The Locksbrook Inn — Restaurant in Bath

I visited the Locksbrook on the opening weekend. I was interested to see how the renovation had been done and I wanted to see the great views over the river and the tow path. The Locksbrook is also dog friendly and it is so hard to find a restaurant where your dog is welcomed and there is enough space to sit down with your dog under the table!

On entering the pub I was not disappointed, there are beautiful leather sofas, corner spaces so that you can tuck in and read the papers with a drink, there are also wide open light airy spaces, the venue really has a great choice of different seating areas for different occasions.

The bar staff made me an amazing espresso martini while I reviewed the menu. I was really impressed with the choice and the unique take on English gastropub food that the menu provided. I ordered peppered squid, flatbreads, steak with chimichurri and sweet potato fries and finally...the banoffee pie.

The food was fantastic, really fresh and perfectly cooked. The squid was light and the batter was really tasty and tender, not rubbery as it can be at certain restaurants. The steak was medium rare as I ordered and the sweet potato fries were amazing, they came with a lemon and garlic sauce which complemented them perfectly. However, the desert was my overall favourite, I have a sweet tooth and consider myself a desert connoisseur! The flavours were amazing and the presentation was fantastic. The pie was deconstructed in a mason jar and the individual textures were fantastic. So much so that my friends ended up ordering two more as they had originally decided not to have deserts. We also had a chocolate and cherry brownie which was rich and squidgy, like a brownie should be.

My friends had the crab linguine and a pizza and were very impressed. All the ingredients were fresh, well seasoned and you could tell that time had been taken to make the menu really quite special, different from the usual gastropub food. The variety was great and we were really surprised at the quality of the food and the care that had been taken to make it.

The staff were very friendly, attentive and welcoming. They really took time to discuss options with you and seemed very excited to be working in this new and unique restaurant.

All in all it was a great lunch and we ended up sitting in the sun in their garden looking out at the river watching the world go by. I will definitely be back, especially for the...

Well, where do I start?

We had a very warm welcome from the staff at The Locksbrook Inn. We had a drink in the garden before our meal, a shame there isn't a play area for children but it's a pleasant outside space which filled up rapidly this sunny Sunday afternoon.

We then duly found our own way to our reserved table, ordered our food and from there it went downhill somewhat.

The staff member took our order, and the starters then three mains arrived, but mine didn't come. He apologised and confessed that he had forgotten to tell the kitchen staff of my part of the order! When my meal did come (a few minutes after the omission was noticed) it was cold, and I had to bring this to the attention of the waiter, who apologised and the manager was sent to our table. The manager apologised too and then brought me my new, hotter meal. (Actually slightly warmer but not really hot enough.) I ate it, as the rest of my family were well on with their lunches and I couldn't be bothered to wait for another meal. Whilst eating, I overheard two diners on a nearby table complain that their meals, too, were cold.

Another point, our table was attended by six different members of staff so we were not able to build a rapport with 'our' waiter. Also, the first member of staff wanted to clear the table before I had finished my meal and reached right accross me; I was not impressed with that.

The starters, flatbread and dips and a hot dog, were delicious, as were the children's meals and my partner's burger. My roast porchetta tasted nice, only the temperature letting it down.

In fariness to the manager he didn't charge us for any of the main meals. (We didn't ask for this but I guess this was justified in the circumstances.) This was their first full weekend open so we will revisit in the future but not for a while just yet.

As for the star rating, it would have been four for the friendliness of the staff and the quality of the food overall, but I have to give it a two based on today's...

*After posting my experience, Susie reached out to me to personally apologise for the behaviour of the one staff member. She explained that the kitchen facilities are limited so pre orders are very important to help organise groups and that there had been an issue with double ordering of one of the group. I would advise getting all the orders of your group before booking more than 12 people to avoid confusion in the future.

So I will caveat that this has been my first bad experience at the pub and I give 2 stars as the experience was rectified due to what I assume is a more senior member of staff.

I would not recommend the pub for large bookings as I've been told their kitchen cannot process more than around 12 ish orders at the same time. There had been a mistake with the orders where a waitress came over with an extra pizza as part of the prebooking (which I have the email I sent was not included) and when we told her it was not ours and we didn't accept it either she replied with 'well its YOUR mistake so YOU will be charged for it' I then showed her my email and I thought it had been sorted.

Go to pay and see another pizza added to my bill and actually didn't realise because when paying the staff member (another person) repeated to me that I was paying for 2 Pizzas and one side which is what I was expecting. But when I look at the receipt I was charged for the extra 'mistake'.

There are always issues with group orders and it was reasonably busy that evening so to be charged when we didn't eat (and this has happened maybe once in a few other restaurants over the years) but no one has ever insinuated i was lying? And charged me for something I didn't accept?! It really left a bad taste in my mouth. Someone has said it had changed hands recently so I would really look at retraining or hiring practices because the level of service from one person to another was so different.

Kitchen staff and the guy who fixed my order...