Ember Inns Reviews 

379
TrustScore 2.5 out of 5

2.3

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Looking at 75 reviews, most reviewers were unhappy with their experience overall. Customers frequently complained about poor food quality, mentioning heavily overcooked meals, tough meat, cold dishes, and generally tasteless options that ruined their dining visits. People also noted frustrating issues with slow or inattentive service, experiencing exceptionally long waits for food, unhelpful staff members, and completely disorganized table management. Some reviewers were happy with the friendly staff, delicious food, and welcoming atmosphere during their special celebrations. A few other people also felt that the pubs offered a pleasant setting for gatherings, praising helpful team members, hot meals, and well-organized events.

What people talk about most

Staff

Reviewers highlight ambiguous aspects of staff, presenting strongly contrasting experiences regarding team... See more

Service

Reviewers mention ambiguous feedback about service, with opinions varying widely. Some consumers report... See more

Product

Clients share negative opinions on product, highlighting meals that were consistently overcooked, dry, or not... See more

Quality

Customers consistently express deep disappointment and frustration with food quality, frequently reporting... See more

Location

Consumers find location to be ambiguous, with reviewers mentioning visits across various towns and cities... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Bury St Edmunds branch. In the past, this has been ideal. Two family gatherings in the last fortnight have been badly spoiled by extremely slow service (nice waiting staff though). We had so long to... See more

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

I was at the Broadway today and the food was not as described. Even the young gentleman who came to speak to my friend about his meal agreed when I mentioned that my potatoes were not as described o... See more

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

We have recently visited the kings Fairway in Ashford , the staff as always were very good and courteous and service was good and food fine. The only thing criticism is that as Wednesday evenin... See more

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

The food was mediocre the staff were not friendly at all seemed unhappy and it felt like they were there because they had to be there. Given the wrong drink and the manager said she saw the staff memb... See more


Company details

  1. Restaurant
  2. Bar
  3. Pub

Information provided by various external sources

Ember Inns offer a modern take on the best of a traditional local pub. There's no better place to enjoy Cask Marque-certified real ales, fine wines and delicious classic pub food. Whether you want to eat at a family-friendly pub, relax with a pint a...


Contact info

2.3

Poor

TrustScore 2.5 out of 5

379 reviews

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1-star

No history of asking for reviews

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2.3

All reviews

(379)

75 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Sub zero

Eden arms Doncaster,
One steak meal just thrown on the plate burnt onion chips poorly cooked under statement.

One steak pie meal poor sums it up .

Bar service when staff spend their time on a phone sums it up .

Keep your money why pay for rubbish.

9 January 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Fuming

Booked a table for 7 Christmas Day 1.30 - 3.30

Was seated by the door .very cold every time the door opened . The young lady who booked us in was very helpful & moved us to another table.

Waited until 3 pm for starters . Mains came out at 4.15 with food missing from some meals . In all honesty the food wasn’t great. Pudding came 5.05. It took from 5.30 until 6 to sort out the bill paying for extra pigs in black & stuffing .

We along with others were given a refund .

This did not make up for the 5 hours wasted and the amount we spent on drinking for the 5 hours we were there.

25 December 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Ive had better food from McDonald's …

We have had the need to return food as it was cold. Instead of issuing fresh food they have microwaved the food and sent it back out, and this included chicken..... disgraceful. The waitress never spoke just put it back on the table with no apology, didnt even make eye contact. If you don't like your job, I'm sure there are people out there that would. Definitely won't be returning any time soon

21 December 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Just had the Christmas fare meal at the…

Just had the Christmas fare meal at the olton tavern absolutely terrible put into a side room because we we're a party of 12 and they just seemed to have forgot about us the service was especially slow waiting absolutely age's between the courses and when the food came it was nothing to rave about the roasted potatoes were so hard nether fork or knife would get in to them .no way would I ever set foot in this place again

20 December 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Horse and Jockey Sutton…

Party of 7 at 7.45.
No Hunters Chicken
No Seabass
No Belly Pork
No Apple Pie
No Cream Brule
Very disappointing!!!
I ended up with Scampi and Salad and no dessert!!

9 December 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Oh dear

Oh dear. Visited The Hind on 6/12, Male Singer (ostensibly) started crooning around 745 - atmosphere deteriorated - far too loud, far too dated, far too 'in your face'.
Will be avoiding if he returns!
Otherwise - great pub and over-the-top very nice Bar Staff.

6 December 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Birthday meal

From start
Bar member attitude terrible
Very rude
It was my 61st birthday with family
It was empty venue
We ordered pudding 30mimute wait cold
She slammed it down snatch it away
Seven stars Exeter

2 December 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

We had a Christmas party last night at…

We had a Christmas party last night at the Black Horse Wembley and to be honest I wasn’t expecting much as last years meal was so bad I was surprised our group decided to go here again.

Well it was well worth the visit 16 of us made the food was actually amazing most of us cleaned our plates and they all came on time and hot which is an extra bonus.

The staff were really welcoming and super friendly and helpful I do wish they had name badges so we could give some special mentions as they really work hard with Christmas cheer on their faces.

