NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 23:38:54 BST Organization: ntl Cablemodem News Service Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu uk.food+drink.misc:34607 uk.food+drink.restaurants:4083 uk.local.lincolnshire:10390 uk.local.midlands:13443 We have just arrived home after visiting the Ropsley Fox pub near Grantham for the first time in a number of months. I always liked the place for its outstanding food, service and hospitality however tonight was very different and I feel so strongly that I felt I should share my experience with the group. Apologies if this is seen as 'off topic' but I cannot think of any other means of complaining about the place.... Firstly, since the beginning of the year the pub has apparently been taken over and now offer a wide range of Chinese food as well as the more traditional bar snacks and meals. This bode well as we went to order at the bar. Unfortunately, the menu also states that due to a new 'computerised' menu system, it is not possible to deviate from the stated descriptions on the menus. Not really believing that a fairly small local pub could be so inflexible I asked for a Steak and Ale pie but without vegatables or garnish, while my partner ordered a 'spicy chille con carne with rice and garlic bread'. The bar-girl was very helpful and went to the kitchen directly to make the modified order only to come back and inform me that she had passed on my request but "she is very busy and may forget". Finding this strange we took our seats and waited for the food.... The food arrived some time later and as I suspected, mine came along with garnish! Ok, so this isn't the first place where this has happened so I can't complain too much apart from the sense that I was proved wrong - this small local pub *can* be inflexible! My partners chille con carne arrived (somewhat oddly with the meat already on the rice which was odd) and we proceeded to eat. After a few minutes, she explained that there was no way she could continue eating it, as after a couple of mouthfuls it became apparent that the food was unbelievably hot (as in spicy hot!). Being a natural cynic, I thought this was probably an exaggeration and sought to prove this by trying a bit myself. Now, I love hot food and eat various combinations of curries, chille sauces and suchlike on a very regular basis, but this was mind-blowingly hot, so much so that you couldn't actually *taste* the underlying food! It must have been 80% chille powder and quite frankly, was totally unacceptable for a bar-meal. As hardly any of the food had been eaten we called the waitress over and explained the situation. The very helpful woman said she would go and talk to the manager. A few minutes later she arrived back to say that the manager had requested she come back and say "its spicy, thats what it said on the menu"! Now, for a start this was not my definition of 'spicy' and should have carried a clear warning or description mentioning the extreme nature of the dish. The fact that the manager wouldn't come over to see us himself irritated me immensley as by now he, along with the other staff were sitting just a few tables away (they had stopped serving) and to not be offered something, anything, in return for what was a very poor meal angered me more. By now, my partner was close to tears and the waitress walked back over to the management but in response to her discussions, the senior staff were becoming very animated including pointing and gesticulating at us from across the room. We felt totally helpless to take the complaint anywhere and also incredibly awkward and so we left quickly. I would like to state here that the waitress and bar staff were top class and couldn't have been more helpful, the problem I have is with the management who appear to be inflexible, not focused on providing a quality service and to cap it all off, blatantly rude to their customers. I would dearly like to see the Ropsley Fox improve, as the place is full of character and is a lovely pub. Its just being spoilt by the people who run it at the moment. From [email removed] Sun Aug 26 21:04:04 EDT 2001 Article: 4142 of uk.food+drink.restaurants
United Kingdom