The Village Kitchen & Bar

After living in Whitchurch for several years we were excited by the fact that there was a new day time and evening restaurant opening in the Village - The Village Kitchen & Bar. We were very impressed at first by the whole set up. The food, service, ambience was wonderful and good value for money but unfortunately this was very short lived to the point that we feel the need to leave this review.

Since approximately summer 2010 the whole set up has gone down hill - Drastically!!

Firstly, the service is VERY VERY POOR! The majority of staff there are time wasters, wasting time in and out of the walk way along side the kitchen rather than serving customers who have already waited 10 minutes to be served and do NOT apologise for keeping peole waiting. The majority of staff are rude and certainly seem very unhappy working there.

We (a group of 6) recently had lunch there early afternoon. We waited 20minutes for the waiter to take our order, then he got it wrong. It took a further 40 minutes for the food to be cooked and when it arrived two of the dishes were cold. We tried to attract the attention of the waiter for sometime but it looked as thought he was deliberately avoiding out talbe. In the end we had to call him loudly, to which he response was -Yeah! - I'll be there in a mintue. Five minutes later the waiter came and took our further order of drinks. It was a further 10 minutes until the drinks arrived at our table. No apology. The restaurant was not busy at this time.

Further to this fiasco. We could not beleive that at least 30 minutes after we had finished our food all our dirty plates, cutlery etc remained on our table. We aksed for bill which was brought to us immediately. Upon examining the bill the waiter had charged us for a bottle of wine, which we did not have. We called the waiter to explain he had made an error. Again, no apology.. he went off to change the bill. We waited a further 10 mintues for the amended bill and could see the waiter serving someone else, so we asked him where the amended bill was? he said (WAIT FOR THIS!!) its on the bar. He had ameneded the bill and left it on the bar, rather than bringing it back to us and left us waiting.

The saddest thing about this was that the owner was sat down in the seats in front of the bar, knowing that there was group table with dirty dishes left on it, and that the waiter had made these errors and left this bill at the bar and said NOTHING!!

The food:- This is an even BIGGER issue for us! The menu has changed so much over the past 10 months it certainly indicates that this establishment do not need the snack customers after 12noon. The day time and evening menu prices indicate a very greedy set up regardless of our current financial climate. The food during the day is hit and miss, it all depends on who is working in the kitchen. The evening however, the food has always been lovely.

We have been frequenting the establishment on a regular basis since it opened and have been good regular customers day and night. The service we received recently (seperate to the above) was so poor we have all decided that we WILL NOT be visiting this establishment ever again!!

Our business will be taken else where in the village where the service and food is far better.
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Group of Whitchurch Village Residents
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Pleasant clean surroundings spoilt by the smell of tobacco blowing in from open windows. Uninspiring selection of vegetarian courses - the Glamorgan sausages did not embrace the traditional recipe, in fact they bore an uncommonly similarity to Linda McCartney sausages. If I'm really cynical I'd swear thats what they were having eaten many over the years. Steer clear!! The meat dishes looked good value for money but the vegetarian meals were far from good value.

I've eaten there several times before and have enjoyed the fare- however not this time.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Sunday, April 10, 2011

Dined at the The Village Kitchen on Friday night. We opted for the steak deal.

I really must point out the steak was not Sirloin as advertised it was Rump and tough at that. I had the Prawn and Crayfish Coctail to start and could not find a Crayfish anywhere.

Why do Restaurants do this, just say it is Rump steak as a good Rump steak is lovely, unfortunately ours was not a good Rump Steak.

I did not wish to complain at the time because our Daughter treated us and I would not want to embarrass her. I would not dine there again things like this are intentionally misleading.
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Maura Halsall
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Sunday, April 03, 2011

Thank god for somewhere decent to go in north cardiff, went to VKB and had the best steak i have ever tasted, love the mid week specials!! 2 steaks and a bottle of wine for £20.00 amazing value ,service was fab, how people rate this expensive is beyond me , but if your used to dining in the bog standard chains then there you go . Everybody should try try this , I know that Vkb has been both great and awful in the past but it was busy tonight so they got to be doing something right , it really is going from strength to strength.
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Nicola G
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, March 17, 2011

The ambience is fine the service good and attentive but the price is not so good. Two starters two main course and one sweet plus a bottle of screw top plonk was £50. The Belly Pork was cut the wrong way and instead of being crisp was soggy.

Pretentious sums it up.
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Neville Goward
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 3
Monday, March 14, 2011

revisited the vkb alot lately and i must say food and service has come up another notch. My partner had belly pork which he says was the best he has ever tasted and i had seabass which was delicious . Brought my parnets for Sunday lunch also recently and i must say they serve the best sunday lunch around , fresh veg ,homemade yorkies and loads of gravy will def be giving the carvaries a miss from now on.
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n&s thornhill cardiff
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Friday, March 11, 2011

The food is ok but the service is the worst we have ever experanced , Tried to speak with a manger and was told they dont work weekends. have never eaten with the aroma of bleach before, our wine was plonked on table unopened we served ourselves, it ran out half way into our meal , it was impossible to get staff attention as they walked around looking at the floor. i could go on for pages but wont. no wonder they only had 3 tables by 8.30 on a friday, people expect to be looked after for the money that they charge, go to the chippy next door you will get better service
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JULIE & ARMANDO - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, February 26, 2011

Disagree with the last review!! We ate at this restaurant last Friday and the service was spot on and our meals were delicious, even the house wine was a winner! Definitely the best we've had.!!

Revisited on Sunday for lunch. Will be returning and would highly recomend.
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A Jones
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Sunday, December 05, 2010

This restaurant over the years has been both great and absolutely awful. A few months back it was great but over the past few weeks it has gone back to being awful with very poor service and not so good food. I think I will give up on VKB and try elsewhere.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Thursday, November 18, 2010

Love this place!! We've eaten here a few times day and night, but came on Sunday to try out their Sunday lunch which I must say was fabulous. Great portions, really good quality meat and the biggest Yorkshire puds I've ever seen. I certainly won't be frequenting any of the local carveries any more. Definitely worth the extra couple of pounds for what you get!!
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Juliette Marston
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Thursday, May 06, 2010