"We visited the Cirencester restaurant on Tuesday night, for a mini celebration meal restaurant seemed fairly busy which we thought was a good sign. When first arriving the waitress was distracted even though she greeted us, and after 5 minutes of standing around we were finally offered the table we had booked no major issue, but not the best start. When handed the menu’s we weren’t told of any items that weren’t available, so in proceeding to order Oysters a little later on, we were then told they didn’t have them in with any restaurant I’ve been to in the past, I’ve been told of any dishes unavailable as soon as the menu was provided so i’m unsure why this wasn’t mentioned. Ordered food, service was good and friendly overall, no major issues. Moving on to the food, we were thoroughly disappointed from start to finish. We ordered quite a bit (definitely over ordered, but we were offered to take some home after) as there were plenty of things that took our fancy. However when receiving the dishes we were completely underwhelmed. Bread, was ok but it was just an average soft French baguette (6 horizontal slices) served with a side of garlic aioli which appeared to be from a jar. £4.50 for this felt a bit much. Chicken completely under seasoned and 0 flavour, really really dry, honestly Nando’s or any chain restaurant I’ve been to has had more flavour and cheaper too. Anchovies 3 anchovies on a plate with some peppers (peppers also seemed to have just been out of a jar) absolutely 0 reason why these 2 things should have gone together, and there was 0 mention of peppers on the menu. Anchovies also to be honest tasted a bit ‘off’ And £6.90 for 3 anchovies is an absolute disgrace, putting it bluntly. Aubergine fritter Wish I’d taken a photo of this because it was just absolutely dripping in oil, and the oil was the only thing we could taste. Aubergine was sliced long ways instead of horizontally which meant that the aubergine became incredibly soggy with oil. Any aubergine fritter I’ve had in the past has been slices thinly and horizontal, so I’m not sure why this was done differently. Pork belly Nice and crispy, but served with some sort of chilli mayo which did not go with the pork belly at all, didn't quite understand the pairing Fresh tomatoes The tomatoes weren’t great, lacking flavour and dish lacking any imagination, i believe the tomatoes were in a sherry vinegar, but overall it was just bland wish we hadn’t ordered this, around £5.00 for 8 tomato slices.. Goats cheese Lovely with honey and nuts but you can’t really go wrong with honey and goats cheese. Crispy squid Squid was nice, but nothing special, serviced with a lemon aioli but seemed to be out of a jar. Octopus special Served with butter beans which hadn't soaked up 0 flavour, and just felt like an unnecessary add on, completely bland dish, and beans just felt like an after thought. Octopus didn't seem fresh at all either. At the time, I was trying to see the positives in this meal, but after a few days I’ve come to a conclusion that spending £100 on a meal, with 2 glasses of wine and added service charge I’d have expected better, it’s and it was just not good enough. Reviews on here are great, and maybe we just ordered the wrong dishes, but I was not impressed with the majority of the dishes served, won’t be recommending or returning."
