The Keys - Yarm

This has always been one of my favourite restaurants in yarm, but the last couple times the service has been bad and the food has been nowhere near the standard it used to be. Went for Sunday lunch today, I’m lactose intolerant and apparently they couldn’t do me any potatoes? Not sure why not. So I literally had a plate of meat and a few veg. He meat was all really well done and dry, most of the veg were hard apart from the sprouts which had clearly been cooking since last Christmas! Service was very slow and I had to ask for the bill twice because they had forgotten. Really disappointed and reluctant to return

Staff were very attentive and helpful, also very pleasant. Food was good lots of it and filling. Would definitely return again for Sunday lunch. Will certainly recommend to friends.

Great food nice staff very good sirvice..went for birthday sunday lunch befi go back very nice table next to fire....thank yoy😃😃😃👍👍👍👍very good for money please try

Sunday Lunch was excellent and service very efficient. Variety of vegetable and portions more than we could eat. Only negative was Wifi very poor and needs rectifying.

Nice Sunday lunch and very quick service. Remembrance Sunday so very busy but staff were friendly and helpful and food was hot and plentiful - didn't have room for pudding!

Went for the Sunday Roast beef dinner, was disappointed with the veg. as was very undercooked, cauliflower very raw, hard to cut otherwise rest of dinner was fine. Also felt the service was a little sporadic and had to chase them several times before getting dessert and extra drink ordered was forgotten until reminded. Very noisy due to a childrens party going on upstairs. Will not be rushing back.

The food was cold and my sirloin beef was not worth the extra £4. We like our vegetables Al dented but these were bordering on raw. I was unable to cut the cauliflower floret as it was so hard. However the manager was apologetic and didn't charge us for meal. This gesture was appreciated.

We had an AMAZING afternoon tea for five adults and one child. Quality and quantity was simply perfect. The service, as always, was fantastic. Thank you 😘

I was a little disappointed with the service from the keys on this occasion. They took our drinks order and food order. Drinks came within around 10 minutes but the starter took around 35 minutes to come. I could full understand if they were busy but for a lunch time they werent. Food was nice but position size had reduced. The size was enough for a child. I walked away feeling hungry from a starter and a main course. Some staff seems friendly and happy to help if required. We feel we wouldn’t return in a hurry

Good service would’ve rated higher if they hadn’t run out of a couple of things on the menu. Would definitely go back. Food excellent though.

Food was delicious. The negatives were the coffee machine has been cleaned and switched off at 9pm. It was a pretty quiet evening and I guess the staff wanted to leave early. Was also a litlle dissapointed with the attitude of one of the waitresses though most were very pleasant.

Good food. But noisy restaurant - clattering behind the bar, especially when staff using the coffee machine. Good value for money. Staff attentive but could do with better training on what you stock behind the bar.

We'll received, shown directly to our table. Waitress absolutely brilliant, attentive, efficient and with good humour. Good choice of early bird and regular menu, both reasonably priced. We've been before and will, most certainly, be back.

Booked for daughter and her friends for her birthday, they really enjoyed and said food and service was very good. I'd paid in advance and forgot to get them to leave a tip :-(

We had an excellent Sunday lunch even with a baby in tow, plenty of room. Very accommodating staff we received excellent service and would definitely go again.

Lovely place and really friendly staff. We sat outside because it was a nice day and it was really chilled out. Food was okay for the price.

Went to the Keys for the 1st time since winter last friday T-time and as usual the food was excellent, the service very good and a good selection of unique beers. Only slight disappointment was that they had just stopped doing the mid-week specials menu which was excellent value. Hopefully this will be brought back later in the year.

Me and my partner both got the parmasan which tasted good however, the chicken was still pink! And a few goey bits had to be scraped off. Chips were nice however, the waiting time was quite long considering it wasn't very busy either.

Food was excellent but took a long time getting drinks and at one point after ordering they never turned up and we had to go to the bar ourselves!

Good overall experience though the service was a bit slow due to the number of diners. Would definitely recommend friends and members of my family.

Afternoon tea with my two children, lovely afternoon. We all enjoyed although didn't realise until Got home that one dessert was missing from the tea. Still very nice though.

Lovely food and service. My daughter and I really enjoyed our visit and will definitely return. Kids meal really good value for money with pudding included.

Very nice Sunday lunch, taste and presentation 5 star. It's nice to see there is an alternative menu too on a Sunday. The service however was incredibly slow so one star lost for that.

Good good - service not so much. Waited a while for the food - waiter seemed unhappy with his lot - like it was all too much for him

Sunday Lunch was wonderful in every part. Meat was plentiful and perfectly cooked. Vegetable variety and taste fab. Great value for money and staff were so friendly and helpful.

