"Faced with last-minute New Year's plans, we were attracted by the convenient location and Mediterranean small plates menu in a pub setting. When we learned that the New Years menu was a fixed price mix of Mediterranean appetizers and traditional English roast beef or salmon, we thought that would please our party of diners so long as we could share plates and not have a full-price dinner for each person. The fixed assortment of Mediterranean appetizers included a duck pate which we asked to be substituted or removed, but the argumentative server insisted it couldn't be changed and it eventually came to the table anyway. Otherwise, the appetizers were unremarkable and proved to be the best part of the meal. After a loooong wait, the entrees of roast beef and salmon arrived. Both were extremely overcooked, slathered in unappealing sauces, and none of the accompanying vegetables were as advertised in the menu. The food quality was below that of a school lunch room. When we pointed out the differences and requested the listed Yorkshire pudding, the servers told us we must have had the wrong menus. We asked for a correct one but it was never produced. The miserable evening ground on for more than two hours with intermittent and unpleasant service from the staff. We eventually complained to the manager and he had the grace to subtract one fixed price meal from the charge. It was still an overpriced, memorably bad dining experience."
Tarte Tatin
