Paul H.
Google
Four of us arrived to eat at the time booked, 6.45.
The lighting at the table was so poor, we asked for another candle to be able to read the menu.
A little later the newly arrived couple on the adjacent table put their phone torches on to enable them to read the menu.
This led to a discussion about the lack of imagination of the menu and the absurdity of having to get additional lighting to read it.
A pleasant waitress took our drinks order...some ten minutes later we asked if our drinks could be served...
The food...good news first...the two beef and ale pies were delicious. Two of us chose the tempura tiger prawns.
What was presented were fairly dull prawns encased in fish and chip batter. Tempura is difficult to get right, it should be light, thin, flaky. This covering was heavy, thick and it overwhelmed the prawns.
I mentioned this to the waiter when he asked if we enjoyed the starters. He simply smiled and said something banal such as, 'Oh, right'.
Meanwhile, someone from another table came to the front desk and asked if it would be possible for their order to be taken...they had been sitting at their table for some time without service.
We ordered a bottle of red wine. When the waiter presented it he said it had only just come up from the cellar and was too cold.
"Shall I heat it by putting it in hot water?" he asked. We agreed to this solution, but thought that it was somewhat inefficient of the staff not to have bottles of red wine at the right temperature before 6.45 on a Saturday evening.
Finding something positive to say...it was a good wine list.
I ordered Haddock and chips...the fish that I was given was not Haddock, possibly cod or Pollock.
My wife's rump stake was perfectly cooked, but served fairly cold and, for whatever reason, cut into thin strips.
We decided against a pudding and asked for the bill.
A shame, because we've eaten at The Maltings, also part of The Chestnut Group in Weybourne and were very impressed.
Probably just a bad night, as many of the reviews are positive.