"I made my lunch reservation for Saturday 10th December online through OpenTable on 21st October, and then visited the Bowling Green Southam website to obtain a copy of their Christmas Menu, which they advertised as being available every day except Sundays from 1st to 23rd December. It was a special occasion in which we were travelling 120 miles up from Surrey to join old friends for our annual Christmas reunion. We wanted to try something different this year to our usual venue near Leamington Spa, and after reading the generally positive reviews online, we decided to give The Bowling Green a try. We were a little early arriving, but as the restaurant wasn 't very busy, we were taken straight to our table. After taking our drinks order, the waitress then presented us with their current a-la-carte-style Main Menu. When I then asked her that we would prefer to order from the Christmas Menu instead, a copy of which adorned every table in the room, she declared that this was only available if booked in advance. I then informed her that nowhere had I seen anything to state the requirement, either on OpenTable nor their own website, and that this news had come as a great disappointment. She then remarked somewhat dismissively that she was already aware of the unfortunate omission and could only apologise. Left with little alternative and not wishing to sour a festive occasion any further, we decided to stay and placed our orders from the Main Menu instead. However, to add to our disappointment even further, the waitress then proceeded to reel off a number of dishes (starters, mains and sweets) that were no longer available, ironically owing to the chef being 'very busy producing Christmas menus instead '. Luckily, our food arrived fairly promptly and was of reasonable, if not entirely memorable, quality. In summary, our culinary experience fell well short of expectations, especially since they had ample time in which to notify me of the Christmas Menu booking omission."
