B Lavin (1 September 2008)

Having dined in the main restaurant of the hotel previously and enjoyed it immensely we selected the Brasserie for a mid week birthday meal with our two grown up children on Wednesday, as we felt it would be less formal but from a service and food quality point of view an equal to the Hotel Restaurant. How wrong we were. The Brasserie was not busy and we had pre booked a table for four for 8pm. The main course was good although the rabbit terrine was robust brasserie food but over salty even for a family who still use salt in food. The same applied to the risotto served with the game. The beef starter with ‘salad’ was woefully inadequate for a young man and not in my opinion brasserie food. We ordered bread to supplement the young man’s starter, which arrived in two batches. The charge of £5.50 seemed high and I don’t usually count. The cheese plate was served chilled from the fridge and one platter had seen better days. It was the service, which let them down so badly and spoilt the evening. Starters were plonked down on the table and he scuttled off. After clearing away the starters the young waitress brought us the menus again straight away presumably to order dessert? There were only four tables in the restaurant at the time - it was inexcusably inattentive. None of the three staff on duty asked us if we needed anything or enquired if everything was okay at any point during the meal. They were noticeable by their absence. No one topped up wine or water and we were left to do it ourselves.

Having cleared away the dessert and enquired about coffee, the bill was brought at our request at five minutes to ten. There were two other tables in the restaurant at that time. At 10.20pm no member of staff had reappeared in the main part of the dining room at all. My partner went to the bar where all three staff were ‘relaxing’ behind the bar. He asked if someone could come and take the bill. Five minutes later a second bill was plonked on the table with no explanation and again he scuttled off. The second bill was a good £15 higher. I went up to the bar; the evening had been spoilt by now, and said I had two bills but would prefer to settle the first, the more senior of the three staff without looking at the bill told me what was wrong. They had not over-ridden the cheese platter on the till and had therefore not charged us but the second bill was the correct one. They quite clearly knew they had made a mistake. I paid and left no tip. It was too late to argue and they really didn’t seem to care anyway.

Mallory Court have responded: "Constructive guest feed back is always welcomed at Mallory Court and is invaluable to us if we are to continue to offer our customers the best. As a team we are always happy to listen to customer views, particularly when they are raised at the time, as this allows us to rectify any problems that may have arisen. Making contact afterwards is always very frustrating as it makes it difficult to effectively address the issues after the event.

One thing that is always problematic is separating a poor experience from someone's subjective comments and personal taste as everyone's expectation and the experience they have is very different. Mrs Lavin has been personally contacted and extended an invitation to return with our compliments."

Foodsnob (28 April 2005)

This place is featured within the Relais & Chateau guide. Michelin starred restaurant. My expectations were very high. We were not greeted on arrival and we had to ask for someone to take our coats. Not the best start. Surroundings are very pleasant and the seating area is very relaxing and "homely". The food and wine menu were both very good, but then they should have been and they certainly did not exceed expectation. No pre-starters nor "inter-courses", which I felt detached the dining experience making you feel that you were eating in a hotel rather than a superb restaurant - I appreciate it is the former, but given the reputation I expected the latter. Food was very good and I would particularly recommend the beef fillet which was "melt in the mouth". Unfortunately though, I do believe you could enjoy the same quality of food for less money elsewhere.