. No problem getting a table, no horrible smells, all looked nice and well kept. Clean toilets (very important!!). DH ordered a bean burger and chips - he’s veggie and wont touch a carvery - and I went to get my food. It wasn’t great, but wasn’t inedible - soggy veg, mushy roasts and gloopy mash, but tasty meat and gravy.
DHs on the other hand was very much inedible. A stale bun that shattered as he cut through it, a bean burger that seemed to have been stored unwrapped in the freezer for weeks so was rock hard, uncut table and certainly inedible. It was the colour of uncooked pastry! (maybe they had used butter beans). Chips were very undercooked and soggy.
I took the plate back and the staff were very apologetic, refunding the meal instantly. He ended up having cheese on toast for tea. I’m gutted - I was so looking forward to a tasty mid week meal!