The Venue is beautiful dressed for the Christmas festivities and again some hard work has been done to make you feel like it’s Christmas and a lovely roaring fire to go with it so all in all a great place for us.

Many thanks from all of us at Grange Farm

28 November 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Bury St Edmunds branch.

Bury St Edmunds branch.
In the past, this has been ideal. Two family gatherings in the last fortnight have been badly spoiled by extremely slow service (nice waiting staff though). We had so long to wait each time that we had no time for desserts or coffee. All previous meals there were served rapidly and the food was better cooked and more plentiful. I know we are all feeling the pinch, but there was no excuse for my fish meal to be served cold on both occasions and completely overcooked and dried up on the first occasion. I was refunded for my meal, but precious time with my family was ruined. Each of us said that they were disappointed with the food, and it has always been such a good standard.

27 October 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Lack of Basic Information

We were not told that we had to order and pay for our food at the bar beforehand which we didn't like. We are 4 older people and we thought it was a letdown. We had already sat there for 10 minutes before we realized. Also, table staff were in a trance; not having any idea what they were supposed to be doing; unhelpful When we ordered our food we were told that certain things were no longer on the menu even though there was no prior notice. Food when it came was tasteless. Pub lacked atmosphere despite it being a Sunday lunchtime and was half empty. The chairs and decor were very good but we won't be coming back to Three Hammers Mill Hill! Very disappointed!

19 October 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Private Room Hire

I booked a room at the Punch Bowl in Nottingham for a private function to gather children, grandchildren and great grandchildren for my 86 year old mum. What I didn’t anticipate was that the function room was now upstairs and my mum couldn’t get up there. I have to say that Stephanie was fantastic. Realising the situation, Stephanie soon made room downstairs for my family to gather. Genuinely worth her weight in gold and made the day go to plan, nothing was to much trouble. I manage a team of 140 and to have one Stephanie in that team would be amazing. You are lucky to have such a conscientious and dedicated member of the team.

7 September 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Earl Haig

Lovey Pub/restaurant with exceptional staff and management, one of the best ember inns.

30 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This an overall complaint/observation…

This an overall complaint/observation regarding The Essex Arms, Langley Way, Watford. I have been a customer of this pub for about 17 years and I have been reasonably happy with the general service. However for the past year, since the permanent manager left it has gone considerably downhill. There have been numerous, what I have been told are ‘General Managers’ who may stay for a short time and then disappear, so no continuity. The beer has often run out, it appears the ordering techniques of some of the GM’s is not up to scratch. The food is ok, I have arranged numerous evenings for 12 people at a time. The staff have always been helpful and attentive so no complaint there. The pub is never anywhere near full. I visited yesterday and ther was only one ale available and I was assured by the GM that would be rectified today (Bank Holiday!). I visited to day and the ale situation was exactly the same plus no food because the kitchen was closed!!!

25 August 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Avoid at all costs unless you are happy with being ripped off and left hungry

Ordered a takeaway that was delayed time and time again
Finally arrived 45 minutes late and was stone cold/ portion sizes had no resemblance whatsoever to what is advertised in the misleading photographs/ Based on the size of our order the hugely overpriced meals would of been more suited to a minor under 12 years old/ Strongly suggest If you are struggling to cope with the orders you accept, then concentrate on quality over greed and protect your reputation/ also it would serve you well to acknowledge astonishingly long delays and offer an apology first before a future discount or even better a small reimbursement for your appalling, blase, lack of concern for paying customers/ unprofessional and unacceptable on every single level/ do better or expect more awful reviews like this

29 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent food and service

We had a family meal here today. The food was delicious and the service was excellent. Maria looked after us very well and was helpful and friendly The Red Lion Knowle

18 July 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Poor choice for gf

Food was good and staff were great but as a chain they offer almost no gluten free options so no choice. It really isn't so difficult to make chips gluten free,mash with everything is not great.even the brownie which is normally gf as standard at most restaurants wasn't an option.

27 June 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible. Poor food uncaring staff

27th June 25 had booked a table for 4 people for 1300 at The Crown In Shirley, Croydon
The bar man was on his first day and could not find our booking (Table 24) but this was resolved by a colleague. We went to our table and was not aware that the orders were taken using code on the table. Hence why we never saw a waiter. We then went to the bar to order our food. There was to my knowledge only one other table having food. The wine arrived but it was not opened or given the opportunity to try it. The wait for the food was over 40 min. When the starters arrived they were just ok. The main meals eventually arrived. I had selected a trio of fish. When it arrived, everything was deep fried so much so that you could not recognise a particular piece of fish. All you could taste was fried batter.I complained to or waitress and asked if she would inform the chef. She returned and said she had told the chef, but he was not concerned. I left my dinner. The only item of food that was reasonable were the garden peas. My colleague left most of his. On paying the bill i complained to the manager who did take the cost of the two dinners off the bill and apologised. The staff seem unsure of their role, lacked enthusiasm and any concern for the customer. The food was well below standard and should not have been served. The service was poor and slow. I shall not be returning. Four very unhappy customers.
You have a long way to go to make this work

27 June 2025
Unprompted review

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