Duke of Wellington, Durham

Don't bother going to this gastro pub, ever. I went there with my girlfriend a week ago - at one time it used to be a well run, family owned pub with a relaxed atmosphere and a high quality menu. Now it's a run of the mill franchise with a basic 'every-day' boring menu and horrendous food quality and service. You may as well go to a wetherspoons and save a tenner - it is that bad.

We ordered a mixed grill and a chilli con carne. The mixed grill comprised of chicken, what masqueraded as rib-eye steak, gammon, a sausage, a mushroom and some chips. It was all dry, tough and had the taste of something that was cooked at least six or seven hours perviously. The mushroom was a slimy mess. The sausage was the best part, presumably becuase it was shop bought and had been reheated.

The chillli had a very reheated feel to it aswell. I am not exagerrating when I say that my 12 year old nephew could produce better food than this. It was AWFUL. We left almost everything - when it was unceremoniously collected from our table the waitress did not bother to ask if we had enjoyed it, persumably she is bored of hearing customers complain so has decided to prevent any further opportunity for them to do so.

At desert we ordered a chocolate thing and some cheesecake. The chocolate thing was nice - the cheesecake never materialised. Eventually an abrupt and hassled-looking waiter brought out some kind of almond and raspberry bake. When my girlfriend returned it, the assistant manager on the bar tried to convince her it was cheesecake even though it clearly wasn't. Then he accepted that it wasn't cheesecake and explained that they had no cheesecake so they though we would have liked that instead. She explained that we didn't. He sighed at this huge inconvenience and suggested we choose something else from the menu instead. I chose for him to refund us for the cheesecake, which he did with the kind of alacrity that suggests this is not an unusual occurence.

I'm not usually moved to write reviews of pub food - but this place is absolutely shocking. Don't ever go there it is guaranteed to dissapoint!

5 Apr 2011 15:30