The Black Bull Inn — Hotel in Great Britain

We came to this restaurant a little over two years ago and had a truly memorable meal. If you walk away from a place where you first remember the bread you had as part of the starter—rich with seeds, deliciously soft, and raised by a salty, unctuous quenelle of butter—then there's a reason to return. What we didn't know is that the Black Bull has struggled to keep staff in the kitchen, and the chef who created that fantastic meal is a distant memory.

Our visit was to celebrate my wife's birthday, which was still a couple of weeks away. We were surprised when the waiting staff questioned the timing of the celebration. It turns out the Black Bull only offers a 'qualified' birthday meal on the actual day. If you choose to dine early or late, your special day becomes irrelevant.

Our meal began with the Bread & Seasoned Cultured Butter, along with Maple Pea Hummus & Crackers and the Crispy Howgill Herdwick Lamb & Black Garlic. I was reminded of my first visit, which also started with the Herdwick Lamb. However, I had forgotten the portion was just two crispy-coated inch-square cubes with a dollop of black garlic. The portion sizes in fine dining can vary, and I made it last for half a dozen bites. It was decent. However, the bread, a highlight of our first visit, was a disappointment this time—plain white slices with a few seeds scattered on top, a far cry from what we had experienced before.

My wife had British White Beef, while I had Venison Loin for my main dish. Here, the meal dropped off in terms of standards and taste. The beef had quite a bit of gristle. To be clear, when I eat meat with a bit of fat, my wife usually chastises me and proceeds to slice off good meat that shows me up for the fool I am. That she left so much here showed how little consideration the kitchen had made in selecting these two small beef rounds—in a main costing more than £30. Later, the waiter said all the meat had some fat or gristle. I suggest there should be no waste when you get cuts of meat this small. The lack of consideration in the selection of meat was quite disappointing. For me, my venison was cooked well enough, but pretty tasteless. I expected a little gaminess but got nothing from it. If I tasted blind, I doubt I could have told you I was even eating venison.

We closed the meal with dessert—dark chocolate fondant for me and lemon custard with berries for my wife. The custard had a single berry sliced into three pieces and a crumble littered on the top that neither of us recalled mention of from the menu. My wife left it untouched. I finished my drink—Früh Kölsch, a German alcohol-free beer that the waiter recommended, but I found tasted like licking a bit of rusty iron—and asked for the bill. Not only did it include the uneaten, disappointing dessert, but it also included an automatic 10% like-it-or-not service charge.

When challenged over the gristle, the waiter stated that it was to be expected. When we asked if we could see the chef, they were too busy with service to spare us the moment. When asked to take off the dessert, the waiter noted that my wife had missed the fruit at the bottom of the bowl and had to be pushed to drop the £8.

Overall, the meal was dismal. It is shocking to pay more than £110 for two people and have such a disappointing meal with weak service and mediocre food. Afterwards, we heard about the challenges in the kitchen from a local. I wish we had had that encounter before spending so much on a birthday meal that failed to live up to expectations in...

Having stayed previously at The Bull Hotel (as it used to be known ) we were very interested to see the newly refurbished hotel under new management . And what a transformation ! It was immediately clear that a vast amount of money and inspirational flair had been lavished on updating the hotel with wonderful results . Everywhere was bright and very stylish with large professional framed photographs of the local fells adorning various walls throughout the hotel . ( And a nice touch ........ all the rooms were named after the fells ! ) . We were only staying one night and had booked a standard room but we had been upgraded to a superior room . It was lovely,tastefully decorated with a large comfortable bed , crisp white bedding and a top quality smart television . The bathroom was equally stylish with fluffy large bath sheets . We didn’t eat an evening meal in the restaurant as we were visiting family in Sedbergh but we did enjoy a very nice breakfast the following morning . The staff were all very friendly and helpful . And a plus for us you are dog friendly too . We are so pleased that this lovely building has been rescued from falling into disuse and it is certainly a boost for the town to see the hotel open for business again. Thank you for an enjoyable stay at your hotel and we wish you all the best for the future ..... you deserve...

We had both breakfast and dinner here. We liked the decor and warmth of the environment. The tables are well spaced between each other. The staff were pleasant but some elements of formal service when we dined were lacking for the price point, ie. water not being served when delivered to table, table not being fully cleared after courses. The food looks very good and the ingredients are good quality, however, the dishes seemed a little confused and didn't quite work for us. There was strong chilli spice used on some dishes which killed the subtlety of the main ingredients, the monkfish was stated as with shrimp on the menu but we found just 3 tiny shrimp in the dish which was disappointing, and, even though we like al dente vegetables, the ones served were barely cooked and quite hard which meant that they were not eaten. It would have been an improvement if the dishes were served a little warmer too as some were not much above room temperature. It was a shame that after making comments about the dishes we felt the service went a little cold. We found the wine list very interesting with great variety. The prices are above what we feel would reflect our experience, but not far off being...