https://www.thepointerbrill.co.uk/
Very disappointing meal, but salvaged by excellent management.
Verdict 2/5
Having friends in Brill, a village in Aylesbury Vale, with stunning countryside views, we’d heard much about the 2 pubs here, The Pheasant, which we’ve tried twice & enjoyed, and the Pointer, a farm, butcher & restaurant. We thought we’d test The Pointer on Father’s Day, but outside the main dining time, so booked a table for 2:30, to give them a sporting chance to show us what they are capable of.
First reaction: a nice building, attractively kitted out inside. A bit noisy, even though it wasn’t too busy, the main dining time having finished. (Tip: rubber tips on the chairs would reduce the noise levels a lot.)
We were shown to our table by an unsmiling chap, but not offered a drinks menu, just a choice of still or sparkling water.
A family came in & were served drinks & given menus before we were served. A party of 6 was offered menus for desserts, again before we were even given menus or offered a drink.
Eventually, after 25 minutes of sitting with no drinks, an unsmiling waitress came to take our orders. She enquired what we’d like to drink – my wife said what have you got? May we see menus?! The waitress seemed surprised by this!
The food arrived quite quickly, but the Yorkshire puddings were cold and chewy. When we mentioned this to the same waitress, she asked if we would like her to report this to the chef? Er – yes! Two ‘fresh’ ones came back with zero apology, but these, while warm, were still inedible, chewy & tasteless.
The ‘beef fat cooked’ potatoes were OK but a little tasteless; veg were again OK but small piles of mush.
Wine was not cheap at ~ £9 for a 175ml glass of pleasant but not knock-out wine. (On our frequent trips to Spain, a 3-course meal of pleasant food & half a bottle of wine can be had for that price in many places!)
For my £24, I would have expected more than 2 slices of beef! Sunday lunch is not usually anything approaching that price in other gastro-pubs, so The Pointer needs to offer something special to attempt to justify these prices.
Complaint
The Manager asked how our meal was. He’d only been there 2 weeks and so wasn’t expecting such “constructive” criticism. He did redeem himself and didn’t charge us for the beef meal or the 2 glasses of wine. Now that’s how you do good customer service and recover the situation.
Will we go back? Probably, based on the Manager’s manner, plus the fact that we’d still like to try the pheasant and venison we were originally expecting to order, having seen them on the pub’s website menu.
ThePointerTeam, General Manager at The Pointer, responded to this review. Responded 18 June 2019
We’d like to thank you for raising these issues with us at the time; it’s extremely useful to know if we’ve fallen short of customers’ expectations and it’s particularly important for us to be able to try and deal with any complaints in person and at the time. All of your feedback has been shared with the team.
We’re really sorry that you had a disappointing time with us at the weekend, but greatly encouraged that you’ll give us another go. We look forward to welcoming you back here again soon.
Jack.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g1491780-d3323471-r682163871-The_Pointer-Brill_Aylesbury_Aylesbury_Vale_Buckinghamshire_England.html#