Restaurant at The Cornwallis Country Hotel

Mr E (8 March 2009)

After a long awaited treat, I arranged to take my wife to the Cornwallis Hotel advertised as ‘Indulge yourself with a delectable meal, the food is prepared with care, understanding and skill, using good-quality ingredients’. On Sunday in August 2008 we visited the Cornwallis at 18:00 for a meal at 18:30. We took our drinks outside to ‘take a walk around the grounds to experience the beautiful grounds and wildlife and stunning gardens, providing a peaceful setting in which you can relax and unwind’. This was as described and perfect. Arriving back at the restaurant at 18:30 our meal order was taken very pleasantly by the waitress. We ordered two roast beef. However, things went downhill from here. The meal arrived and looked well presented, but the meat was tough of poor quality and full of gristle. The roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding were not fresh. A visit from the waiting staff was not made to ask if everything was satisfactory so we both reluctantly carried on eating the meal. I managed to eat everything with the exception of the meat as we were both hungry and had travelled 25 miles, the chances of finding another restaurant nearby with a free table was remote. When the waiter cleared the table he asked if everything was alright and I gave an account of the disappointing meal. I received an apology. We then ordered the sweets, which were part of the two course meal.

Again, what a disappointment, it was supposed to be crumbled meringue with strawberries, but the meringue was cut I guess because it was stale and chewy and would not crumble. We decided not to stop for coffee but leave as soon as we could. The magic of the expected evening had somewhat vanished. We asked for the bill, which arrived swiftly but as expected I was over charged. I asked the waiter to amend the bill, who again apologised and said he had only just started his shift, but unless he had a twin brother we noticed he was working behind the bar when we arrived. We were charged for a three course meal but we requested a two course meal. Because of the cost of the meal in a restaurant which is advertised as having AA Rosettes for food prepared with care, understanding and skill, using good-quality ingredients I feel most aggrieved, disappointed and concerned about the misleading advertising of this restaurant.

Mrs P (25 February 2009)

Having visited the Corwallis over the past fifteen plus years, back to when it was the Oaksmere, I was extremely saddened to see the deterioration in the standard of food. It’s such a shame because it's such a beautiful pub in a fantastic setting. I don't usually complain but on this occasion I did, purely in the hope that it would help them to improve, as I would have been willing to try again. We were two adults and two children and the menu choices were far from innovative, not necessarily a problem if the food is good though. So, we ordered a curried cauliflower soup to start, then for mains a chilli con carne with cous cous, salmon and mash in saffron sauce and a lasagne, which the children shared. The soup was completely tasteless - a non-event. The portion of chilli was small, very dry and bland, consisting of only mince meat and red kidney beans - the cous cous was soaking wet and also without flavour. The food looked so lost on the plate that two triangles of focaccia bread had been added, which was so stodgy and heavy that it was inedible. The fillet of salmon wasn't much better, although the saffron sauce wasn't bad. The salmon wasn't cooked through to the middle and was unseasoned and the mash, also unseasoned, was heavy and tasteless. The lasagne was the best dish - it has some flavour but more home cooked than restaurant standard.

We gave our feedback to the restaurant manager and were further saddened by his response. We were told that our complaints were unique and that they had recently had their two Rosettes renewed. In other words he disagreed, it was us not them, and it seems that they will be making no plans to improve - for this reason alone we will no longer be frequenting the Cornwallis. It’s such a pity.

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