Marston's Reviews 349

TrustScore 2 out of 5

2.1

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Evaluating 81 reviews, most reviewers were unhappy with their experience overall. Many customers expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of the food, noting issues like dry, overcooked, or inedible items, and even foreign objects found in meals. Reviewers also frequently criticized the service, citing long wait times for food, unhelpful staff, and a general lack of attention. The pricing was another significant concern, with many finding the food and drinks to be overpriced, especially given the perceived low quality and small portion sizes. Conversely, some people also felt that the staff could be friendly, welcoming, and efficient, with specific individuals receiving praise for their excellent service. However, other reviewers found the staff to be poorly trained, argumentative, and at times, rude, particularly managers. There was also a lack of consensus regarding the product offerings, with some enjoying their meals while others found the menu choices limited, especially for vegetarian and vegan options.

What people talk about most

Staff

Reviewers mention ambiguous feedback about staff, with many praising the friendliness, attentiveness, and... See more

Quality

Customers had negative experiences with quality, frequently reporting issues with food being overcooked,... See more

Service

People report negative experiences with service, with many reviewers expressing disappointment and... See more

Price

Consumers consistently express dissatisfaction with pricing, frequently describing items as overpriced and... See more

Product

Clients share ambiguous opinions on product quality and offerings. Some reviewers found the food beautifully... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Admirals Table Bridgwater-The table service was good but… Prawn cocktail starter-the bread was dry as if just defrosted-slightly picky but missing a lemon wedge. The buttered Tuna mayo jacket pot... See more

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Skylark Taunton Drove in and discussed KFC, Macdonalds and the Skylark. Decided we wanted something a little better than take away (mistake one) greeted by someone who could hardly be bothered to pas... See more

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

This was the Flying Shuttle in Haverhill. Generally the food and service was fine but just one vegan option on the dessert menu (crumble but with vegan ice cream instead of custard). But they had no... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

As a cask ale drinkers I was surprised to be told in a Marstons pub that they don't sell Marstons pedigree (what a joke).I listened to all the febel excuses none of them wash with me. Marstons arrogan... See more


Company details

  1. Food, Beverages & Tobacco

Information provided by various external sources

The UK's leading independent and pub retailing business, Marston's PLC is at the heart of thriving local communities.


Contact info

2.1

Poor

TrustScore 2 out of 5

349 reviews

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1-star

No history of asking for reviews

This company hasn't invited their customers, so reviews may not be representative

Hasn’t replied to negative reviews

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Went to the Pepper Mill in Longton

Went to the Pepper Mill in Longton, ordered chicken burger for myself and Chilli for the wife.
Chicken burger was a child size with a very small portion of fries not chips..no peas .not worth the £10.49
Do not bother with Marsdons, menu as gone up and meals smaller

5 May 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Very small portions

Went to the Golden Lion Barnard. Castle, for lunch, which is a Marston's pub. I ordered the soup which when it came was in a conventional soup bowl, but the soup barely covered the bottom of the bowl! I emailed Marstons who refer to costs being under review. Why sell soup if yiu only give such meaningless portions? I was not the only one complaining to the staff, who as the portuins are governed by Marstons waa unable to assist. Shame on Marsdens.

28 April 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

I needed to stop driving for half an…

I needed to stop driving for half an hour and have a cold drink nipped into Marston's just outside Ludlow. Ordered a glass of lemonade and a glass of pepsi. Both were draft served with lots of ice neither very big about half pint glasses cost £6. I could of had two coffees in there cheaper with more ingredients and better volume. I remember why I don't drink in pubs anymore.

19 April 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

From Eva aged 3.5yrs

From Eva aged 3.5yrs. Thank you so much for my lovely food, which was nuggets with waffles and beans.
My orange fruit shoot was lovely. Angel and Alex were very lovely xx

2 April 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

What a shocking overpriced meal

What a shocking meal - sorry, it wasn’t a meal, it was a £13.45 snack. I ordered the sharer wings and ribs and cheesy garlic bread. Both portions were disgracefully small and seriously overpriced. If I could give this zero stars, I would. Sorry, can’t write anymore - I’ve got to leave to go and find some food to fill me up 😡😡

13 March 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 3 out of 5 stars

The price of 2 diet cokes with our meal…

The price of 2 diet cokes with our meal was £7.30. Total price £31.30 for 2 people. Across the road in Costco a pack of 30 cans of Diet Coke £9.30. Witherspoon 2 meals and 2 large Diet Coke less than £16 all in. Last time I’ll visit a marstons.

23 February 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible.

The quality of the food was the worst meal I have eaten out in all my years.

