"Lovely pub, beautifully decorated. Very attentive staff. Superb choice of food/dishes with quality ingredients. Coped exceptionally well with dietary intolerance. Food presented beautifully at just right time intervals. So why only average? It was lovely and cosy in front of fire but once sat at table it was cold. Two people had hot starters-but they weren’t hot, they were tepid at best. One hot starter superb, the two cold ones were equally superb. Roasts arrived-ONE slice of thick rare, tender beef, with thick rind of white fat-cold. 3 beautifully crisp roast potatoes-tepid, two strips of carrot-cold, two strips of parsnip-warm, four pieces of cabbage hidden under beef, 1 large almost raw charred cauliflower-cold others had small amount of cauliflower cheese). 3 had wagyu beef ragu-tepid at best but very tasty. Ordered additional bowl of red cabbage £6.50). Desserts-hot ones hot, cold ones cold. Beautifully presented, outstanding flavours. Had four bottles of wine. Total bill was over £400. Would I go back? Probably to give it another go. Why? Because there was no doubt the food quality was superb. Why did I not complain? We were with friends, it was a birthday meal, they had accommodated our early arrival and made no fuss about our missing guest. But it is very expensive. They need to look at quantities especially the vegetables. And they need to get food temperature right. We eat out regularly- The Marquis at Hadleigh comparable price but perfect) The anchor at Kelvedon great and much cheaper), White Horse at Badwell Ash amazing and 1/3 price), Butt and Oyster Pin Mill Superb and less than 1/2 price). However company great, we laughed and shared good times so the disappointing aspects we overlooked."
