Olde Bull Inn, Barton Millsback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
This was our first stop on a tour of Suffolk pubs in October. It was fairly pricey and seemed to be aimed at diners. Adnams Broadside & Lighthouse were the ales. Disappointing.
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recently ate at the olde bull inn from the bar menu and was very impressed with the food and would certainly recommend it to anybody
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What a disappointing experience. My colleague and I decided to stop randomly for a bite to eat on passing this pub/restaurant. As a professional restaurant reviewer I was not on official business but how I wish I had been that evening. The establishment was moderately busy and it was a fine evening. We ordered and paid for a drink and sat outside only to be faced with tables smeared with food and sticky residue. Upon asking a waitress if she could clean the table one would have thought we had spoken in a foreign language at her reaction. After some time she wiped the table reluctantly, and it was still smeared when she finished, we decided to go inside to eat. After finding a table that was less sticky that others, we ordered and paid for our food which we felt was pricey pub grub - £16.50 for fish and chips and a glass of wine, and waited in anticipation. My meal arrived and it was not until I had almost finished eating, that my colleague's meal arrived despite pleas to the waitress that we would like to eat together. Hearing our dismay the waitress however was completely unconcered and did not offer so much as an apology. We asked to speak to the Manager who arrived with a cocky attitude declaring that the reason that our food arrived separately with one dish late, was because we paid for the food separately - even though it was ordered at the same time. Madness! and we said this was unacceptable. The Manager who also declared herself as the owner was uncaring and reluctant to offer an apology making us feel it was our fault that we could not eat together. Flies by this time had gathered within the restaurant area of the pub and were noteably landing on our (sticky) table and in my wine. We mentioned this and was met with the explanation from the Manager/Owner "We are in the country, what do you expect!". We felt disappointed and very sad that this seemingly privately owned pub/restaurant, not particularly busy, serving OK food but pricey, was delivering such poor customer service to its visitors. We noticed a much larger party nearby also complaining who actually got up and left. A lesson to take to heart by owners of such an establishment, is that you never know who you are serving and how your customer service - or lack of it - may be reported - or where!
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The beer from Brandon was decent, and there is a really good riverside walk to Mildenhall from the pub, but apart from that I can't raise much enthusiasm. Very posh, and wither the most expensive pint or J20 I've ever had (�6.50 odd for both).
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Having my parents down to visit we decided to treat them to a meal at the Olde Bull Pub in Barton Mills on an evening when they had a live band. We�d eaten here before and thoroughly enjoyed it but on this particular night things were very different. It was very busy and the only seats available were in the foyer - two tables, one of which had people eating at it. When we went to the bar to order our food, which included their speciality of bbq ribs, and a couple of bottles of wine, we were told that we could not eat ribs in the foyer. We said that there were no other tables and expected some advice, but we were just looked at blankly and told they had spent too much money on refurbishing the foyer to allow us to eat ribs there (they were obviously very particular as the carpet was covered by what appeared to be a thick cling film - terrible to walk on!) We were then asked, very curtly, �Do you want this food then?� Fancy asking if we wanted the food that we had just been told we could not have! So we repeated that there were no other tables - the reply to this being �That�s not my problem.� I had noticed that there were available tables in the restaurant but this was never offered up as a solution (even though half the menu in the restaurant was the same as that in the bar - except the ribs of course!!!) Looking rather bewildered and extremely frustrated at the rude lady behind the bar we eventually said �No�, to which the reply was �Are you having the drinks then?� - what use is a bottle of wine when you can�t have food to go with it? My exceptionally even tempered husband was steaming at the ears!!! As we departed from the pub I got into a conversation with the other people who were sat, still eating, in the foyer, also bewildered at the behaviour they asked me which person had served us. �A lady in a coloured top� I replied, �Ah, we thought as much� they said - apparently they had a bad attitude from her too. Such a shame that what we had really looked forward to was totally ruined - not by the fact that we could not eat in the foyer, but by a totally rude and unpleasant service. We ended up in the Indian in Mildenhall which had brilliant service and a great meal.
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Pub adjacent to the hotel and restaurant. Greene King staples, and no guest ales. Well kept beer and reasonably priced. Competent, courteous service. Looks and feels rather like a hotel bar but with a complement of friendly enough locals/USAF airmen as punters.
Not worth going of your way for, but not bad for a couple of pints of an evening when in Barton Mills/Mildenhall.
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