16 February 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Took my family to the Pure Drop for terrible meal

Took my family to the Pure Drop, 457 Wimborne Road, Ferndown for Saturday lunch. My wife ordered the Sea Bass, which was on the Specials Menu. She had a fillet which was approximately 10 cms in length and 6 cms in width. Immediately brought the size of the tiny fillet to the manageress’s attention and she agreed. After 10 minutes, she appeared and said that the new piece of Sea Bass would be another seven minutes. My wife pointed out that her meal had been served on a cold plate. By which she inferred that by the time she waited for the second fillet her meal would be cold! Given another fillet which was even smaller than the first.

When I asked for the bill we were charged five pounds for the extra “minnow” sized fillet. (see enclosed bill) I took great exception to this as my wife had ended up with two small pieces of fish which would have in no way been the equivalent of a normal Sea Bass fillet. Added to which she had consumed a lunch which had gone cold! I pointed these facts out to the manageress clearly and politely, without raising my voice. I informing her that I should have had a discount on my bill due to the problems with the meal, rather than being charged extra. I was then accused loudly of being very rude at a counter which had several customers.
. A Saturday lunch with my family, which should have been a happy event had turned into a very unpleasant event.

12 February 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Complaint procedures dreadful

I was assaulted in my local Flying Childers Doncaster before xmas by a drunk customer for no reason i called the police immediately regarding the incident. The manager then had the audacity to text me the following day that i was not welcome in the pub anymore suffice to say some of the individuals in question were her friends she also sent the cctv footage to my partner who i was in the pub with at the time. We were both extremely angry and worried of the repercussions considering it was now a police matter and we were unsure who else she had shown the cctv to. I contacted Marstons immediately regarding the managers behaviour as there had been other violent incidents in the past. As a loyal well behaved customer of the pub for some 30 years i expected some firm action from Marstons. However how wrong i was to be told by Marstons that “the manager has the right to refuse anyone they see fit” was there only response was downright shameful and showed a lack of customer care. They may as well just said, we couldn’t care less who or what our managers do as long as the pub they run is making money!!!

16 December 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Visited the Bridge Inn (Was Ruddy Duck)…

Visited the Bridge Inn (Was Ruddy Duck) Wakefield.
The order of Two Hunters Chicken came without onion rings Ordered a side order of onion rings advised after I paid no onion rings replaced with garlic bread.
A large coke (Pepsi) came with a large amount of ice and cost £3.75.
I returned to the Bridge Inn expect an improvement in service and menu the latter is unchanged
I will not be returning and advise any future customers should use an alternative restaurant.

30 December 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The Fields at Aylesford - My recommendation would be don’t ever go there at Xmas as a group

We went there as a family group of 18 for the prebooked Boxing Day festive diner. We booked and paid the deposits for meals on 30 October and we were told at the time that it would only be prebooked meals on Boxing Day, which we understood.

However, we weren’t off to a good start as soon as we arrived yesterday, despite arriving by 13:15. Even though we had booked, paid the deposit and hand delivered and emailed menu choices for two additional diners on 23 December, these had apparently been lost by the kitchen, and they only had 16 menu choices, despite having set the tables for 18 diners. I didn’t even get the courtesy of an email response. As it turned out, the seating arrangements was one of the only things that they did get right. After re giving the additional diners’ menu choices we thought we had sorted it out.

As soon as our party group was complete, I confirmed to staff that we were all there and asked that we have the starters as soon as possible. I also decided then to pay for the meals to speed things up when we had finished as we had a toddler and small baby in our party who would be tired by the end of the meal, and others in our party needed to attend other family events in the late afternoon/evening. I noticed that the bill did not seem quite right and on checking saw that the two additional starters had been added but the two additional mains and desserts had not. I went to the bar to sort this mistake out and a member of staff added the missed meals and deserts.

It was 30 minutes before any food arrived, and this unfortunately was not our starters but the two main meals that had been missed from the order and then added. We sent these back to the kitchen as none of us had received or had our starters yet. It was then a further 15 minutes before the starters began to arrive. These arrived in dribs and drabs over about 15/20 minutes. The soups were half-filled bowls of cold/tepid soup, there was no butter with the bread despite numerous requests for it. However, the main issue was with the Oak Smoked Salmon & Prawn Salads. One of the first to arrive from our party was informed that there were apparently no prawns, and as it turns out seemingly no eggs either. What was served was a pathetic piece of salmon on the plate with a little dressing and two tiny bits of bread, see photo. They should not have been charged for these as they were not as described.

