The Hellfire Club

I am surprised at the awful experience had by the other reviewer! we went to the Hellfire Club for the first time in May & had a great time. The food was great - all meals were cooked as requested & served on time. All of our party, which included young children, teens & adults loved the entire evening. The staff were welcoming & friendly all night - the magician was a star! We have been several times since & occasionally the service has been slow but I think this has been down to the fact that the restaurant was very busy. Also I believe the restaurant has been going through a few changes & operational adjustments so I can only think the other reviewer was unfortunate to experience the restaurant on a very bad night - believe me, it is normally wonderful! The atmosphere is great & appeals to all ages. Definitely worth a try!
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, July 19, 2010

STAY AWAY from this awful awful shambles of a restaurant! We had a party of 10 on the 2.05.10 pre booked may I add for my friends birthday. We arrived at 8pm and were seated and given a menu by some guy in a white demin jacket (which he did not take off the entire night because it was bloody freezing in there, wish I had brought my winter coat) so when handed the menu he states " take a look at the menu while your other guests arrive and then we'll take a stab at what we actually have.!" EH?

So the rest of our party arrives and some lady (waitress?) comes over with a note pad and stands there. I looked up at her and she asks if we are ready to order, to which I reply well what do you have? She looks at me stupid and says "have you not looked at the menus?" rude to say the least. So me and another friend say well he, who ever he was said you didnt have half the things. "OH right I didnt know that, am just helping out he doesnt usually open on a sunday!" "But you have a sunday dinner menu?!". So eventually we find out whats on offer and order.

Two of our party order a starter , cabbage and stilton soup. When it arrives at 9.15 the guy in white says "now dont worry those arent hairs in your soup they are cabbage fibres!" Ew what the hell are cabbage fibres? And even if they are real why would you say something like that? It completely put the people who were eating it off. But while they ate their hairy soup the rest of us were quite hungry so we asked the chick none waitress if we could have some bread for the table. 9.30 approaches and the man in white comes over and asked "you want ten things of bread for the table??!" Er no. We just wanted some bread just to keep everyone going please. 9.50 approaches... "Here you go guys we dont have any garlic bread!" (we did not ask for garlic bread) "But this is free!" to which he sets down a plate of half a loaf of hovis, actually no I think it was warburtons thicker slice. No not bread rolls, actual slices of bread. Well by this time we were all starving so that didnt last two mins. We were quite frustrated by this time to say the least and very hungry with no sign of our main meal! We wait and wait and then at 10.30 the man in white comes back over and says watch out for the plates they are piping hot... 10 mins later still no sign of this piping hot meal.... 5 mins after that it arrives, in the man in whites bare hand (not PIPING hot then). I had ordered the return of the mummy... chicken in sexy sauce it stated on the menu.... well for one it was cold, the sexy sauce was bisto with a skin on it and the veg was smash aunt bessys oven chips and canned veg! It was horrid (no pun intended) but yes I still ate it cos I was starving!

Two others of our party had order steaks medium rare which came out well done, my friend whose birthday it was complained about hers because she cant eat it like that, where as the other friend said nothing cos she didnt want it to be taken away from her (starving as well) So the man in white took it back to change it. 25 mins later we had all finished... well ate what we could because it was vile, and still no sign of my friends steak. So we called the guy over to cancel it to which he replied "Well hes makin it now!!" .... Yeah but everyone else is finished I dont want it she added. 15 mins after that the chef comes down with this steak and we all just look at him! "who ordered the steak?" Er NO we cancelled it. "oh but its here now!" Well we dont want it.

Enough was enough we were complaining and NOT paying for this shambles of a meal. The drinks yes because thats only right, but not the meal. But alas we ended up having a huge argument with this man in white. He was not knocking anything off the meal not even the steak, because we had all eaten our meals. To which i stated yes because it was 10.30 at night and we were starving and also it was not worth the money in the first place I could have made the same thing for £5! His answer to this was that we dont just pay for the food we pay for the fire alarms to be checked and maintenance. NO we pay for good food not your expenses he might as well have said yeah we make cheap food and over price it so we can have the windows washed. He also stated that he knew it wouldnt be our sort of thing when we walked through the door. Which really made me angry. Alot of our party are very alternative people which is why my friend chose the venue in the first place!

So as we refused to pay the bill he said he couldnt lower it and if we didnt pay the police would be involved. Which I was more then happy to have happen. But one of my friends is training to be a nurse so cant have any involvment with the police at all. He also said he wouldnt knock off my friends steak that she didnt eat because he had given her a £25 birthday cocktail. Sorry but it was two shots of sambuca and some cranberry juice to make it red. Not worth £25 at all. No cocktail is! After a very heated debate he knocked off the uneaten steak and £2 off the over steak that was well done but meant to be medium rare. After paying we stated that we would not be coming back and he had ruined my friends birthday. I have had better service at a wetherspoon and better food... Worst experience ever.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, May 18, 2010

shocking service. I reserved a table for my birthday and when we got there two random people had been seated at our table after which i was told they would be joining us (it had been booked for 3 weeks). When the two ladies kindly moved to the end of the table so we could all be seated together, the restaurant owner stated that they must be very generous to move and said he hopes 'we havent pushed them out'.

