Goffs Manor

First impressions were it’s a lovely, cosy restaurant/ gastropub with nice outdoor area. Food was pretty good overall, above average, I got the beef roast. Bar staff were friendly and were very accommodating to gluten intolerance (which was 1 of us who was coeliac). However we were really disappointed in the end. We went for my mother’s birthday. I got her a surprise birthday cake that I asked behind the bar if it was ok to keep there and light closer to the time (like you usually would in that type of restaurant setting). The 2 women behind the bar were so friendly - wrote my name on the box and said just let us know around 10mins before and we’ll get that out for you. We give the 10mins notice. 30mins go by and nothing. So we go back up and there was a waiter man (Luca? I think his name was) who went and got the cake from the kitchen, and handed back the cake in the box with the candles and said sorry we are understaffed we can’t do this for you, 2 people have called in sick. No real apology and he just went about his business. So we walk back to the table with the surprise cake inside the box and no candles lit. It was so disappointing and just embarrassing quite frankly. Ruined what was otherwise a lovely experience. It’s ok to be understaffed, but why agree to take it to begin with? If it was an immediate no we would have done it elsewhere but the initial staff were so friendly and welcoming - it was a shame this waiter kind of ruined the experience overall. I told him at the end of the night that it did kind of ruin the experience. Takes 2 mins to light a couple of candles and bring it to the table. Or I would have done this myself with staff permission - they just needed to store it and provide a lighter. Instead it was brushed off and felt as though they didn’t have time for us. When you pay money to go somewhere the little things like how people treat you make a huge difference. It’s a 2.5-3/5 purely due to the service. Would have been a 4.5/5 otherwise.

Great food I'm Gluten-free they had a great choice. And the guests with me had great choice. Staff very friendly and helpful.