Lemon Posset
Brasserie At The Royal King's Arms

Brasserie At The Royal King's Arms

United Kingdom, LA1 1JG, Lancaster

Wine • Full • Steak • English


"The Brasserie is a lovely decorated restaurant that played smooth jazz throughout our visit. As a birthday meal out, we were excited to try somewhere new in town. The first waiter was prompt at taking our drinks order, but barely apologised at the lack of gas (so no draught ales) and didn 't know too much about the bottled beers. Two couples order the charcuterie boards. The ciabatta bread was toasted and sharp, so it didn 't make for a pleasant bite. It snapped rather than crunched... And the rocket wasn 't dressed, so we were eating dry leaves. After this, the second waiter came to apologise that there wasn 't any creamy polenta to accompany the main, wild mushroom ragu, so he offered mashed potato or rice. When this meal turned up, there wasn 't any of the vegan cheese or rocket, which was also supposed to accompany the meal. What a waste of money, knowing that vegan cheese can be fairly costly. Nobody came to ask the party if the food was alright. We weren 't seen to for a good 30 minutes, despite being the only people in the restaurant. As well as the ragu, the steak dishes were underwhelming as well, even these salads weren 't dressed. Dry leaves make for a sad meal. We are sorely disappointed as we were really looking forward to the food here. The waiting staff were pleasant but didn 't have the experience or training that they really needed. A memorable moment: What 's the cheesecake of the day? Oh, it 's JUST the new york cheesecake. Just vanilla. Don 't undersell your food! Just vanilla is still great!"

The County

The County

The County Hotel, NE46 1PS, Northumberland, United Kingdom

Steak • Pasta • European • Bar-lounge


"My wife and I have been to the County Kitchen a few times for their Sunday Carvery. So why, you may ask have I only given the County Kitchen 3 stars and entitled my review as lacks consistency? Well the title does say it all, it isn 't that the food and service and surroundings are bad its just that as a complete package it...........lacks consistency. Perhaps I should explain rather than repeating myself Our table was crammed in with others in the small conservatory/veranda area. It felt cramped as we were against a pillar and so close to at least 6 other diners that it felt uncomfortable and unwelcoming, especially as the rest of the restaurant was empty. Moving on to our food. We opted for starters, followed by the carvery. My wife 's starter crab haddock fishcake, with chive hollandaise was presented nicely and according to her very nice but lacked flavour . Mine was pork belly terrine and chutney my comments mirror those of my wife 's. Lacked seasoning and flavour, but looked nice. I echo Greg Wallace 's thoughts on Masterchef the other day..... ...would rather have something that tastes good rather than a dish that just looks pretty... Now the carvery you have a choice of at 3 roast meats plus vegetables and if you feeling really hungry there isn 't a limit to the number of times you can go back. But for most appetites 1 visit is enough. Being a little greedy I had a couple of slices of port with yummily crisp crackling) and some beef. The carver described the beef as medium rare my preference) but it was more like medium to well done so it was a bit tough and chewy shame as it looked a fantastic joint of beef). That finally put an end to our meal, we paid our bill £59.95 incl bottle of wine, and starters) and left. I have to say that this hasn 't been our experience on other occasions, so perhaps its was just an off day. Will we go back? Probably, but we won 't be rushing back. Its not a bad place, it just.....lacks consistency!"