Alison H.
Yelp
A beautiful place, but......... I took my partner here today for lunch as a special treat as he is always spoiling me. At first my thoughts were "WOW" what an amazing place, clean, fresh, good layout and design, décor was also top notch. We had a wander around and the goods were of excellent quality, but nothing that caught my eye. We then sat down for lunch around 1pm, I should have guessed by how empty it was, that the prices were going to be a little high, but I would rather pay more for quality and be satisfied. The staff were polite and attentive which is what I expected from my waiting staff when I ran my own eatery. We looked over the menu and we found them very confusing with numbers which we found out later were the prices not the Chinese order numbers. We settled on the Ploughman's and at £16 per head we were expecting something over and above a pub lunch, however, even though it was nice, we were not impressed, a pub version is much, much better. The small slither of cheese was beginning to show signs of drying out, the Endive was looking a tad limp, there was one quarter of a tomato, half a boiled egg, a thin slice of pork pie, and the ham was not worth the effort to slice and there was not even a pat of butter for the dry bread. The consolation was the sour dough bread with Olive Oil, this was delicious and warm and came with a small pat of butter that again was not worth taking out of the fridge for, our waiter, however, did bring us some more. We then had a pot of tea each, mine was Earl Grey and I have to say, I have had much better, but, it was piping hot. When the Bill arrived I was not shocked to see it. I was however disappointed to see they had added an optional service charge, I paid it as the waiter was very helpful. I was going to spend some money in the farm shop, but on reflection I decided not too due the cost of our meal. I left feeling I had been defrauded, I like openness and honesty with a company, but I felt things were a little shady. It was a pleasant afternoon and we tried it, but it will not be going on my list for "Ladies who Lunch" club. We work very hard for our money and I feel that it should be spent on a business that needs our money. Trick me once, shame on you, trick me twice, shame on me. Sorry, but will not be back. A beautiful place, but.........