The main meals began to arrive at 15:20. These again arrived over a period of about 20 minutes. The turkey diners were cold, two of them were stone cold, these were obviously the two diners that came incorrectly before the starters did and were returned, they had not been replaced or kept warm. The pastry on the parsnip and chestnut tarts was rock hard and the vegetables were cold. The only meals that were ok were the beef bourguignon and the grilled salmon. So, only five of the eighteen mains were hot enough to enjoy.

By 16:15 and following numerous requests for our deserts we gave up and I went to the bar to obtain refunds for our deserts. The member of staff did these, and we left, very disappointed. As we were sitting near the door, we saw the number of walk ins that arrived, who were seated and fed and had left before we even received our food in some cases. Walk ins apparently had their own cook, according to one member of staff, and the pre booked mugs like us had another, who obviously couldn’t cope.

I don’t understand why, on Boxing Day, they were still taking walk ins, or why people who hadn’t bothered to book or pay a deposit were seemingly prioritised over people who had. Surely for the sake of their staff and for the pre booked diners it would have been better not to have done. It was short sighted, greedy, and ridiculous to still be accepting walk ins on the day. We felt extremely sorry for the serving staff, who told us it had also been carnage on Christmas day, as they were on the receiving end of complaints from us. It is unfair and unprofessional to put their front-line staff in this position, where were the managers? We eat at the Fields on a regular basis, sometimes with quite large family groups, we have never had such a bad experience and will probably never eat there again. What a difference a change of manager has made, sadly not for the better.

26 December 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Chain Runner Livingston

We have stayed here several times and this 6 night stay was the worst. Our cups were not washed once. Neither was the bathroom. Sheets never replaced and bins never emptied. Our dirty towels were left for 3 days. On last night no clean towels were left. What a dreadful experience. A never again experience.

21 December 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Ordered two pints of fosters, turned out to be cleaning fluid

Ordered two pints of fosters, waited some 15 minutes for the pints to be poured, more froth than beer. First sip tasted of cleaning fluid, drinks exchanged, seemed fine until after a few sips. Exchanged the beer for different types ie lager/cider, and handed over a note to pay for the difference in cost. Unfortunately I was charged the full price for the replacements. In shock l accepted it, £15 for two decent pints, not good for business. I don't intend to use the facilities again, although it's a good pub, all is needed is decent management.

20 December 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Well we arrived 10 minues early we were…

Well we arrived 10 minues early we were told to out by 3pm ah yes that's ok if you gat served we waited 45 minuets for our food and when it did arrive it was cold the yorkshire pudding had just been defroszted and cold the brocoli was not even cooked it was a disapintment for our freinds who had invited us to the place for a meal and a catch up we did not conplain as we had done in another pud like this one and food came back having been microwaved and was redicululy hot it was a killer not good terible service staff taking food to the wrong tables and mixing things up the Running Horse Fakenham not going again

11 December 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Friendly efficient staff

Pitcher & Piano Nottingham.
Called in for lunch with my wife, pleased to say there was a good choice of vegetarian options and the staff were friendly and efficient. We thoroughly enjoyed visit and as this venue is located in a former church it’s visually stunning.

20 November 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Shambolic

What positive comment can be left for a company who’s secretary’s and area managers can’t be bothered to return a call. All it shows is they are so arrogant that customers don’t matter

1 October 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Harvester Shrewsbury

Visited, the Shrewsbury harvester next to the cinema, poor service poor food,we were in there 90mins only had a main .no time for a dessert. To be fair glad I kept my money, better service and food at the Golden Arches!! I filled out the complaints on there web site , guess what no reply Brilliant, I would avoid it food was not great service even worse, keep your money. Never again will I go to any marstons.

28 October 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Green Dragon, Terrible

Went to Green Dragon in Welton, East Yorkshire for my mum and nanas birthday... safe to say I won't be going back.

For context the pub is in quite a "posh" area which you would find a fair few wealthy people however the pub didn't live up to that one bit. Staff are arrogant, food is terrible, i heard a few of the staff members moaning about a customers request across the room, staff are also far too slow to see to you for payment, we was stood waiting at the bar for 10 minutes when leaving, we must of been waiting a good 50 minutes for our main course to arrive and when that arrived it set the tone for the rest of the meal. Garbage, loads of meals weren't available because they didn't have it in... this was a sunday afternoon by the way so you would of thought they had a restock of everything.

My partner wasn't that hungry at the time so got a kids chicken sunday roast which came on a bone... again not exactly thinking ahead giving kids bones.

Just generally poor with everything, it wasn't busy either so they couldn't use that excuse. Certainly wouldn't recommend it, I would advise going to McDonalds instead, you'll get better service there.

16 October 2022
Unprompted review

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