Culinary chaos at the Devonshire Cat

[munky]

And have you reported this to the manager? If not why not, if customers don't tell them their feedback they won't ever know.

 

And if i'd eaten (attempted to eat) something like you described i would definately be complaining, although i wouldn't have paid either [/quote

 

I agree with Blade1983 and the fact that some are so far up their own that their breath smell of, well, yer know. .

 

If something offends to this level, it's much more productive to make others aware of it rather than whinge about it to someone who cares less about their position at the establishment than the janitor.

 

Why should they be allowed to hear constructive feedback, they aint entitiled to it.

 

Look at it this way, complain with no guarantee that your comments are gonna be taken seriously and if they are, who's to say that the'll act on it, it's only one persons opinion.

 

Alternativley, tell ten to tell ten to tell ten, and you've suddenly got hundreds of people aware to the fact that this place aint as hot as sum muppets try and make out. .

 

I thank you for your feedback jay20fh and I ain't necessarily gonna boycott the place outright, but will definately think twice if anyone recommends chowin' in there.

[Dark Moomin]

So what you'd prefer is that a business could possibly go out of business because people choose to bad mouth it on a public forum, rather than advise said company and give them the opportunity to rectify whatever the problem was.

 

Fair do's I don't have a problem with letting others know about a bad experience, but I would have preferred a story more like this:

 

"on advice of a friend, went to the Dev Cat for dinner - waiting staff were scruffy, food was poor. Asked to see a member of management, and advised them of my experience. They brushed off my concerns with disdain/they were horrified that I was so dissatisfied, refunded my meal and gave me a voucher for another at a different time. They also promised to have words with staff and chef regarding the experience."

 

This would indicate how much the premises car about their customers and reputation. If the former occurred, then yeah, they don't deserve custom, however if you have abd experience and an establishment does what it can to rectify it and take notice of your issues when you advise them, then that says to me its more likely to be a one off.

 

Regardl;ess of whethre you post ion here you should ALWAYS voice your complaint at the time with the company concerned. How else are they going to change things.

[kckc]

A few of my mates like the Dev Cat, personally I think it's awful.

 

It is beyond me how they manage to sell pints of Goat's Urine, and bottles of Cat P*ss at £3.20 a chuck! O wait... I do know how they get away with it... because it's cool to drink forign obscure lagers that no one has ever heard of. SO everyone stands there with there bottle of Urinedinger going "Ooo, this is a lovely drop"... and someone turns and says "Ooo if you like that you want to try Sheep's intestine-a-hoff, it's really smooth"

 

NO IT ALL TASTES LIKE 3 YEAR OLD SKOLL

 

How could anyone speak of Erdinger in such a derogatory way?? Each to their own, I guess, but worth every penny IMO.

 

I've always enjoyed my visits to the Dev Cat, but they've never been driven by the need for food . I suspect serving food is not something they put too much emphasis on, but it is a shame Jay20fh had a bad experience and it's worth passing constructive comments onto those concerned. To be fair to the Dev Cat though, is it the norm to be asked if you've enjoyed your meal when you're just consuming pub grub and aren't in a restaurant? I've always found the staff in there to be friendly and efficient. Maybe eating in one of the numerous restaurants on West St and then hitting the Dev Cat afterwards would be a good plan for next time

[Carborundum]

Some people are never satisfied - at the end of the day pub food is pub food just that .. if you want Haute Cuisine go somewhere else ...

[mr craig]

my rant was more directed at lagers such as Cruz Campo and the like! I tried one about 3 weeks ago - some french cr*p from a bottle - TASTED like HAIR SPRAY... No kidding HAIR SPRAY

 

 

Tho cruz isn't something I'd drink but it doesn't really taste like hair spray, it taste like a sweetish larger. (Its Spanish btw)

 

As for the cat I've never had any problems with the staff, food or beer in there but i guess its different strokes for different folks.

[AlBal]

Some people are never satisfied - at the end of the day pub food is pub food just that .. if you want Haute Cuisine go somewhere else ...

 

Not exactly, when you pay for a meal it should come as it says and from what this thread is saying, it wasn't, regardless of the price, and not all people can afford to go out for expensive meals. Even McDonalds wouldn't give you a burger like that!!

[Andy C]

I tend to find the Dev Cat is hit and miss with food. One day you can go and the food is really nice with service to match, other times you wait way too long for it to turn up (I once waited an hour for a Sunday dinner to come) and when it does it is very average.

 

On the beer front generally I go for the real ales more than the lagers, but generally I find the beer all right, if a bit pricey.

