The Penruddocke Arms

Our first visit with family for Sunday carvery. The outside is not a good first impression, very untidy. The staff were very welcoming & polite & showed us to our table with instructions re. collecting our meal. Good selection of meat & vegetables which all looked very appetising. Plates were cold & the whole place was very cold as radiators not working, this resulted in our meal getting cold before we could finish eating. It seems the place is a work in progress but would be better to close while the refurb is complete & the heating sorted, the staff are trying their best but they can’t work miracles.

Pre booked and paid for Christmas Day dinner for my sister and son. At £40 a head was a really good deal. Appeared to be an absence of staff on arrival. One lady and get child serving food and a chef on the hot plate. After being seated in the restaurant we waited over 20 minutes for service so went to the bar to look for someone. A really nice lady came out from the kitchen and explained they had sickness so there was only the two of them. We had ordered the vegetarian option which came undercooked and cold. Vegetables were literally the dregs of the hot plate. We didn’t stay for dessert. We were told we did not have to pay for one of the drinks as goodwill for the service (the two glasses of Prosecco were flat anyway).. The restaurant was grubby we were seated next to dead flies, cobwebs and broken old Christmas decorations and the place needed a good old clean. I requested a refund from the absentee manager today, after describing our experience, and have been told that I won’t be getting one as everyone else on the day was happy and we were clearly the problem.In the response I have been accused of being rude to the staff (which couldn’t be any further from the truth) We actually felt sorry for how they had been left on the day and told them so ,also that we were going to drive off (strange comment to make as I paid in advance!) Don’t expect a sincere apology as you won’t get one. Unprofessional narcissistic management who won’t accept criticism and feedback,who also needs to learn some customer service skills when dealing with negative feedback. Fortunately, I paid by credit card so will be getting my money back that way.

I live locally and had several members of my family staying. Booked for dinner, 5 adults 4 children. The kids were made welcome and played on the pool table. Dinner was a long wait. Some of our group served before others, so we couldn't all eat together. Poor selection of ales. Hope Management will get it's act together otherwise this place will fold. As a local, I would genuinely want it to succeed.