The Pledwick Well Inn, Pledwick

They have done a good job of the refurbishment in the public areas.

Unfortunately, they don't seem to have applied the same effort to service or quality of the food.

We visited on 15th January having booked a table earlier that day by phone. Our bill was �39.65 for two and we had starter, main and coffee.

We sat down quite a while after the booked time, but hey, we were in no rush - so I didn't mind that too much. The bar area is lovely and we enjoyed a long drink there.

We ordered and I ordered the steak, medium and asked for salad rather than potatoes. We decided the young fellow who took our order was the head waiter, despite his shirt which was half in and half out on different sides or at the back for the entire evening. He said the steak comes with a rocket and tomato salad anyway, so I said that was fine. The other meal was ordered with chips.

The starters were good. I asked for some wine and a glass of red was brought over, but unfortunately it was taken to another table who were clearly confused by the young girl. I helped out by explaining it was ours.

My steak was not medium when it came, it was well done (no red anywhere and not even any pink at all) - however I would say that it was a nice piece of meat (rib eye cut). I decided to enjoy it anyway. Incidentally, the waiter does not know the difference between "Rocket" leaves and "Watercress".

The chips should have been fantastic, "home cut" and cooked from fresh... however they were not. They were over cooked, but bearable since I did not want many and my dinner guest said they were not quite burnt so they were not sent back.

After our meal I asked for two coffees which we moved to the bar for. A young girl brought them over on a tray. A tray she or a colleague had spilled cream on earlier but just wiped over and not cleaned off at all. I pointed it out, "Oh dear look at your tray!" and that's when she said, "Oh yes, there was cream spilt on it earlier".

When I took a sip of the coffee it was awful. Really dreadful. I thought I had seen an espresso machine by the bar upstairs and indeed I had... What I had not seen was the filter coffee machine (the type with a hotplate for a jug). I took the coffees back to the bar and said it tasted like it was made many hours ago. The lady there picked up the jug and looked inside and smelled it. Then she nodded to a colleague in agreement. We were then presented a few minutes later with fresh coffee from the espresso machine.

So. What do I think of this fantastic location, the excellent refurbishment completed and the service standards? You can imagine. We are not going back. The management needs to get a grip. Tuck their shirts into their trousers, know their menu, recruit and train better staff and improve their overall standards.

26 Feb 2011 16:06