貝爾泰斯赫斯特旅館

Booked over a week ago for a friend’s birthday. On arrival the pub was busy, jolly and warm with the fires on. Sadly we were redirected and told our table was in the stables. Which was empty, freezing and dead in atmosphere. Christmas music was playing but it felt like a Harvester restaurant. We were told the heating was on full blast, it was cold outside, but still it was inadequate. So we tried to be jolly but- The menu is really lacking any flair or imagination. It’s typical, but very low standard pub food- pie and mash, fish and chips, chicken Kiev. Nothing on it sounded fresh or interesting. Between us we ordered a veggie stew, a Kiev and fish and chips and some starters to share that were also deep fried and out of a packet. Even the bread was pre packed and bland. I had the fish and chips, it was warm not hot, the chips were inedible soft warm and just not cooked properly. It was served with a tiny pot of tartare sauce, horrid mushy peas and another pot of something yukky I think curry sauce. My friends stew was ok but she left half of it and the Kiev, well it was just a Kiev. So it is the second time that I’ve driven miles to visit and been disappointed. The staff are young and some were sweet but they don’t know what they are doing. That’s it I won’t be coming back.

Lovely staff, beautiful pub but the food was terrible. A mackerel the size of a sardine for £15, still half frozen. In fairness, the staff replaced it and this time it was cooked but even smaller. How I wish we'd taken photos. Eight asparagus spears for £10, one of which was mostly charcoal. My friend's terayaki sea trout came on three tiny skewers, like a small starter. The "skin on fries" came in a tiny metal cup and looked like they'd come from Iceland and I couldn't see any skin on them. My other friend's burger tasted of gas. Everything was cooked on the barbecue - a wonderful idea but sadly it meant everything tasted the same. Our bill came to just under £300, which was covered by our friend as it was supposed to be a celebratory meal. The wait staff were brilliant and I don't want any of them to feel this is a criticism of them because it really isn't. I'm blaming myself a little for not being more honest but when you're someone else's guest it feels ungrateful to complain. It was like a really bad, pretentious and overpriced tasting menu. But again, the servers were excellent so don't blame them.