I had the misfortune to visit ‘Miller & Carter Sherwood Forest’ in October 2017. It was an unedifying disaster.
I’ve since returned in 2018 to experience their new team of staff and thankfully it was a joy. I’ve got a feeling the menu was cheaper too!
There’s no question the food and value is excellent, I’ve never doubted this, however, is the service finally consistent?….
They claim to be “experts in steak”. What a shame they’re not experts in PR, hiring and training their staff or customer service. My first visit was a disaster.
Here’s my Oct 2017 Review…
The 70th Miller & Carter Steakhouse is a good 30 minutes away from Sherwood Forest despite its name. It’s 7 miles in-between Nottingham and Mansfield.
Enjoy our exclusive review via YouTube:
I first visited just after 6.30pm on a drizzly Tuesday in October.
This eatery won the award for least welcoming, most pompous, most disorganised and least apologetic restaurant that I have EVER encountered in 15+ years of global dining.
Ironically, tonight I ate at a 3 Michelin star restaurant in London which had far less pretence & arrogance. Class, grace and elegance are rare qualities.
Book a table at Miller & Cater here.
A year ago this building housed a £3.99 ‘all you can eat’ buffet carvery. Offering crap food in mucky surroundings, the atmosphere was rough but the welcome was warm and friendly.
The staff were trained, prepared & knew their clientele…unlike its replacement.
After a glorious refit turning ‘The Seven Mile’ pub into an elegant US style steakhouse / brasserie – the rudeness I experienced was astonishing.
OK, all restaurants have bad nights but that’s not an excuse for contempt.
We were told to wait 40 minutes (without explanation) despite most of the restaurant being empty. Infuriating.
Honesty (and maybe offering a drink) if you’ve got staffing issues is the best solution to this sometimes unavoidable embarrassment. A ‘take it or leave it’ approach (like the bonny fella on the door decided to take) is lunacy in 2017.
We went to the bar where the staff were more clueless than the maitre de. Bitter is not cider. Gordon’s is not vodka. At least this wasted 20 minutes of the 40 minute wait.
We were finally seated at 7.15pm straight in front of a public door on a chilly autumn evening. I of course requested to move to the disbelief and bewilderment of the server.
Before being handed the menu we were bamboozled by the declaration that 6 items unavailable. Three of them were steaks.
Wine by the glass blew the waitress’ mind and it took her 6 minutes to order our 2 starters and mains on the ludicrously complicated hand held device.
Kim Jong-un could start a war with over complicated farce.
The server confessed she was new (as was the first server – which is fine) and was learning on the job. Despite being unable to do her job she was utterly charming and had a beaming smile throughout.
She only needed 3 different staff to help with our order. Not awkward at all.
Pen and paper Mr Carter?????
As for the food – well, it’s excellent, not too expensive and totally irrelevant when you’re pissed off by such an appalling litany of failures.
I gave the restaurant, press office & staff on the night an opportunity to make it right and avoid this review.
The assistant to the assistant manager did explain in writing today:
“Though I cannot condone or excuse certain action on that evening I believe that we had several team sent home with sickness symptoms. Resulting in your ruined evening.”
Speechless.
No attempt to invite us back, compensate or make this right. OK, a review it is.
Hey ho – lesson learned. I’ll find another £3.99 carvery without this drama.
Despite having decent food, although too pricey for most in Nottingham, I will never return to this chain which brags “177-seater restaurant specialising in 30-day aged steaks”.
No point having nearly 200 seats if 150 of them are unavailable Mr Miller.
Never encountered such rudeness. Shambles. Avoid.
THANKFULLY I REVISITED IN FEB 2018 AND THERE APPEARS TO BE AN ENTIRELY NEW MANAGEMENT AND STAFF.
It was a lovely meal with perfect service.
Review by Alex Belfield for Celebrity Radio 7th November 2017 – updates 12th Feb 2018.
Leave a Reply