The food was tasty and plentyful but a little to greasy for some of my party. Very expensive drinks. Would possible return but not order a drink.

Good overall and the staff were welcoming and friendly. One drink order wrong but nothing to complain about. Good service and the food was excellent.

Great food. Even do a ladies parmo! Never had a bad meal here yet! But where has the chunky beef chilli gone??? It was my ultimate favourite

Service was good but the salmon and avocado salad was very disappointing.The avocado was extremely hard and it was fortunate that there was a smidgeon

We were charged for an extra meal but the was put right. The Sunday lunch was very salty and only lukewarm. The gammon however was very nice.

Lovely helpful waitress who chatted to my little girl and kept on top of our drinks orders then sorted out our voucher payment. The children's afternoon tea itself was much improved since our last visit with a more balanced selection between sweet/sugary and healthier options.

3rd time at the Keys in the last year for the mid-week special menu. Excellent food, good choice, good service and 3 courses for £12.95. My Daughter had the chicken and pepperoni pizza and it was better than we've had in quite a few of the local authentic Italian restaurants. Cant say any more except we'll be back soon.

The food is great food and the service was excellent! We will definitely be back soon and would recommend to a friend without a doubt.

Won't be rushing back, the meat was tough, the veg was bland and watery. Seemed like they tried to make it a high end style roast but failed.

Had Sunday lunch recently and, as always, really enjoyable with fresh vegetables, etc. Only criticism would be the very cold Yorkshire pudding! Always good, pleasant service

Brilliant meal and excellent service, highly recommend having a meal here.

Lovely food, excellent service from Robyn. Couldn't fault, even packed up my pizza as couldn't eat all for me to take home. Kids menu really good value

Didn't really cater for my needs this time, been previously and had an excellent experience but I booked for 11am and there were only breakfast choices to choose from food wise, most of the short breakfast menu dishes were egg dishes; scrambled eggs, poached eggs, eggs benedict, omelette etc. My friend who I was eating with is pregnant so didn't want to risk runny eggs. There were no sandwiches, soup, pasta etc until midday so I struggled with my 2 year old. Maybe my own fault for not checking times but thought lunch might have started a bit earlier than 12pm. The food we did have was lovely and good value for money. Most of the staff were very polite and hospitable although I got the impression the girl I was quizzing about the menu was getting impatient with me and looking quickly to serve other people. I was told sorry but 'fries aren't served until later' when I asked what my little one could eat even though I wouldn't dream of giving her fries. I'd visit again and put this visit down to a one off as I usually enjoy my time here.

We had pre-booked afternoon tea here and arrived around the time we had booked for. There were a few members of staff walking around when we arrived but it was a few minutes before we were responded to, despite attempting to get the attention of staff members. When we were spoken to we were shown to our table straight away and a drinks order taken. We explained that we were booked in for afternoon tea and that one person was vegetarian. Our waitress returned to our table a few moments later to explain we would have to wait for our food as we had failed to inform the restaurant that there was a vegetarian in the party. Admittedly, we did not make this known when booking, however we had previously visited the Darlington restaurant for afternoon tea and had been told here there was no need to let them know about dietary requirements as all food was prepared fresh on the day. We had naively assumed this was the same for all of The Keys restaurants. After a wait of around 20 minutes, our food arrived. The non-vegetarian sandwich boards contained options of egg, cheese savoury, ham and beef, while the vegetarian contained two egg and two cheese. As the non-vegetarian boards also contained the cheese and egg sandwiches it is unclear why we were made to wait so long because of the vegetarian board as it was simply a case of taking off a ham and a beef sandwich and adding an extra egg and extra cheese. The cakes were very much the same and were very dry, however the presentation of everything was lovely and when we asked for an extra pot of water and milk for the tea this was provided without problem. Overall, the service on this particular visit was not the best. Aside from ordering the food and asking for the bill, we seemed to be just left and had to wait some time to gain the attention of the waitress. The waitress was not very welcoming and made no attempt to explain what was on the plates when the food was brought out, we were left to try to work out what was in the sandwiches and what the cakes were. We will visit this restaurant again as we have previously enjoyed very good service both here and at the Darlington restaurant and so we will not rule out a future visit based on this poor experience which may have been a one off. It is a shame, however that this visit was to celebrate a birthday.

Being polite with a 3. Food was like warm although otherwise tasty enough. Ordered drinks on arrival expecting them to be there while we ordered but they didn't arrive for 45 minutes after complaining twice. Service was polite and the staff lovely otherwise TBH I probably would have left. Very disappointed with the surroundings the Keys needs a complete overall of the seating as seemed quite shabby.