Pan-Roasted Lamb Rump
The Kings Arms Bedford

The Kings Arms Bedford

31 The Green, Cardington, Bedford MK44 3SP, United Kingdom

Pub • Cakes • British • Vegetarian


"Sunday roast lunch on 29 July. Interior decor is nicely done, but the food was a great disappointment. I had roast pork, my partner had roast beef. The pork was OK, three small slices, not brilliant but acceptable, but the vegetables were unbelievably dreadful. The roast potatoes were white and soggy, the half parsnip equally so, and the cabbage was almost raw, more stalk than leaf. I asked for replacement potatoes, which were at least browned, but equally soggy, as if they'd been microwaved, not roasted. My partner's roast beef was also OK, not great, but same problems with the vegetables. Also, his plate of food was only lukewarm, almost cold. Regarding the drinks, my partner had asked for a large glass of dry house wine at £5.90. However, we were charged for the Pinot at £7.45. When we queried this with the waitress, she said the house wine wasn't dry, so she'd served the Pinot without any prior discussion or agreement. The service was acceptable, although we waited over 10 minutes for our first drink even though there was only one other table occupied in the restaurant, as we'd booked early at 12.15pm. We complained to the manager, who was apologetic and generous in the settlement of our bill. He offered a return meal, but we won't be going back. A roast dinner must be one of the easiest dishes to do well. It's hard to understand how this restaurant managed to get it so wrong."

The Derby Arms

The Derby Arms

Epsom Downs, KT18 5LQ, United Kingdom

Kebab • Sushi • Pizza • Seafood


"This is our usual venue for celebrations both because its local and because usually its a well priced great food but based on my experience last night I wont be going back for a while. A number of things went wrong, and any one on its own would have just been put down as bad fortune, but all together suggests that the owners of Derby Arms are trying to offer a fine dining experience but not backing it up. 1) I booked online and mentioned the booking was for my wife 's birthday, and at no point was this mentioned. In its self this wasn 't an issue as she never likes the attention of it, but it does suggest that nobody paid attention to the note made under special requests and dietary issues so does suggest that if I 'd made a dietary comment it may also have been ignored here 2) They brought out the wrong starter, firstly the server seemed to be expecting me to accept what he brought out, and then returned to the kitchen to get what had been ordered which did arrive very soon after. The lady who took our order came to apologise and blamed the kitchen, but given the same item was on our bill it was clearly her error. 3) The waiting staff were very pleasant but not very attentive. This was highlighted best when the server arrived with our main course and our starter plates had not been taken away. A bit of juggling later (thankfully there was a spare table nearby) all was sorted 4) When you order a £30 steak you 'd expect decent meat, served well Not on a wooden block with chips in a cup (very pub styly) 5) Both steak meals had things missing, my wife had no chips and I was missing the extra onion rings ordered. Once highlighted they arrived in good time When you 're paying £75 a head for a pub meal you really expect many of these mistakes not to be made and there is every chance we were just unlucky."