Quite possibly the least festive, "Christmas do" (in very inverted commas), I have ever attended.
Brightly lit room, no Christmas music/atmosphere.
Miserable staff (except for the two youngest waiter & waitress who were very polite). Then there was the food (Oh where to start?!).
The starters were appalling! Soup, average, "prawn and melon" starter had 3, (yes 3) whole prawns on, some lettuce that looked like it had already been around the block and four, half centimetre cubes of melon, with no salad dressing. The ham hock terrine was likened to corned beef, with the same tired, undressed salad and two circles of toast (max 1" in diameter).
On to the next course, the plates were tepid, so the food was virtually cold on arrival. The potatoes were undercooked and if you got your magnifying glass out, you could see the merest offering of broccoli nestling amongst the carrots. We then had to ask for accompanying sauces. Once the food had been served to the 80+ people, the waiting staff completely disappeared for a good half an hour, at least! Then came the puddings! Cold apple pie and ice cream, creme brûlée which was in a glass with squirty cream on top and salted chocolate tart, which apparently tasted not too far removed from Angel Delight!!
The bar was either unmanned, didn't have any lime for drinks and the pièce de résistance was the poor lad who was left on his own on his first night, who had a panic attack and had to leave the bar leaving the customers high and exceedingly dry!!
Ti top it all the toilets were out if toilet roll on a couple of occasions, requiring requests for replenishment.
Quite simply, not an acceptable experience. Most certainly not worth the £30 per head!!! Shame on you Red Lion! As a group we only go out once a year - get dressed up for a fun night and unfortunately the while experience has led to a very miserable evening, which we would certainly NEVER repeat!!
Stan, the Duty Manager was, in his words, "not authorised to refund us any money, but PROMISED to speaj to his Manager who will deal with it on Monday"! I shan't hold my breath!!!