Old Mill — Restaurant in Ashford

Purely based on my experience and not the other 5 people I was with during the visit. The place is 'cosy' as in plenty of people under one roof. First time visit and a few people had mention quite good things about it. This was a birthday meal so was looking forward to the evening. Starters was the old classic of prawn cocktail. Looks bigger than it actually is, prawns were on top of a mountain of salad. Salad was fresh and crispy, prawns I would say were from frozen, watery and had little taste. Bread was one slice cut in half, of good quality, however plastered in butter and so the taste of the bread wasn't there. Main was the porterhouse steak. On the menu they have the cheek to explain how the steak is cooked and looks... "'well done' no pink meat" is what I opted for as on the menu description. After a little while after the first course the mains were brought out, the dish looked good, served on a board. Unfortunately the steak hadn't been cooked correctly, it being served medium-well. This being a huge disappointment considering how they tell everyone 'how its cooked and what it means', (shame the chef didn't read it before hand). Asking the waitress to return it, I was expecting it to be flashed and back out in a few minutes. 15 minutes later and everyone else having finished their meals I went up to the bar and told them not to bother, I was also left with the creamy spinach still sitting on the table cold. What got me also, although they took the side spinach and the meal off the bill, (and so they should). They completely wrecked the evening, a birthday meal and not once did the manager come down to apologise, instead leaving the waitress to do so. Clearly explaining our disappointment, not an offer of complimentary drinks, not a manager, no nothing. Absolutely disgusted, first time customers... Likely a last...

What a lovely building! A shame everything else was disappointing. We had a beer which came over quickly but had pretty much finished it by the time the starter came out. My friends chicken wings were not unpleasant but not something to look forward to. My garlic bread was what I would expect from a Tesco's value packet. The main course was sadly not worth the wait. I was looking forward to the burger which the menu said was served very juicy....it wasn't! Very overcooked. I do like my gourmet burger medium but this was past well done the bacon was very difficult to cut it was so dry. I asked about getting one cooked medium but was told the chef only does them well done. It really felt to me that the chef is not confident in his/her cooking and overcooked to be safe, a real shame as it could have been really nice. My friend had the surf and turf the steak ordered medium. At £27 he expected something really good, again nothing but failed potential! An over cooked steak! Who cooks a fillet steak well done!!!!!!! Really, who does that?!! The prawns(all four of them) were unseasoned and the sauce was described by my friend as something you would expect from the back end of a seagull! He was so unimpressed he refused to pay £27 for it so they dropped the price to £10. All in all a real disappointment and we certainly will not be returning or recommending...

Took my partner here for a Sunday evening meal just before her birthday as a little treat. Booking table through their website was easy and quick. They also have an online menu so you can check to see what takes your fancy. Price wise I would say is mid market, its not Wetherspoons cheap, but its not Ritz expensive so nicely in the middle if you are looking for a decent meal out. On arriving to the restaurant, was glad to see that there is ample parking to the rear. Wasn't very busy when we arrived and the staff attended to us quickly and got us seated. The restaurant is well presented and in good order and we were made to feel welcome by the staff. I ordered the scallops and chorizo to start, duck leg for main and toffee pudding for desert, all of which was first rate. An absolutely delicious meal, scallops were cooked perfectly and the duck tasted amazing. All the food was presented beautifully and you can tell that the chef's take some pride in their work. My only very minor issue was the was data scraping they do with the free WiFi. You will need to either register your details with the restaurant, or sign in with twitter or facebook to access the Wifi, and being a country pub, there is next to no mobile data in the area. But other than that, a first rate meal and we will definitely be back. Thank you to the team for an...