[Andy C]

So what you'd prefer is that a business could possibly go out of business because people choose to bad mouth it on a public forum, rather than advise said company and give them the opportunity to rectify whatever the problem was.

 

Fair do's I don't have a problem with letting others know about a bad experience, but I would have preferred a story more like this:

 

"on advice of a friend, went to the Dev Cat for dinner - waiting staff were scruffy, food was poor. Asked to see a member of management, and advised them of my experience. They brushed off my concerns with disdain/they were horrified that I was so dissatisfied, refunded my meal and gave me a voucher for another at a different time. They also promised to have words with staff and chef regarding the experience."

 

This would indicate how much the premises car about their customers and reputation. If the former occurred, then yeah, they don't deserve custom, however if you have abd experience and an establishment does what it can to rectify it and take notice of your issues when you advise them, then that says to me its more likely to be a one off.

 

Regardl;ess of whethre you post ion here you should ALWAYS voice your complaint at the time with the company concerned. How else are they going to change things.

 

I agree, often your opinion is either reinforced or improved by the way your complaint is handled.

 

A recent example for me was at the S17 coffee shop at Bradway when I ordered lunch and a drink. Got the drink straight away, but after about 35 minutes sat reading the paper the food still hadn't come, I asked the lady behind the counter to check the food was actually going to turn up. She checked and discovered the bit of paper with the order on had blown onto the floor so the chef never got it - basically they had lost my order.

 

However when she discovered this she genuinely seemed horrified that it had happened, apologised and got the chef to do my lunch straight away, and gave me a free drink whilst I waited. The food came out a few minutes later delivered personally by the chef who wanted to make sure I enjoyed it after the long wait.

 

This made me believe the establishment genuinely cared and I left satisfied rather than peed off. I wasn't in a rush and was happy as larry sat with a nice freshly squeezed orange juice and the daily paper, so the long wait wasn't a problem, so the way they treated me made all the difference.

[Brij]

I've eaten and drank in the Dev Cat on numerous occasions, and at all times have found the food to be on the better side of average, and the staff OK - although you should remember that by and large most of the staff, as in other pubs in town, are students and don't really have a vested interest in the place. However, had I had an experience like yours I would have made sure the management knew, either in person or in writing. Working in the trade myself, I know how important it is to get feedback, good or bad otherwise it's impossible to make any improvements or address any problems.

 

As for the person who made the comment about the beers/bottles in the Dev Cat - it's all down to choice. Personally I find drinking smooth keg beers, standard lagers, alcopops etc etc pretty awful but each to their own.... and would certainly never put a pub down just because of this!

[Johnh]

After waking from my booze fuelled slumber I decided that I would take a wander to the nearest hostelry that, would be serving hot food. The choice made by myself and my girlfriend was the Devonshire Cat. For some unbeknown reason one of our friends had recommended this as a good place to eat (to put things in context my friend obviously has lost all sense of taste).

On arriving we were greeted with the less than enthusiastic smile and afternoon by some guy with is shirt partly tucked into his ill fitting Black trousers and hair like a busted mattress.

Once served with our continental style beers we proceeded to an empty table to review the culinary offerings and after a brief flick through the 2 page veritable bonquet of delights, I settled on the Blue cheese burger (this is possibly where it all went wrong). Prior to ordering I had discussed with my girlfriend whether or not to order additional chips as I'm sure you will agree the norm is around 30 chips (15 under cooked and 15 cremated) but on her advice and as my friend had said this was the place to eat then I would take pot luck and see what came.

We sat for another 20 minutes then "IT" arrived looking less than dazzling and I proceeded to scan the plate to see what I had spent my very hard earned cash on. On review I encountered the following,

 

1 burger that looked like it had been cooked on a coal fire (embers attached) covered with the thinnest slice of blue cheese.

1 breadcake burned (possibly on the same coal fire.

20 chips, all well over cooked. how on earth does someone burn every chip.

1 limp lettuce leaf.

 

Sad to say that as I was now ravenous, I would attempt to consume the above and with a few dditional condiments would try to disguise the additional fossel fuel flavour.

 

10 minutes of chewing later it was over and the plate was pushed aside, it was over and I was glad.

 

Then finally he arrived again looking like ripped up sheet, swooped, took the plate and never asked the one question I was hoping for "was everything ok" but no, not a chance to berate this shambles on legs or the less than capable and so called chef.

 

So its come to this and I have to air their dirty laundry online.

 

Message for the Management of this establishment,

 

New chef, staff that can dress themselves or a price policy that reflects the total lack of satisfaction received by each customer who is unfortunate to choose something from the menu.

 

:gag:

You'll get nowhere on the SF ... thats where they have their meetings!!