"My booking was for a pre-theatre meal for myself (mum and 2 kids (age 14 12 during the Easter school holidays. I made an 18:00 booking online via the pub 's website, which was straightforward enough, and received a confirmation email on booking also a reminder email a few days prior to the reservation. We arrived on time, but there was no staff around, so we followed the 'dining ' sign made our way down to the second level to the area that said 'wait to be seated '. We stood and waited for a member of staff, and then saw a table with our name on it, so we seated ourselves. Unfortunately, there was a large group of men standing by our table. No big deal- it happens, so I got up to find someone to let them know we were there and also to ask if we could possibly have a quieter table. There was still nobody around at the 'wait to be seated ' area by the kitchen, so I popped to the bar downstairs. The bar staff were friendly but said they would need to check with the dining team. After a few minutes, a guy with a beard arrived. He said he hadn 't seen us come in. I asked if we could move to one of the tables on that level as it was much quieter, and there were free tables available. He said that we could but that it is always loud at the pub and it is likely to get loud downstairs, too, once the other group arrived (there was a reserved table set for 8+ . I still saw this as the better option, because at least the next group would be seated, so we wouldn 't feel as hemmed in. He didn 't make an effort to re-seat me, so I went back up a level to get my children, and we moved downstairs. We then chose one of the 3 empty (no-reserved tables and sat down. We waited for someone to come and take our drinks order give us our menus, but again, no one was around. I was starting to worry that we 'd be late for the theatre, so I went online to their website to view the menu, so we could make our decision and have our order ready for when someone eventually came, but there was still no sign of anyone! Not wanting to get up again to try and find someone I decided to ring the pub on my mobile to remind them that we were downstairs. The person on the phone said they couldn 't hear me and hung up. Shortly thereafter, the man with the beard came to the table, but instead of taking our order he told us that we would have to leave because they don 't allow under 16 's after 6pm! It was like one thing after another! Thinking it might be because they like to keep it adult only and they don 't like kids running around, I motioned to the empty tables around us. Even though my kids weren 't exactly little children, they are very quiet mature, and certainly better behaved than the group of adults on the middle floor! He then proceeded to argue that he would lose his liquor license if he allowed them to stay. I don 't know if this is true or not, as we didn 't stick around to argue the case, but if this is true, then they should inform you of this beforehand. But there isn 't any such detail about this rule on any section of their website. There was also no mention of it on the booking system/booking confirmation email. As an aside- all of the reserved tables had a time slot on the sign that had already passed- meaning they had multiple no-show reservations. Yet we turned up on time only to be asked to leave! This left us right in the lurch because we needed to be at the theatre by 7:30pm, and with no booking for anywhere else, I feared we may end up at Macdonalds, which is annoying given I made these arrangements 2 weeks in advance! Fortunately, we managed to get a table at the pub next door, where we got our meals quickly, and the atmosphere was warm friendly. I would definitely recommend AVOIDING this place if you have kids or teens, as they are NOT family friendly. It was a frustrating experience all round."
Fried Calamari
