The Northern

A friend and I went here for steak one evening a couple of weeks ago, she ordered medium rare, I ordered medium. After an hour long wait we were greeting with two steaks which were burnt beyond recognition. I notified a staff member that our meals were wrong, and we instructed to go back to our table and wait for the manager to come and inspect them. After a 15 minute wait in which the manager failed to materialise, we ate the steaks which were by this point cold. After this cold and calamitous culinary conundrum, I went back to the original staff member and notified him of the situation, and we were told that had we not eaten the steaks, we could have a refund or another meal. I told him that the only reason we ate them was because the elusive manager never appeared, and we’d already waited an hour and ten minutes for the food to arrive. He said that there was nothing he could do, and when I asked to speak to the manager he gave me a careless shrug and said that he didn’t know where he was, and that I could explore the venue and look for him myself if I wanted - a perfect solution. I told him I felt as though we were being treated poorly, and he said dismissively that there’s nothing more he can do for us. This was a shame as we frequent the Northern regularly for trivia night, and quite like the venue, however after this experience I’ll take my business to someplace that cares about its customers and can produce a somewhat edible meal. For a venue of this size and reputation, the quality and service were negligent and disappointing. A simple steak and basic customer service should not be an unreasonable expectation. Sadly, this experience has put me off returning, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone looking for a decent meal and some reasonable treatment in Byron.