Grilled Fillet Of Sea Bass
The Spread Eagle Hotel & Spa - The Restaurant

The Spread Eagle Hotel & Spa - The Restaurant

Spread Eagle Hotel South Street Midhurst, West Sussex GU29 9NH, GU29 9PD, Chichester, United Kingdom

Steak • Hotels • British • English


"Our first choice restaurant was booked up so we decided to eat here because the menu looked really nice and it was convenient as we were staying at the hotel. It was full and so I was encouraged that it would be good. Some nice warmed bread was brough to the table with some olive oil/balsamic mix. The ration wasn't quite right as each time you dipped the bread you got olive oil and no balsamic. We ordered the wood pigeon breast (special) and baked sardines as starters. The breast was overcooked and the red wine sauced lacked any depth of flavour. The baked sardines allegedly came with a basil and garlic crust, Borlotti beans and a herb salad with lemon oil. I struggled to find any basil, garlic or lemon oil. I don't know what they braised the borlotti beans in because they had little or no taste. The sardines were lovely but rest of it was just apallingly executed. Steak is a great dish for judging the competence of a kitchen. It's difficult to get wrong and if you can't get it right then perhaps you're in the wrong section or profession. With that in mind and the disappointment of the first course we both ordered the Chateaubriand rare and rare to blue with extra sides of green beans and tenderstem brocolli. We did ask if it was possible to get a bernaise sauce but were advised that it wasn't. I know restaurants like to avoid going off menu but a bernaise takes me about 10 15 minutes to make so I'd expect a professional chef to do it in half that time. It's possible they didn't have tarragon or more likely the lack of demand would have meant them wasting most of it. Not a huge issue and it made no difference to our rating. The Chateaubriand was tough, chewy and lacked any seasoning it hadn't seen a flake of salt before it reached our table. Normally a great cut like this is tender to cut through, melts in the mouth, has great carmelisation on the outside giving that wonderful flavour. This was just like beef jerky....a real shame. The highlight was the cherries which were wonderfully sweet and bursting with flavour and the green beans. The tenderstem brocolli was underdone but I prefer that to overdone. The chips lacked any crisp bite, like they'd been sitting out for a while. The peppecorn sauce had a nice peppery hint to it but I do prefer a little more pepperyness. The red wine sauce was the same as the one used for the wood pigeon so again it lacked depth of flavour and could probably have benefited from reduction. My partner decided to forgo dessert as the previous courses were so disappointing and the few dishes we saw come out were not particularly appealing. I went for the cheese board. The cheeses were nice and mild. The figs went well. There weren't enough crackers and the slices of cheese were quite small. The front of house staff and serving staff were great, sadly the restaurant is let down by the kitchen. I expect much better food at £53/head. On the strength of the breakfast and dinner we had this place just can't deliver good food."

Belton Woods

Belton Woods

Belton, Grantham, United Kingdom

Tea • British • Chicken • European


"We were on holiday in one of the lodges on site so booked to eat at the restaurant on two nights as a family get together. The service was very good, but the choice of meals was disappointing. We were told as soon as we arrived that the main restaurant was closed as they were very quiet, but could eat in the bar area. So sat down only to be told the LIST of things unavailable, so for me personally it meant that I was very restricted. Having been forced into ordering a burger and fries I felt let down so decided to enjoy a dessert, but was let down again when after ordering the waitress advised one of party that the ice creams he wanted they were out of stock. That made me question her as that meant part of my dessert wouldn't be complete so asked what they intended to replace it with. The response was a shock as a hot treacle pudding with clotted cream ice cream would have been replaced by salted caramel ice-cream which I hate as they didn'teven have any vanilla! So I suggested they replace it with custard or cream which they did. The following evening the same thing happened again with the waitter advising us of a whole list of things unavailable and again still no ice cream. The only flavours available were obviously the ones people really didn't want and no attempt had been made to purchase a vanilla, or many other flavour ice cream. Even the waiter said that they hadn't made much effort to get the missing items, stating if he'd been in charge he would have sent a member of staff out to the local supermarket for at least the vanilla flavour. Having had a burger the previous night my only option was a salad! As nice as it was, it wasn't really a meal. I dare say we'll try them once more the next time we visit that area but if they haven't up their game then we won't go again."