A disgruntled diner who complained online about the manager's expression has been served up a hard-hitting reply. The annoyed customer left a one star rating on Tripadvisor under the heading "miserable manager".
She said she was served "virtually raw food" at the Oaken Arms in Codsall near Wolverhampton earlier this summer. But then she claimed that when she asked to speak to the manager, she was "greeted with a face of misery".
While many other customers appeared to enjoy their visits to the eatery, which has a 3.5 star Tripadvisor rating from almost 800 reviews, she was unhappy at her visit. And she left the one-star "terrible" rating on the site, reports Birmingham Live.
Writing on the review site at the end of June, the woman with the name of Janet said she did not enjoy her visit blaming the management for her "bad experience". And while she did praise other staff she had nothing but criticism for the bosses.
Her review in full said: "Booked in for a table today as the manager was unable to find me an adequate table the day before. We were hoping for a more pleasant experience than the day before however this was certainly not the case.
"The food was virtually raw, staff were rushed off their feet and when I asked for the manager to come over the table was greeted with a face of misery. I can’t fault the other staff on tonight as I eventually received help with my complaint however the management tonight was appalling and were completely at fault for my bad experience."
But the general manager of the Oaken Arms, identified as Mike on Tripadvisor, decided to respond to her complaints on Tripadvisor - apologising that she felt the "service was not up to standard".
He added that the pub had been very busy that and had been fully booked most of the evenings, so they couldn't offer Janet a table on the first evening. He also said he felt it a shame that the first time Janet had left a review for them was a negative one after he said she has been complimentary in the past.
Mike's response said: "I'd like to apologise if you felt the service was not up to standard this particular time. It is a busy week at The Oaken, and we have been fully booked most of the evenings, so if you have not reserved like you hadn't on Tuesday, then it's pretty difficult for us to find anything for you unfortunately, and likewise if you book and have no requests with that reservation, we allocate any table that is available.
"I have spoken to the supervisor on shift about this evening and we will look to make sure we can avoid any issue again. You have visited us on numerous occasions and been very complimentary about our food and service, in particular the lasagne; which we no longer serve on the menu but look to procure from wherever we can upon knowing you are visiting us to further improve your experience.
"So it is a shame you have chosen this one unfortunate event to leave your first review for us, and the first 1* star of my tenure here as manager, but you have seen us at our best before, and I am sure on your next visit normal service will be resumed and we can get a five star review as redemption."
The Oaken Arms has 792 independent reviews on Tripadvisor - of which 480 are either 'excellent' or 'very good'. A reviewer who visited earlier this week, said: "Without a doubt the best food in the Midlands. The atmosphere, the staff are excellent and the menu is varied with the portions filling and satisfying.
"A special mention to Chloe our waitress who was attentive to our needs and served us in a professional manner with a smile. We will be booking up again very soon. Thank you all so much for making the wife's 60th birthday meal such a marvellous experience. 12/10."
Mia said: "We visited the Oaken Arms on a lovely sunny day, we was greeted by Chloe who assisted us to our table with a lovely smile and very pleasant. Our food was cooked to the highest standard by Craig Lewis and his lovely team, thoroughly enjoyed our lunch.
"Served super fast too! I will definitely be returning here as I saw some lovely meals being served so need to give them a try! I had the beef brisket sandwich, so flavoursome!
"Also a lovely bonus to this place is that you can take dogs, I took my little puppy and he loved all the attention he got. Lovely view to sit outside also on a hot summers day. Thanks to everyone here for your amazing service that day."
And Emma added: "My partner and I are regular customers to this pub. I always leave happy and full of delicious food.
"The servers always do a great job to make me feel at home. Laura is great at knowing what we want and is always efficient at getting our order sorted fast.
"Never had a problem at all with this pub and would highly recommend the place to anyone looking for good value for money."
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