Beer Battered Onion Rings
The Wheatley Arms

The Wheatley Arms

Wheatley Lane, LS29 8PP, Bradford, United Kingdom

Meat • Steak • Coffee • Seafood


"Having passed this place many times, I called in for a meal last night. What a gem !. Ordered a pint of Taylors Best Mary Jane and others also available). Was shown to a table, and ordered to start 'Confit duck and peanut spring rolls with a plum chutney ' £6.95) followed by one of their fish specials form the blackboard 'Salmon and Sea Bass fillets with asparagus and bearnaise sauce ' one of the more expensive options at £16.95). Waitress came with bread, two nice thick pieces of rustic bread, one white one brown, and both butter and the olive oil /balsamic vinegar. Whe the spring rolls came , there were four, rather over the top, as for a starter two would have been sufficient, and with a pile of crisp salad and the plum dressing as well. Delicious, I had no problem eating all four. The fish main was also a delight, two small fillets each of sea bass and salmon, with a couple of asparagus spears, and some bearnaise sauce in a pot. A side dish of carrots and broccoli also presented. Thoroughly enjoyable. Bill £26.95. It was as I was paying that I realised that the Wheatley was also residential. Readers of my reviews will know I stay in the area two nights nearly every week Mainly at Chevin Country Park Hotel Otley, or Rombalds in Ilkley or occasionally Harrgate or Knaresborough, see my reviews of these hotels) However when I asked about room rates, £80 B B for a single to me is too much for what is essentially a pub. I pay £70 at the Chevin) I am sure the rooms will be clean and well appointed, but I would have expcted them to be maybe £60-65 for a single. I am awarding 5 stars for the meal, but I suspect that had I stayed there, maybe only 4 stars as a hotel because of the price. Within the last few weeks I now found and reviewed three pubs in the area with really good food., the other two being the The Black Horse at Askwith and the Fox at Menston. I now have a quandary which to go back to !"

Bankend Brasserie

Bankend Brasserie

Holiday InnBankend Road, Dumfries, United Kingdom

Cafés • Seafood • Scottish • Breakfast


"I booked Sunday lunch for my husband's birthday and asked for a table for 4 adults, 1 child and a high chair for a toddler. When we arrived, not only was the table not ready, it hadn't even been wiped clean and yet, we were the first customers to arrive at 12.15pm. Did that mean nothing had been done since breakfast time? The waitress had to go and look for the high chair we'd asked for in advance. Worse was to come. Nobody approached us for a drinks order and the waitress only gave one of our party a proper food menu, everyone else got drink and snack menus only. There was hardly anything on the menu anyway and certainly no Sunday roast, the one thing we'd been hoping for on a Sunday... The waitress had to ask us to repeat several parts of our order because there was a conference party arriving in reception that were quite noisy. The layout of the restaurant is open plan straight onto Reception quite strange really and not at all conducive to a quiet family meal. Then, we were told that the fish platter two of us ordered was no longer available.... although it was only 12.30pm and we were the first people there, so how come there was none left? If the fish ran out on the Saturday, surely it should have been taken off the menu? I was really annoyed because the lack of care and attention, the noise levels and the lack of anything decent on the menu spoiled my husband's birthday, so I decided to vote with my feet and told the waitress that none of this was good enough. This was meant to be a birthday lunch, nothing was ready, nothing we wanted to eat was available, so we were leaving. She looked shocked, but didn't even have the grace to apologise on behalf of the venue. We drove a mile down the road to a much more welcoming venue called The Swan and had a beautiful lunch there with friendly, welcoming staff...and it was much cheaper than the significantly overpriced dishes we saw on the menu!"

The Cradock Arms

The Cradock Arms

201 Knighton Road, Leicester, United Kingdom, LE2 3TT

Wine • Pubs • Steak • European


"My daughter just had her wedding at the Cradock m. Afternoon meal, reception and evening food. The ceremony was at a church just round the corner and she wanted a pub style venue. As we had eaten there a couple of times, enjoyed the food and knew they catered for private events in the bottom bar we thought we’d ask what they could do. She spoke to Curtis their events manager, by his admission the pub had rarely put on any weddings. She would have been OK just to book the lovely old beamed room with a meal, sort out some music and have a party but Curtis was determined from the off to give her the best wedding experience the pub could. He was great in the build up working with her requests and easing any stresses. And the day could not have gone better. The pub dressed the rooms to her exact specifications, laid out all the decorations and flowers she left them with, set all the tables to her plan and the staff that worked all day could not have been more attentive. Huge thanks to Jay and Patrick and the chefs. Everything went perfectly, the food was great, any minor issues were sorted immediately (a louder speaker for the dance floor appeared within a minute of asking), the drinks flowed and everybody had an amazing time. And value wise it was superb! Thank you Jay, Patrick, Curtis, all absolute diamonds and the Cradock for making my daughter’s special day so brilliant."