The Woodman, Ide Hill

The Woodman is a beautiful pub in a lovely setting and one I have told others to visit. I have only been here a couple of times previous to my not so good experience today and enjoyed each visit with good service and good food apart from some under cooked chips but nothing to moan about. Today however 13.08.11 I had a terrible experience. We set off at 14:30 for some lunch and as I have enjoyed the baguettes at the Woodman I suggested we go there. I ordered 2 Prawn Baguettes (usually come in the form of a sandwich) but staff were happy to accommodate our request followed by 2 BLT�s however one to be a sandwich and the other to be the usual baguette as stated on the menu and once again staff were happy to accommodate our request. When lunch arrived, the order of 2 BLT's were incorrect 2 baguettes appeared at our table so I asked the waiter to kindly take one back and have this made up as a sandwich as originally asked for. The sandwich came back minus tomatoes however we weren�t too worried about this. When eating both the BLT Baguette and BLT Sandwich it was quickly noticeable that the Chicken was not Breast (however not stated on the menu) but chicken that was of poor quality and contained, bone, skin and fat. I quickly apologised for the fuss but went on to show and tell the waitress this cannot be eaten so please can this be taken away and changed for something else. At this time the waitress mentioned it should be chicken breast, we showed her others wise. The next thing was just appalling. The waitress came back from the kitchen and said to us she would be happy to take another order for something else but we had to pay for it. I couldn�t quite grasp the fact we hadn�t eaten and had already paid for those meals but was now being asked to order and pay for another two meals. I asked the waitress if I could speak with the manager, however he was out. Then another lady sitting nearby called the waitress over and said her BLT was disgusting and she went on to say it looks like a chicken's foot is in her baguette (this isn�t a joke, however I can�t say I see this). The waitress then took this back to the chef. When the waitress came back we were once again told he wouldn�t be changing our food as no one else had complained earlier in the day. At that point I said how can he justify us not eating but having to pay for extra meals. When the waitress came back from asking the chef this question she then said he is now willing to change our meals. We opted for a sausage, cheese and onion baguette and just a normal cheese and tomatoe sandwich. The two meals arrived however the sandwich was a cheese and onion sandwich, so once again this had to be taken back as onion is a big no no for me. Finally the sandwich arrived. I never made a fuss that I had paid over the odds for a normal cheese sandwich as opposed to my BLT, however on the flip side I was not offered a drink or much of an apology. The chef on this day was Adrian and I will be contacting the manager to discuss this dreadful experience. I have never experienced this and what a shame however there is so many wonderful pubs within the vicinity so I will be making the most of them.

13 Aug 2011 21:57