The Boars Head, Aust

Booked a table for 19.30 on a Saturday. Arrived to a fairly busy, but certainly not packed pub.
After several waiters had walked by our group ignoring us we stopped one and enquired about our booking and were taken to a table.
Drinks were ordered and menus handed out, with the said drinks arriving to the table shortly after.
Following a long wait for someone to take our order (waiters busying back and forth past our table) we again had to stop a waiter, who told us that they were 'not supposed to be providing table service' that evening (meaning our whole group was supposed to have ordered our food at the bar...). However, he kindly decided to make an exception as we had been waiting so long without anyone telling us...
.... but despite it being relatively early when we began to order mains we found that 3 of the 'premium dishes' (duck, lamb and pork) were not available... not only this but there was going to be at least an hours wait for the food.
This was extremely disappointing as several of the group could have neither their first nor second choices, but we persevered and ordered alternatives.
The starters arrived around 45 minutes later. The Camembert and Ciabatta which I had was lovely, and the other starters looked good also.
The mains arrived over an hour after ordering, with the burger certainly being a healthy (or not so) portion. The steak, which I ate, was OK, but a lack of any sauce left it rather bland and the meat itself was a bit stringy and laced with sinew, giving me the impression it wasn't the highest quality that the menu stated.
Further drinks were ordered from the bar (for which there was a long wait), however, no glasses were removed from the table at any point during the meal, even following the courses.
Overall I was extremely disappointed with the service, especially for the price of the meal (I would certainly expect to be ordering from my table, from a full menu and having glasses cleared).
The lack of service was highlighted when the couple in front of us at the bar queue enquired about the availability of food, were told it was available so ordered drinks and found a table (which the waiter cleared for them) only to have the same waiter return two minutes later to inform them that they wouldn't be able to eat after all as the kitchen wasn't taking more orders.

I would certainly not recommend a visit due to the poor service and overpriced food which left me thoroughly disappointed and undervalued as a customer.

21 Jun 2009 00:29