The Fleece, Witney

We tried the Fleece last night having avoided it for several years as we had been told by locals it had gone down hill.
It was to say the least disappointing. The staff were quite attentive on arrival, drinks at the bar were expensive. There was a fish mixed grill on the specials board, we asked where the fish was from the waiter asked the chef but could only tell us where 2 of the fish were from. We had a charcuterie deli board to share for starter. My partner decided to have the fish mixed grill and I had the herb crusted rack of lamb with ratatouille vegetables both from the specials board.
The deli board was fair. The rack of Lamb was well cooked, however the herb crust added nothing to the flavour. The ratatouille was just sauted peppers, tomatoes and onion, not a ratatouille at all. Overall disappointing.
The fish mixed grill consisted of small pieces of turbot, grey mullet and sea bass, one scallop and a small pot of mussels. The fish and scallop where all pan fried but were not well seasoned the quality of the fish was not good and we suspect it was frozen. The mussels had a sauce on them which was absolutely horrible, it was inedible.
When the waitress came to clear our plates we told her about the mussels and she said she would look into it. The general manager came to see us and said that the sauce was supposed to taste like that and that it obviously wasn't too our palette, which was extremely condescending. We were told the sauce was supposed to be a marinara sauce and that it was made of shallots, garlic, white wine and cream. As far as we are aware a marinara sauce is a tomato based sauce!! Anyway there was definitely something not right with the sauce.
We were offered a dessert on the house but declined.
Why put a fish mixed grill on the specials if the fish is not in season?
In summary the food was on the whole disappointing, not as described on the menu and definitely not good value for money. The General Manager's palette is not to be trusted nor is her knowledge of what food they are serving.

13 Mar 2011 12:05