The Old Smithy - Stafford

On the day of our reservation, part of my family arrived early and were directed to go upstairs. However, when I arrived later, I found that our reservation had been double booked for a Baby Shower downstairs. Despite my reservation being made in July, we were forced to move downstairs without any apology from management. The staff did not handle the situation well and it was clear they prioritized the other group over us. The space we were moved to was cramped and unsuitable, making it difficult for us to enjoy our meal. This was especially challenging for my nephew who is autistic. The poor customer service and lack of consideration for our needs overshadowed the delicious food and the helpfulness of our table servers. I reached out to the restaurant via email to express my disappointment, but received no response. This lack of acknowledgment from management is shameful and rude. Despite the quality of the food, the overall experience was a total embarrassment. We had planned to make this restaurant our yearly venue for my Nan’s birthday, but we will now be looking for alternative options. As paying customers, we should have been treated better. It is unacceptable that our booking was mishandled and our concerns were ignored. We will not be returning to "The Old Smithy" in the future.

Well not the best meal I 've ever had. The starter was OK, nothing brilliant. But the main well, where should I start, fish over cooked, I had to ask for the veg, staff didn 't know how to serve correctly and when I complained the reply was oh OK no reply at all. When a written complaint was done the reply was we take your comments on board well the simplistic of meals that cannot be done right Fish chips didn 't bother with desert to be honest why bother. Guess what the place will never be visited again.

We have eaten at The Old Smithy numerous times and used the function room for a large family celebratory meal. It has been our restaurant of choice for a number of years. Sadly, we had a meal in the restaurant last night to celebrate our wedding anniversary and were left bitterly disappointed. The starters were absolutely fine. However, whilst accepting that her choice of main wasn't to my wife's liking, that was a subjective assessment. Her main criticism was that the vegetables were virtually raw she couldn't cut them they were so undercooked. I chose the lamb shoulder, and although not a lean cut, I barely had any meat content as the offering was virtually all fat. We are not the type to complain usually, but my wife felt compelled to comment on the quality of her meal when asked whether it was OK (she had left the majority of it). The waitress relayed her comments to the chef patron, who simply sent a message back to say that he was sorry she didn't enjoy the meal but that it is served often in the restaurant without complaint. At the time, there was one other couple in the restaurant who had just finished their meal, so I thought it might have been reasonable for the chef to come and discuss what was wrong it was pretty obvious that this is not something Martin does. I did ask the barman if I could speak to him, but was told he was unavailable and was given a business card instead. It was the lack of concern displayed by the patron that irked us the most. Having recommended the restaurant many times previously, we won't be doing so again. Neither will we visit again. A sad end to what should have been a lovely celebration. Disappointed!

Its been a while since we have last eaten at the Old Smithy (Pre Covid) ..did not disappoint... food was excellent, service was spot on, what a lovely relaxing evening we had, wish we had gone back a lot sooner. Well worth a visit..... we will not leave so long next time !!!!!

What an amazing place! Great food, lovely atmosphere and wonderful staff! Great value for money. Will definitely be going back!