The Horse & Groom Inn

Couldn’t be a better experience and fantastic food!! Absolutely wonderful management, staff, service. From the first call to book, arriving, being seated right through to the end the service couldn’t have been better, could not have been more accommodating or kinder. The food was incredible. The decor and garden excellent all round. Would definitely recommend without any doubt.

Booked ahead to eat here. Disappointed with the limited menu. There were specials of the day. The service was efficient and friendly. The food when it came ok. It wasn’t a memorable experience unfortunately and there are much better pubs with interesting menus.

Such a shame! Clearly this business has changed hands recently, as previous reviews do not live up to the current reality. The location is good and the building and beer garden is fabulous. The room we had was adequate, there was a large comfortable bed and the room looked pleasant; however the walls could do with a paint, and although we had tea and coffee facilities, there was no milk, so a bit pointless. Also for a £157 a night besides milk I would also expect something better than PG tips for tea. When we arrived the service was average, the staff member behind the bar was interacting well with the locals but not so pleasant with the guests staying the night. I opened a tab for the night and the drinks were of good quality, clearly a well looked after cellar. We had a 3 course meal which without drinks came to £110, the starters were excellent, but then it went down hill; I had the pork belly, which was exceptionally dry - somewhat of a skill considering its pork belly, but not one I appreciate. My wife had the Chicken Salad, which was a grilled butterfly chicken breast, again with no moisture in it, absolutely dry mixed with some salad leaves and a jar of pesto sauce drenched all over it. I would not mind had I paid a hungry horse price of about £10 per dish, but we actually paid around £24 per dish, so I would expect something cooked to a superior standard than a hungry horse, but it was not. We both then went onto dessert which cost around £12 each, I had sticky toffee pudding, but not so sticky as it was missing a good amount of sauce, and at best this was another equivalent of a lesser brands product around the £5-6 mark, however the wife did enjoy her baked Alaska. At the end of the evening I settled my bill, which was £177, this included a 12.5% service charge, but we had received literally no service, I went to the bar to get our drinks and the only service we saw at the table was taking our order and delivering the courses, we had no check backs at all, so I could not inform them of the average meals we received and I was unable to order any more drinks that I was paying service charge for. I went to bed looking forward to my breakfast, but again the previous reviews did not reach reality, you had a choice of either continental or cooked, not both, just one or the other. You were allowed one fruit juice and one hot drink, you may think I am being mean, as that may sound adequate, but I remind you, bed and breakfast costs £157 (or £137 if you book on booking.com), so I would expect open access to a flow of juice and hot drinks (as I would get at a £60 a night travelodge). My breakfast had on it 2 pieces of well done smoked bacon, 1 tiny little sausage, a few baked beans, half a tomato and 1 mushroom, you were allowed a choice of toast, but again controlled as to how much. Clearly the kitchen has some fantastic turbo hot ovens, as everything comes out dry, though I do have to say the poach eggs were good. At the moment I would say The Horse and Groom is style over substance, the theatre of the place is excellent as in the staging of the food and drinks, lots of nice little touches, but the actual product itself is a let down. I am personally happy to have less performance but better quality and attention to the product. I also feel that the whole team requires to be taught good customer service skills, I personally felt like a prop rather than a customer, I was a means to an end, almost like please leave us your money and clear off, we don't want to do the middle bit. For £300, the cost of my accommodation and meal, I will personally next time go to a country estate with a spa.