Customer comments
Little Chef is a much loved
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Your comments
Hi there,
I want to say many congratulations to Little Chef for reaching 50 years of food serving.
Here's to you all at Little Chef and my wife and I do hope that you will keep going for the next fifty years, [although my wife nor I will be around then!]
Good Luck.
Ken and Dulcie Batten.
Thank you for forwarding the new menu. Can I congratulate you on having free range eggs and outdoor reared sausages. It's excellent to see a chain considering animal welfare issues. I love eating meat and eggs but are generally restricted when eating out because they use the cheapest they can find (forgetting that many customers would like this choice)...perhaps a free range chicken dish for the winter?
Thank you!
I have not been to a Little Chef for a number of years now as I felt that they had become over priced, dreary, poor quality and exceptionally robotic and I have even sometimes experienced rude Customer Service staff. Today has changed my mind.
I can’t recall ever writing a note like this before, but the team today have been excellent. The service was swift, polite and focused. The food was also excellent, very good value for money and presented fresh in double quick time.
I am a mystery shopper by profession and cannot commend your team highly enough!
John Howard
I recently read in the Battery Hen Welfare Trust newsletter that all your eggs are free range and just wanted to say well done on that achievement.
Lynda Coates
My wife and I visited here yesterday and were impressed by:-
- the cleanliness of the premises
- the courtesy and efficiency of the staff
- the quality of the food
- the return of the EARLY STARTER!
We look forward to our next visit.
Derek Wright
We were in the Little Chef at Ferring Suffolk yesterday 6/10/07
We were very impressed by the standard of the food served and the friendliness of the staff .We didn't have to wait long for either service or food and the food was the best we have had in one of your chefs, even this one which we use regularly when we come to visit our son and family. I think the credit must go to your new manageress. I told her then how we were impressed and said I would email HQ.
Regards
Lillian Little (Mrs)
Dear Little Chef
My friend and I had a meal at the Penrith Restaurant on Sunday 5th August 2007. We'd been camping in Scotland for a week and had been living on packed lunches or tinned food the whole time. After 8 hours driving we checked in at the Travelodge next door, and then went straight to the restaurant around 6pm. We were so hungry!
We were waited upon immediately and my friend and I both chose the Olympic breakfast. The quality of service was second to none. Ali (key holder), the chef and the other waiter (sorry we don't know your names) were totally rushed off their feet as more and more customers piled into the restaurant. They were obviously short staffed but coped tremendously, especially Ali who always had a smile on her face.
We'd just like to say a big 'thank you' for an excellent meal and fabulous service. You are all treasures.
See you next year!
Lisa & Pat
Grimsby
N.E LIncolnshire
Our family has long been a fan of Little Chef and always look out for the friendly sign on the road; we travel extensively in the UK and appreciate the reassurance of knowing there's a good meal and quick & friendly service to hand - often with a good night's sleep before & after at the adjacent Travelodge.
We love the brilliant new menus - sausage & mash to die for! My daughter & I are vegetarians and often feel left out or overlooked - but not at Little Chef; she's spoilt for choice with the new kids menu.
There a very few places left where you can get basic good English food - so keep up the good work. We're looking forward to getting out on the road again - if only for an excuse to stop for a meal!
To Whom It May Concern,
My husband and I would like to thank all of the staff at the Penrith Restaurant for one of the best meals we have had and for the friendly welcome we received. The restaurant was clean and tidy. Also when we asked for "no mushrooms" with the meal, the staff and chef were happy to oblige.
Yours Faithfully
Yvonne Lowery
Thanks to the staff at this restaurant for letting us in and feeding us so close to closing time, when we were on our way south to Glasgow after a late start from home on Skye.
Very much appreciated.
Sam
My husband and I called in this Little Chef on our way to Suffolk. The service we received was excellent as was the meal that was served.
The waiter was Harry, he was just so cheerful, helpful and polite, and nothing was too much trouble. The restaurant was welcoming and clean.
We have used Little Chef's many times and have always found the service and food good, but this was exceptional. Consequently, on our return journey on 14th July 07 we called in again at about 7pm. Harry was there again, he was just the same. Also Sarah was very helpful and cheerful, gave us some water to take out for our dogs and had such a charming way with the customers.
There was a large party arrived just prior to us but the staff kept calm, worked efficiently and met everyone’s needs. The young man cooking coped very well, we understood he was fairly new, but he quietly supplied everyone’s food in a short time and excellent it was too.
I work as a nurse and all too often we have to contend with people complaining about our service even though most of the staff work so hard, I felt I would just like to say well done to the staff at Peterborough Eye.
