The Wheatsheaf, Woking

My mother and myself attended a 14-strong, pre-booked Golden Wedding Anniversary party at the hotel this evening, and the treatment we and our hosts received from this hotel was appalling! White wine served unchilled on this hot day is inexcusable, we had to ask four times for water and then a jug was brought to the table without glasses, only 13 main course meal orders were actually put through to the kitchen so one guest had a 20-minute wait for his meal, and over an hour after we had finished the extremely small portion main courses no-one had been near us to clear the tables or check whether everything was ok, which it wasn't. Desserts began to arrive, 20 minutes later we were still waiting for cutlery to eat them with. The staff didn't seem to know or care what they were doing, no-one appeared to be in charge, and it was only for the sake of our hosts who were clearly very upset and embarrassed about the dreadful service that we didn't get up and walk out. To cap it all off, before we had finished dessert the lights were turned down so we couldn't see one another, and the music was turned up so we couldn't hear one another. You only have one Golden Wedding anniversary, our hosts' evening was completely ruined by the couldn't-care-less attitude of this hotel. I will NEVER set foot in this estabishment again.

The Wheatsheaf is a large Ember Inns pub that comes with the usual cheap food and orange lighting. The large rear section of the pub had some sliding doors pulled across the entrance on Friday evening so I’d imagine that there was an upcoming function, but there was no need to worry as there was plenty of other seating in this sprawling pub. I found the décor to be fairly plain and every wall recess was stuffed with chopped logs, which I found strange as all of the fires are gas and were turned off during my visit. There was some very low background music playing and a plasma screen was showing muted rolling news. The bar was stocked with standard draught products along with 6X, Pride and White Horse Village Idiot. I plumped for the Guinness which was on good form, but the measure was very short. There is a smoking shelter to the left of the entrance and outside the front of the pub there is very limited parking. There is a late license until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and children under 14 are not permitted. Children over 14 are allowed in if dining with an adult as Ember Inns are ‘grown up pubs’. I wouldn’t go out of my way to drink here again as I’m not a fan of this chain.

Reasonable Ember Inn pub, pretty good choice of real ale. Large amount of seating and easy enough to get a bit lost here!

Fairly typical Ember Inn, done up quite nicely in what might be called "modern rustic". Maintains good pub feel, despite leaning towards food (which is pretty good by the way). A few good beers, which seemed well-looked after. Only slight quibble - they turned the music up later on, for no apparent reason and certainly no benefit

Official pages of the Wheatsheaf, includes menus and real ale details - www.emberinns.co.uk

Official pages of the Wheatsheaf, includes menus and real ale details - www.emberinns.co.uk