Restaurant at Rushton Hall Hotel

Ron Pelley (25 November 2008)

I hope this review is not too out of date, but we ate at Rushton Hall on Mothers' day in March 2008. There were four of us. The food was excellent, but the problem is one of honesty. For a starter one of my sons ordered lobster ravioli. One doesn't need a degree in Italian to expect to get more than one ravioli. What he had was very good, but not enough to justify the price; it was around £12-13 if memory serves me right. I had what the menu called scallops. In fact for £14 I had a single scallop. Very well cooked and garnished, but nonetheless a single scallop. The main courses were not inexpensive either and with a bottle of 1er Cru Burgundy from a good domaine, I am not a penny pincher, the bill overall was over £300. It was not appropriate to make a fuss since this was the first time for a while that the whole family had been out together, and it was a celebratory event, so at the end of the evening I took the Maître d'Hotel to one side and mentioned the issue to him. He was perfectly civil, but showed little genuine interest. He has my name of course, but he has not contacted me. He did not explain why they feel they can charge prices greater than I pay in the west end of London, and serve a single scallop, and he has not contacted me to apologise or offer a refund or a discount on our next visit. Sadly, there are few decent restaurants near Kettering and I had hoped that this place would be one I could return to over and over. Instead it seems our second visit was our last.