Parmesan Fries Parmesan Fries
The Anchor Aspley Guise

The Anchor Aspley Guise

United Kingdom, MK17 8DF, Milton Keynes

Wine • Steak • Cheese • Chicken


"Don 't bother. This restaurant is part of the Unique Hospitality family/group. We referred here by the staff of another of the family: The Three Locks. The Three Locks has superb food, fantastic service and staff, and we found ourselves revisiting within the same week. Anchor Inn, on the other hand, is severely disappointed. It 's billed as the high end restaurant in the family, but it 's not at all what it believes itself to be. What they did right: We were greeted by a friendly host and immediately seated. The decor is nice, clean... and it all went desperately downhill from there. (though, the squid starter we did stick around to try was delicious What they did wrong: Ignore (forget? their customers. We received NO service. The host had taken our drink orders before leaving us, and when a waiter dropped them off, he refused to take our orders and headed off to join a group of ALL waiters in the busy, filled restaurant of diners already eating, etc. We heard them being schooled on the night 's specials, taking their sweet time asking and answering questions and talking about the service plan for the night. Once 15 minutes went by and my husband and I felt our business was completely unwanted, we interrupted the group to ask for the chance to give our orders. We were still brushed off. Later, one sympathetic waitress finally wrote down our orders and we asked how long it would take to prepare them, if the chef was also occupied we were on the brink of leaving. The waitress assured us there were many chefs in the kitchen. We wondered why no one was providing them with any orders. Surprisingly, the starter arrived quickly; the mains, less timely. And they were incredibly disappointing. Tasteless. Well presented, but completely lacking flavor or any reason for them to cost money. They were cooked well, prepared with fresh ingredients, but boring. I 've never dreaded a bit of chicken breast so much in my life. I forced myself to get a decent portion of the meal down because we waited so long for it and I needed the nourishment, but I lamented every bite. ...while being forced to listen to another diner 's continuously yipping dog sitting on her lap at a nearby table. Every customer was annoyed by this young woman 's canine dining partner, but no staff member seemed to care. Paying for our meal, we had to ask the waitress about the Unique Hospitality discount card we were supposed to receive, as every customer, eating there, for visiting any other of their family of restaurants. She seemed put off by the request, but did later deliver the card we were due. As we left the restaurant, absolutely no staff member looked up at us, acknowledged us, or said goodbye except the original, friendly host when we reached the door, never to look back. We 'll swear on any holy book you desire that we will NOT ever return to Anchor Inn. We LOVE great food, seek it out around the globe, appreciate a great meal for any appropriate price. The Anchor Inn seems more of the place one might be inclined to gloat to their friends and family that they can afford or do frequent, but they 're all terribly misguided when it comes to what 's worth putting into your mouth and fueling your body with. You should snub the Anchor Inn just like the staff snubs its diners."

The Berliner

The Berliner

1-3 Lower Garfield Street, Belfast I-BT1 1FP, United Kingdom

Pub • Pubs • Kebab • Irish


"Arrived to the Berliner having booked a table via their Facebook page as earlier that day when ringing the establishment we were put on hold and they never returned to the phone, we thought “that’s fine they’ve forgot to return to the phone, they’re probably very busy”. So we arrived at 5pm our booking time and the bar was crowded, nothing unusual, but we managed to find our table with my name reserved on top by squeezing through the crowds of people, we were not greeted by a member of staff upon arrival, nor brought to our table, we found it ourselves and sat down, waited a few minutes for any staff to walk by to call them and let them know we’d shown ourselves to our table and that we needed menus but no staff was in sight, my partner then went up to the bar to ask for food menus as we had a show to go see at 6:30pm as we needed to order more or less straight away, there were 2 bar men on and none of them were able to even hear my partner call on them for food menus, whilst this was happening I was waiting at our table when a young couple and 2 older men stood at our table with their drinks and talked and socialised when we were essentially trying to have a nice dinner date before the show, there was no privacy at all, thank god it wasn’t our first date! Needless to say we got up and left without any member of staff knowing we had even showed up to our booking, we managed to get a table round the corner at Northern Whig, my first time there and it was lovely, and we made it in time for our show, so yes I’m sure the food at the Berliner is lovely but wouldn’t know as the service was absolutely shocking, and on a last note, yes I tried to contact the Berliner afterwards to give them this information but again I couldn’t even get in contact with them to make a complaint, unfortunately I won’t be trying again anytime soon!"

The Cornerhouse

The Cornerhouse

15 New Street, Lancaster, United Kingdom, LA1 1EG

Kebab • Cafés • Steak • Pizza


"I stayed here during my 2023 John O'Groats to Lands End ride, when I was accompanied by my wife and 13 year old son, who were acting as support crew. The Sun Hotel is a quirky boutique hotel housed in an historic building with extensive accommodation located above the pub and accessed via a unique flight of stairs and a labyrinth of intriguing corridors set out on different floors. Indeed, as you wander through, you are able to learn much about its character and history from many informative notes displayed on the walls. We shared a snug family room with a camp bed for our son but we were very comfortable. Our ensuite bathroom was clean and bright with a bath, shower and toiletries provided. The usual kettle, tea and coffee were provided but with limited alternative options. Make sure you turn off the provided digital alarm clock before slumbers unless you need an early start! There are truly are some larks out there. The room was a little noisy overnight where it was overlooking the street at the front – a combination of late night revellers and morning deliveries – but this is to be expected when you stay in the heart of a city. Lancaster was literally right on our doorstep. The staff were incredibly welcoming and approachable even before our stay responding promptly to any queries we had. We enjoyed dinner in the pub on the ground floor which was not overly noisy with a good atmosphere and attentive staff. The food was good and inexpensive, especially if you share a platter. Having booked direct with the hotel, our stay included breakfast from a set menu, served in the bar area downstairs. This was extensive ranging from the traditional cooked full English breakfast to many plant based and fruit alternatives, including pancakes, acai smoothie and granola jar. It is advisable to pre book this the night before to reduce waiting times in the morning if you are in a rush. Tea, coffee and fruit juice freely available The hotel is found on a complicated one way system with heavy traffic but well handled by Google. The cycle route approaches on quiet canal path but I did push up a one way street to the hotel rather than cycle a circuitous route around the one way. The only drawback is that there is no onsite parking not a problem if you only have a bike. At the time of our stay, there was paid street parking outside the hotel on the road for up to 1 hr or free overnight from 6 pm until 8 am. We would advise checking Google for parking locations beforehand to find alternatives, especially if the recommended nearby multi storey parking is not suitable because of a roof box, etc. My bike was locked away in a cellar inside, down a steep flight of stairs and only accessible by staff."