Plough Inn, Southampton

This would have to be both the most embarrassing and frustrating night of my life!
After choosing our table, settling and ordering both drinks and food, we ate our starter and then the main arrived, this seemed to look good, and dug in. I was about to eat a fork full of coleslaw, when i noticed it looked dry (old) so i decided to smell it. After passing the fork full around the table (7 of us) were in agreement, it smelled foul, and gone off. We did not stand up and leave, refusing to pay, instead we spoke to the manager, and that was where our evening changed. After my friend spoke to the manager quietly to ask the chef to stop serving the coleslaw, she denied all allegations that it was possible for the coleslaw to go off, as the carrots and cabbage arrive d daily and they just mix in the mayonnaise, we then asked her to smell the coleslaw, and she said that she had lost her ability to smell, but reassured us that it was impossible to have gone off. We then asked the manager to bring the chef out, and after a wait and the waiter being sent out to collect our plates, which we refused for fear of them being binned and them denying all allegations. So then the chefs arrived, both in dirty aprons and reassured us that their coleslaw process was flawless and that it was impossible for it to have gone off, we then asked them to smell it, the first chef smelt it and fully denied the rancid smell stating it smelt of mayonnaise, we then passed the plate over to the other chef, she smelt and flinched, similarly to how we reacted, and then after a pause she also stated that it smelt of mayo. The manager then re-appeared and after further talks of their flawless process she reached over and removed our plates from the table, my friend then held on to the plates whilst considering calling environmental health about the situation, after the way it was handled. But the manager yanked the plates from my friends hands and chipped her nail in the process, after that another friend marched out, very upset with the way the evening had turned out and we settled the bill, with the friendly bar tenders, and left.

This meal was a complete failure, and i have no doubt that if i had not noticed the smell before i ate the coleslaw i would have been throwing up half an hour after i left. I would not recommend visiting this restaurant until it is under new management!

22 Jan 2011 23:22