Mrs. Preston
I’m a big fan of Little Chef restaurants and I always try to plan my business route to have breakfast in an LC restaurant. However it appears more & more LC restaurants are closing down & being replaced by sub-standard plastic food outlets.
I am very happy with the food quality, restaurant facilities, friendly and helpful staff & the prices too – I wish you all the very best of luck in making LC restaurants a viable & profitable business.
Many thanks & best regards,
John Dudley
My family were very concerned last year to find that many Little Chef Restaurants had / were closing, including some we had hoped to visit en route to our holiday destinations in the UK.
We were extremely pleased to learn that Little Chef had survived, albeit saddened that some had had to close.
My family includes 3 'always hungry' teenagers and we have enjoyed dining at Little Chef Restaurants for many years. We stop and dine at Little Chef on our way to our holiday destination and again on our homebound journey. We always look forward to these visits as very much part of our holiday.
We always enjoy our meal and feel completely satisfied once we have dined. We feel the quality and selection has improved over the years and we all like the latest menu.
Well done Little Chef.
We hope you continue to serve for many years to come and we look forward to our next visit soon.
Graham Wren & Family
Brentwood, Essex
Always enjoy the Little Chef breakfasts and meals while travelling, always freshly made.
Irene, Erskine
I am a policeman in the London area and for the past 20 years the Little Chef has been a haven for me and the rest of the CID team.
I remember on Friday morning, we had just finished a big operation on a nearby estate and we all went for a celebratorary breakfast at the Little Chef. We all had full English and a cracking time. I think the rest of the diners wondered what Ted, Fran and I were all doing being so raucous at 8.30 in the morning!
Happy memories, this fine institution had to be saved.
Jim
Dear Sir/Madam,
Please keep your American breakfast (with maple syrup and pancakes) - wonderful! And your new sausages are a vast improvement on the old ones. The coffee went through a dip but has improved recently. If you keep these improvements, then you'll keep my custom too whenever I'm on the road.
Keep going!
Jen Llywelyn
Dear all at Little Chef,
What a relief it is that the majority of the Little Chefs have been saved from extinction!
As a motorcyclist I undertake a number of long journeys throughout the year, in all weathers. At present, I remain limited to the ‘A’ routes as I am a 125 rider on ‘L’ plates, but that doesn’t stop me enjoying my trips. I am always grateful for the warm and friendly welcome I receive at each and every Little Chef I visit.
The reason that I choose Little Chef is that the prices are not overly expensive compared to other service areas, and I always know the quality of the food will be consistently high. (I love the All-day Olympic Breakfast especially!)
I agree that some of the restaurants are showing the signs of age and neglect by the successive previous owners, but I have always found the friendly, professional and cheerful staff more than compensate.
Very best wishes,
Mr. Jim R. B. Robinson
Little Chef has always provided a standard of service and quality of food second to none. I have driven over a million miles in the last 15 years around the UK and at every location the standard and quality is superb. On those dark evenings when you’re in the middle of nowhere, when you see that Little Chef sign you now what you going to get. Please support Little Chef; it’s been part of my life ever since I was a child.
Sean Pannell
Dear Sir / Madam,
Well done for managing to save a national treasure.
We Brits have a very great sense of pride. This is a truly British brand that we Brits have grown up with.
The People's restaurant Company had taken a firm that had been neglected by previous owners and seriously needed money spent on it, and had not only started renovating sites (see Barton Mills, Penrith and Halkyn) but changed the menu, dropped the prices, reopened sites and introduced the Coffee Tempo! concept.
Little Chef have another great Trump card that we Brits go crazy for. Nostalgia. I think all of my friends can remember a fun family holiday, travelling in the car on different roads that you only ever took when you were going somewhere exciting, with 6 weeks of school holidays stretching in front of you and stopping at Little Chef for breakfasts, pancakes, milkshakes, and of course the obligatory lolly that you could never unwrap! Little Chef now provides these "big kids" with memories of a happy, childhood ease, basking in the smell of maple syrup pancakes and lit by red lampshades!
Once more thank you for saving it.
Yours faithfully,
Alan Simpson
I live in Lincolnshire and until recently my mother lived in Kent.
We traveled down to Kent every two weeks and always stopped at a Little Chef on the way down and on the way back.
Apart from only one occasion the food has been cooked as we like it, the service has been friendly and we have not had to wait long, apart from a couple of times when it was very busy.
