GASTRONOMY REVIEW: The Toby Carvery - Chadderton, Oldham.

This Carvery, on the outskirts of Oldham in the area known as Chadderton Park, and close to the motorway with convenient access and plenty of parking, was, at one time, branded the worst pub in the whole of Greater Manchester. Looking online, the reviews are very mixed generally, some are extremely favourable, whilst others had a rather bad time of it all; so perhaps I should recount my experience to add to the mix too.

I have an allergic reation to eating tomatoes. It is nothing serious, and I won't die if I did eat them; but my skin doesn't particularly like the acid contained in them, and it becomes quite blotchy and sore if I eat a lot of them; a tiny amount of ketchup on the side of my plate however is not going to bring me to convulsions! However, the rigmarole and palarva this caused when I mentioned it to the waitress when she asked if I had an allergy, was nothing short of pantomimic. My companion and I were simply interested in the carvery (no tomatoes), but I had to read through and sign a declaration that I would not hold them responsible for an allergic reation after vsiting the establishment; and further, my food had to be cooked separately and fresh in the kitchen in order to avoid ay possible cross-contamination. I know about my allergy, I've had it all my life, and I visit restaurants and eat out on a regular basis; but none of this seemed to make any difference. Subtle hint folks - if you have a food allergy, and you know how to manage it, don't mention it!

My companion had almost finished eating her (luke warm) meal from the carvery when my plate arrived from the kitchen. Piled high - a mountain of food, looking unappetising and over-facing - it was placed in front of me. And this is where the problems started. The roasted potatoes had been re-roasted (at least twice), and tasted disgusting. (at least though they were hot, unlike the rest of the food). The peas, sprouts and red cabbage were all varying degrees of tepid to cold. What should have been cauliflower-cheese was instead two large florets of extremely overcooked and mushy (and therefore inedible) cauliflower with no sign of any cheese. The parsnips were rubbery - so rubbery I was unable to cut them. The carrots were raw - not even al dente, just raw! The apple sauce I had asked for to compliment the pork was a miniscule amount found eventually lying under the red cabbage, and the stuffing was a huge pile, enough for at least a party of 10 to share! The Yorkshire Pudding was crispy on the edges but soggy and undercooked on the base. At least the pork and turkey were nicely cooked and tasty. The gravy was served in a separate bowl.. yes a bowl... like a soup bowl, with no handle and no pouring lip!

The pot of tea we had ordered came already luke warm, and so was stone cold by the time we had added milk.

The mananger did deduct the price of my meal from the bill, but no apology was forthcoming. If my meal was being cooked from scratch from the kitchen then none of the above should have occured at all.. but for them all to occur on the one plate is an absolute disgrace. That's a shame, because we have eaten at Toby Carveries before and have always enjoyed our visits. We won't however, be patronising the one in Chadderton Park again.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall