View topic - Little Chef

Yes, There was one. I have even eaten in it before. The food was OK, I have eaten in a much worse alternitive, the restuarant at Cardiff West a few miles down the road.

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Gourleyo - Always taking photos of Ferries and MSA's!

Little Chef's commitment to refurbishment at Sutton Scotney seems to have stopped at the door. The restaurant itself, which I didn't try, looked pleasant enough but the surrounding grounds were an absolute tip, and have been for as long as I remember. It's going to take more than this to turn their image around.

I haven't been to a Little Chef for many years after the only one near to us closed

I used to love the Big 7 Cheeseburger. Does anyone remember them? Would love to know what all was in them so I can try to make them at home .

Also, are the Burgers on the new menu the same as the Big 7 or have they changed as well?

I would love if anyone could reply to this post with some answers

Lets face it you only go to Little Chef's to eat because you are pressed for time and on a long journey. However, a number of years ago, I had been to Holland for a holiday and outside Harwich I decided to stop at a little chef for a meal. It was empty, however after a few minutes another couple came in and it appeared that they knew the staff very well. Over the next 10 minutes two more couples came in and they knew the staff very well to. The three couples did not speak to each other. It dawned upon me, that the three couples were local and their idea of a good night out, was to go to the Little Chef's for a meal! What else can I say!

Emsworth, A27, 3pm. It looked absolutely dead, and that was probably because when I entered there was only one customer and when I left there were none. And I hung around for a bit after that as well.

You must have to have a really good working relationship to work at Little Chef, after all, it sounds like the majority one or two colleagues will be the only forms of life you'll get to see. It's quite sad because the food was quite good, the prices weren't as bad as I'd been expecting and the service was excellent (well it would be hard to fail on that count given there were more staff than customers!)

Having said that, I'd never been here before, and I don't think I'll find the time (or fuel) to go there again, so while I'll be sad to know it's not there any more its closure will hardly upset many customers.

MONMOUTH A40 SERVICES

The word "services" should be used very loosely in connection with Monmouth A40 services (Westbound, Little Chef).

Today we were very close to running out of fuel when we saw a sign on the A40 saying services 6 miles with fuel. So we drove the 6 miles to the service station, using up pretty much all of the fuel that we had left in the tank. However, when we got to the services, and attempted to put fuel in the car, a hobbit from inside the service station came running out and stopped us, saying that "You can only buy fuel if you have a Shell card." Which we do not have. When we explained to him that we had used up the last of our fuel, he basically said it wasn't his problem and he didn't make the rules. So then we asked to speak to the person in charge to explain our predicament. A young girl then came out who apparently is the catering supervisor. She told us that it wasn't her problem and gave us the customer services telephone number, which we rang and rang but no-one answered. We spoke again to the staff at the services, and pointed out again that we had used the last of our fuel up, following the road signs for fuel to their services which they would then not let us buy. Seeing as we were getting no help from the staff and no help from the customer service number given to us, we had no option but to leave and hope that we found another petrol station before we ran out of diesel. Unfortunately, this did not happen as we ran out of fuel just before a lay-by on the A40 and managed to roll into the lay-by. I then had to phone my brother in Bristol and get him to bring us over a can of diesel. Which luckily he did and we arrived home 2.5 hours later.

I am frankly disgusted that services advertising fuel on a major A road will not sell you fuel unless you have a Shell card and the staff were quite happy to watch us leave with no fuel knowing that we were going to run out and be stuck.

What if this had been a young woman on her own or a family with young children left on the side of a major busy road, possibly leaving them in all kinds of dangers.

Thank you Monmouth Services for being so unhelpful, we will never visit you again!!!!!!!!!!!

Brad

Stoney Cross, Wednesday afternoon, very friendly staff, well maintained, nice soundtrack. What more could I want? I was the only customer the whole time - I do wonder how they keep themselves busy!

Tasted good, cost £8.04.

Stopped at Balhaldie North Little Chef (A9) on Saturday and was really impressed. A bit of roadside publicity of their deals seemed to be paying dividends, the car park was busy and trade was brisk. The new "Nations Favourite" Menu, alongside the main one has some really great stuff on it - giant filled Yorkshire pudding, fish finger sandwich - and seems genuinely good value and quirky enough to appeal. Why was this not done years ago?

Critically, the Olympic breakfast was of awesome quality, my tomato was swapped for black pud with no questions asked and, thanks to my Treat Card, we got free refills which we were allowed to take away on the road for the journey. Nothing was too much trouble, the staff were friendly and helpful and it actually felt like good value. Everything you want from a roadside cafe.

The acid test. Even my girlfriend who rolls her eyes at my "Bloody Little Chef thing" was impressed. More experiences like this and they'll get a lot more people coming back through their doors.

(THIS IS A RESPONSE TO BRADS COMMENT)

I understand that said fuel issue is a major inconvenience. However, it is completely out of our hands as employees. All and ANY fuel currently held is unfortunately not ours to sell to 'normal customers'. We hold it to sell to THEIR customers and THEIR customers alone, as do many other stations. Unfortunately all i know is that the issue is beyond our control and we HAVE to abide by the contracted rules. Failure to do so is severe for everyone. We do hope its sorted ASAP.

And yes, even morally we currently have no choice.

So, our apologies, but unfortunately its CATCH 21.........

Mr XYZ
I would have thought that any self resecting Shell outlet would have given Brad a Shell card from the pile beside the till and as far as I know its not Shell policy only to sell to Shell card holders. Brad may only have been a one off customer but I'm sure he wont use Shell again, which is sad.