On Wednesday 23rd March 2005, I unexpectedly found myself in Wolverhampton City centre at lunch time. The Varsity had what seemed a reasonable choice of menu, so I ordered a Steak and Ale Pie at £3.99. I was pleasantly surprised when the bar man offered me a choice of peas or beans and three sorts of potatoes.
When the food arrived I was very disappointed, there were are an adequate number of chips and a couple of tablespoons of peas. The pie was not a pie but a small slice of pie, a child size portion at that, I estimate it to be 13cms long by 8cms. I did not have a camera with me at the time so I will have to describe the pie. I could not cut through the outer crust, so I wrapped it up in a serviette. The crust is shown below, with two rulers laid along the edges to show the size of the portion. A quick calculation suggests this is just a tenth of a whole pie. This is a rip-off, the owners of the pub should be ashamed.
The pie had been microwaved so the short crust pastry was solid. The portion was about 25 millimetres high as you can see from the close-up of the crust. The pastry base and top were 4mm thick, leaving about 17mm at the thickest point for the meat. I would say there was less than 50grams of meat in the portion and some "brown slopp".
The person who served the meal came back after a short while and asked the usual "Is you meal alright?"
NO - I replied, this is the worst pub meal I have every had. Look at the portion size, if I go to Wetherspoon's it may cost 75p more but you do get a decent sized portion. I hadn't shouted or been rude, but feeling sorry for her, as I'm not used to complaining. I added - I don't blame you personally, all you do is heat this thing up in a microwave. It is the company who owns the place who is responsible. She walked away and that was it, no suggestion of an apology or any offer of a remedy. Why bother asking if the meal was OK? They couldn't care less once they have your money.
I finished my meal - all but the indestructible crust. Drank the very last drop of the Cider, at £2-60 a pint which is top price (£1-90 at Wetherspoons) I didn't want to waste any, and left.
So thanks to the Internet I am able to have a gripe about being ripped off at the Varsity in Wolverhampton. As this is a chain of pubs I have no reason to expect any of the other Varsity pubs in Birmingham or other towns are any different. Thanks for sharing my experience - Don't get ripped off yourself, or suffer poor customer care - go somewhere else.
S t e v e S c a n l o n
42 Trevanie Avenue
Birmingham
B32 1EX