Mick Brooks
I worked for Little Chef from 1986 to 1989 as a waitress, cook, supervisor and eventually manageress of Fontwell. These were my happiest working years of my life and I would be very sorry to see Little Chef disappear from our roads. A British institution.
Come on Britain, support the Little Chef.
Claire
Dear Sir or Madam,
My wife and I returned from an extended holiday in the USA on 4 th January 2007 and stopped overnight at the A34 Towcester Travelodge on our way home from Heathrow Airport. We ate our evening meal and breakfast on 5 th January at the Little Chef restaurant that is situated adjacent to the Travelodge.
I am writing to tell you how much we both enjoyed our superb evening meal and the breakfast was as good as any we have eaten anywhere including five star hotels. The food was well prepared, freshly cooked and served promptly and cheerfully. We were really pleased and told the duty chef ‘Chris’, who was on duty for both our meals, how much we enjoyed our food. Chris is clearly very talented and enthusiastic about his cooking and could well pass on his expertise to other budding chef’s in the chain.
Only twenty-four hours prior to our visit we had been eating in Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Clubhouse at San Francisco International Airport and the food there was not a patch on the meals we enjoyed at Towcester Little Chef.
We have, in the past, had some less than perfect meals in some of your restaurants. These have included occasions where the griddle has not been cleaned prior to cooking, oil has not been changed in the deep fryer and sub-standard ingredients, particularly vegetables have been served. This restaurant, however, is a credit to the company and we would be grateful if you would pass our comments on to the restaurant manager and his staff.
Yours sincerely
Leslie Clarke
Hi,
I believe the reason for the decline in the business over the last five years is due to years of under-investment and neglect. Little Chefs successive owners were really only interested in making a quick profit. Little Chef had been stripped to its bare essentials. Restaurants were run down and staff disarrayed.
I have a genuine affection for the brand as I have made many good friends over the years and loved to stop at Little Chef as a child. I believe that The Peoples Restaurant Group were taking the business in the right direction but didn’t have the capital to turn it around quickly enough. I hope the new owners have better luck!
So good to hear you have been saved.
The new menu is excellent - lower prices and better quality food. Your staff are great too; always a warm welcome wherever you go and you see them chatting together and really working as a team. You’re my first choice when on a journey and my kids will choose you over McDonalds too even at Motorway services where they have several choices
Good luck I will be sticking with you several times a month.
Steve
I remember as a child how good it was to stop mid journey at one of your restaurants. I stopped using them however when repping up and down the country as over the years the service and food went downhill, unlike the cost. I found myself stopping at lay-bys and paying £3.00 for a breakfast roll as opposed to £10 for a 'breakfast' at Little Chef and it was not solely a cost issue. I do hope that the company gets through administration but, in my opinion, it's got to win its old public back.
Dennis Farmer
Its great to hear that Little Chef is sticking around. It’s always a great place to stop for something to eat whether on a long journey or just lunch out at my local Little Chef. You can always guarantee you will receive a great, value for money meal, freshly cooked to perfection meal every time.
Keep up the good work.
Andrew
We are really delighted that your chain has been saved and that we can continue to eat on our journeys around the country. We HATE burgers and similar American food and have always made a point of using Little Chefs. Keep up the good work.
PS. As a supporter of the Battery Hens Welfare Trust I was delighted to see that you only use free range eggs. Brilliant!
I hope you manage to keep going. I like your places and the food and service too. I’ve been a diner since the sixties!
Tony Hollick
Well what a dining experience I recently had at Little Chef. THANKYOU xxxxx
The staff were polite and helpful and the food was much better than I thought it would be!!!!
The double burger was a mountain!!! I don’t think any other restaurant does a burger this size!! In America you would get a T-shirt to say you survived eating it.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes a challenge!
We also had a desert which was fresh and tasty and NO not deep fried!!! (I have read other comments on other websites!)
The overall experience was a very happy one and once again, “Thank you!!”
Jane Aston
Hello Little Chef,
My partner and I are so pleased that your bacon has been saved! We regularly eat at Little Chef restaurants when we are away from home and on holiday. We must have eaten in at least 100 different locations. We have nearly always enjoyed good meals and service and VERY rarely had to complain.
LONG MAY YOU REFUEL THE NATION!!!!
Best Wishes for your continuation.
Michael
So pleased Little chef have been saved. My local one at Long Sutton remains open. Hurrah!
I have been a customer of the Little Chef for many years - the staff are friendly and courteous, we think of them as friends. Contrary to reports, the food is cooked, low fat' and they have plenty of choice for the diet conscious. Little Chef are a joy to travelers and a British institution!!!!!
Candy Waller