Kirstie d
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The Lamb Inn
First the good points - This is a beautiful historic pub with a charming terraced sun trap garden that provides lovely views across the chimneys of the medieval town centre. I have been once before with family on a weeknight and the food was pleasant and the pub was stunning inside with low beams and fairy lights creating a cosy atmosphere.
Now for the review of today's experience...
We booked in online and on arrival we weren't clear where we should ask about our table (there are two entry doors) but as it was a beautiful day we picked a space in the garden. The scan here to order qr code didn't work so I went back down to order and gave our table number.
Our roasts came out after about 20mins and the waitress initially put it on the neighbouring table until we stepped in and said it was ours. The young lad on the bar had apparently taken the table number down wrong. We were told our cauli cheese would be 5-10mins behind the mains, we weren't asked if we wanted sauces and we had to ask for cutlery. As our dinner was getting cold whilst we were waiting and I can appreciate that they're busy, I went back down to the bar to get these bits myself.
The food itself was presented nicely, but every single part of it tasted bland. The only thing that had been seasoned was the extremely peppery potatoes. A little bit of salt during cooking would have made the world of difference to the potatoes, greens, mash and yorkies. The cauli cheese was mushy so I assume frozen, and had no real flavour, though the crumb they'd put on top was nice. My beef was medium at best but very dry, and my partner said the same for the pork. The tasty gravy was the saving grace for the dishes, though this is the first time we've left roast on the plate.
Perhaps we've just been spoilt by the other Butcombe chain pubs (we are big fans of the rising sun and Ring O Bells) but we came away feeling very underwhelmed, especially given the price was the upper end of the scale. We didn't bring it up with the pub because nobody came to check how things were, we had paid at ordering and there was a queue for the bar when we had finished. If they'd offered us desserts I'd have declined on the basis of the quality of the roasts.
Now for the review of today's experience...
We booked in online and on arrival we weren't clear where we should ask about our table (there are two entry doors) but as it was a beautiful day we picked a space in the garden. The scan here to order qr code didn't work so I went back down to order and gave our table number.
Our roasts came out after about 20mins and the waitress initially put it on the neighbouring table until we stepped in and said it was ours. The young lad on the bar had apparently taken the table number down wrong. We were told our cauli cheese would be 5-10mins behind the mains, we weren't asked if we wanted sauces and we had to ask for cutlery. As our dinner was getting cold whilst we were waiting and I can appreciate that they're busy, I went back down to the bar to get these bits myself.
The food itself was presented nicely, but every single part of it tasted bland. The only thing that had been seasoned was the extremely peppery potatoes. A little bit of salt during cooking would have made the world of difference to the potatoes, greens, mash and yorkies. The cauli cheese was mushy so I assume frozen, and had no real flavour, though the crumb they'd put on top was nice. My beef was medium at best but very dry, and my partner said the same for the pork. The tasty gravy was the saving grace for the dishes, though this is the first time we've left roast on the plate.
Perhaps we've just been spoilt by the other Butcombe chain pubs (we are big fans of the rising sun and Ring O Bells) but we came away feeling very underwhelmed, especially given the price was the upper end of the scale. We didn't bring it up with the pub because nobody came to check how things were, we had paid at ordering and there was a queue for the bar when we had finished. If they'd offered us desserts I'd have declined on the basis of the quality of the roasts.