The Black Horse, Great Linford

We decided to give the Black Horse another chance and hoped that they would redeem themselves since our last visit in May - what a mistake! This time we had two friends who had just arrived from Australia; the Black Horse being nearby, seemed an attractive English setting for our meal. We had a table overlooking the canal - which was lovely. Upon arrival we were informed that due to shortage of kitchen staff there was a 45 minute wait for food. We made the point that as they had our phone number they could have contacted us and informed us; they should consider their customer first - people with special occasions to celebrate may not want such a long wait and decide to go elsewhere. As it was after 8pm we stayed and ordered wine. This eventually arrived - although because the waiter was flying all over the place - not completing one task at a time, meant it took a while for him to actually open our red wine! Through being persistent, we managed to place our order choosing items that were quicker to prepare. 10 minutes later we were informed that two of the main courses were no longer available! We reordered - and 10 mins later were told that one of those items was not available - in the end we asked what was available!

The restaurant was not full - and there were enough waiting staff - but it seemed to us they had not been trained properly - e.g. only bringing part of our order - our food going cold whilst we waited for cutlery , forgetting to bring our salad etc - in the end I got up and found the manager (who had just come back from maternity leave - what an uphill task she has to sort this place out). The whole experience was like Fawlty Towers (our Australian friend's comments). When our deserts arrived with no cutlery we scouted around the restaurant and found our own from empty tables!! We were fascinated to understand why our ice cream had been served in very warm dishes - which meant it was a sloppy mess! We passed on coffee - deciding that we could have it at home! We need good restaurants in MK - what a shame - good location and building - this place should be thriving!

17 Jul 2010 09:36

The Black Horse, Great Linford

Four of us booked for lunch - very polite and friendly staff, but something is clearly not working as the service was just awful - it took an hour for our main course to arrive - we had to ask 3 times before our order for wine to go with our main course arrived! Our poor waiter was working flat out! It was clear that other tables waited a long time for their food too - but people who wanted a meal were being turned away - if there was better management and more efficient service this pub would be doing even better business- what a shame that the management is so lacking. Good pub food in a good location and nice ambiance.

16 May 2010 18:42