A customer’s post about the ‘quality’ food and ‘amazing staff’ caused an unexpected stir on social media
Matt Lemm with the brown plates some social media users mistook for wooden boards
A newly-opened steakhouse has been at the centre of a hilarious ‘plate gate’ controversy.
The rustic-style plates used at Lockside Steakhouse in Telford have caused quite a stir on social media.
Hundreds of people have now commented on a picture of a customer’s meal, which they posted in a local Facebook group.
The diner had praised the steakhouse for its ‘quality’ food and ‘amazing staff’ – but it seemed people were more focused on what the food had been served on, with some mistaking the rectangular plates for wooden boards.
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One comment read: “Why can’t they put it on a plate?”
A second said: “Looks lovely, but just don’t get why they serve food on a board, puts me straight off.”
A third chipped in: “What is this fad. What’s wrong with good old-fashioned PLATES?”
Another wrote: “It looks disgusting on wooden things, not at all hygienic.”
“No plates, then no thanks,” a fifth comment read.
A sixth said: “Why use a plank of wood? Plates, please. We aren’t cavemen.”
The steakhouse’s advertising manager, Matt Lemm, was quick to respond with a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ video showing they were ‘just brown plates’.
Speaking to BirminghamLive, Matt said this ‘wasn’t the first time’ the plates had caused confusion, as they used the same ones at the Stourbridge restaurant.
“I don’t understand why people have got such a mad reaction about brown plates, considering it’s a rustic steakhouse,” he said.
“Everything is a bit quirky, and the plates are the same. To be fair, they’re really expensive plates.
“The boards we do use – we’ve got 10 big, thick boards, about £200 each – they’ve been professionally treated and sealed, and the reason being our big tomahawk is too big to go on a plate, so we had to find a way around it.
“We’ve also got burger boards, but as a rule, cooked meat and everything else goes on plates, they’re just brown because it fits in with the décor.”
However despite being ‘absolutely baffled’ by what he’s dubbed ‘plate gate’, the 46-year-old could see the funny side.
“I love things like this,” he said. “This is what the steakhouse is all about.
“The steakhouse isn’t the run-of-the-mill restaurant, and with things like this, people actually get to know whose running the place as well.”
The family-run restaurant opened in Beveley Road, Ketley, on Monday, September 21, and while Matt said there had been ‘teething problems’ in the opening week as staff got to grips with things, he said the reaction had been ‘unreal’.
He added: “The support we’ve had from Telford has been absolutely off the chart, honestly.
“I can’t thank the Telford people enough.”