When ordering the meal there was one set menu that we all paid £25 for even the people that didnt want dessert. He didnt accommodate for stock, some of my friends wanted steak and had to choose alternative options because the 'restaurant' only had 8 steaks in for a pre-booked party of 30. Most meals came with mash, and my friend (who doesnt like mash) was told that she would have to put up with it and couldnt change to chips because it would be too much for the one chef to cope with.

Some people didnt get change when ordering drinks, and we had to remind him on numerous occassions. Different prices were charged on drinks each time, and after having all this trouble, we were then accused of stealing his goblets (wine glasses). At which point i was told that its 'all my fault'. I have never in my life experienced such a blatant disregard for customer service and such poor quality dining. The Hellfire club owner is an extremely rude man. I would never recommend this resteraunt to anybody.
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Leonie Ferrer - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Thursday, December 03, 2009

went there a few weeks ago. knowing the place, i can see how there have been the reviews that im reading below. The food tasted good and if it were in the middle of town would have been generally underpriced. decor is fun but i must admit i was beginning to wonder 'is that all there is ? '

Then we got laid into by the magician, total sensory attack, coins vanished and grew back bigger, card effects that had to be camera tricks but couldnt be. All combined with a camp humour that suited the venue to a tee.

so for a meal out, the place was fair, for a fun dining experience, it was marvelous, we were still laughing on the way home. My recommendation,. ring first to check that they have some entertainment on, then go with the intent of having fun,get involved in it all, because , if your simply going for a meal you will miss the half of it.
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Andrew P
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I've only been once for a friend's birthday meal but we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Food and drinks were expensive but the food in particular was presented well. The theatrical waiter was a bit intrusive but it was all in good fun.

Shame to see the negative reviews, but i think it's very much a case of "your experience may vary." As far as I know they are doing their best to improve things.
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jon
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, December 23, 2008

I am glad that some people have wrote honest reviews of this place it is awful and a rip off
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Tony
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, December 15, 2008

This place is style over substance. I booked a hen night 3 weeks in advance and paid a deposit of £5.00 a head. I explained more than once it was a hen do and that there would be a vegan and a vegetarian. The menus looked great and there seemed to be reasonably priced food for everyone. So why when I arrived on 29th November 2008 was I told they would only serve from the Xmas menu and at £30.00 per head! I was told the website states this... IT DOES NOT... ( two days later it still doesn't despite me pointing this out on the night ) hellfire club I can only assume hell had frozen over because it was freezing in there and we had to sit with coats on . Then I was told the only meal I could eat was off !! I was told that I could have stuffed tomatoes so I agreed. This came as 3 tomatoes sat atop what I think was mashed potato and what were they stuffed with ...a floret of broccoli.!!! I immediately complained because thsi was not worth the money I was expected to pay ....I am only going to get one hen do and mine was completely ruined. ...The service was appalling there was only one waitress and the owner trying to serve the whole restaurant and then running to the bar to serve drinks!!! it took over an hour to serve the main from finishing starters and then a further 45 minutes from finishing the main for the dessert ...The chef could not cope it was obvious and then what did turn up was the worse food I have ever seen..... Even the complimentary champagne could not change matters... My friends car was then broken into and windows smashed....! The only saving grace was the magician who was brilliant. Its sad because this could be a good place. Its different .... if it had the right owner and a change of chef and more staff to serve the customers...oh and a website that tells you can only have a Xmas menu in November even if your not on a Xmas party!!!
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J Lewis
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 0
Monday, December 01, 2008

The place is a joke. The starters was poor, the main was cold and the pudding was cheese with stale biscuits. I found this place very overpriced and how can they justify charging £10 a course for such low grade food. I will not be returning and would not recommend you go in 2's or 3's as they seem to not care you are there and cater better for bigger parties
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Nick Barton
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Saturday, November 22, 2008

I attended The Hellfire Club for its 2nd anniversary night and found it to be a wonderful place. The decor is fantastic, unusual but fantastic, the whole place is decked out in a macabre gothic horror style and the the staff were extremely pleasant and helpful for the entire night.

The food for the evening was a fine buffet that was truly a sight for the eyes as well as being a treat to taste.

Entertainment was also top notch, with staff doing card tricks as good as anyone you'll see on the television. Live music from a local rock band, Electric Storm, and to round off the night we were treated to Doctor Gore's horrorshow illusion act that was full of magic tricks presented in a darker vein (sic).

Everyone I was with had a ball and will definitely go back. Highly recommended.
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Peej
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Monday, November 10, 2008

we just recently celebrated my nieces hen night, on 8th november the food was extremely good, beautifully cooked and well presented, the 2 guys both worked really hard to make sure we had a great night, they made sure we had the place too ourselves which was good, the atmosphere was great they put a lot of thought and effort into this place. it was a lot of fun and quite spooky we would deffinately go back if only for a good night out.we also felt the price was reasonable and didnt feel it was overpriced as the drinks and food were about the average price, but its not everywhere you get this much entertainment with your tails of the unexpected,(prawns). the slaughter of the lambs(lamb shank) was especially good. well done.
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val poole
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Monday, November 10, 2008