Just 2 stars? Well I will come to this later....

First the good things, the Cherry Tree at Blackrod is very smart and presentable, it is very well decorated and the staff are all liveried, ie have a standard uniform, it is very nice to see.

The Cherry Tree is a couple of plastic Cherry trees in the middle of the room, the effect is bright and cheery and make the restaurant look very nice to sit in. Combined with the smart decor , nicely spaced tables and attentive staff, it is a nice place to be. The staff were polite and cheerful, I was very hopeful that I would have a positive experience here.

Our party enjoyed the food, it was tasty, though asking for additional gravy was a mistake, as it was added to bill (though there was no mention at the time, that there would be an additional charge).

Menus supplied, fancy and glossy things, again nicely presented.

Hmm though this is where things unfortunately took a turn for the worse.

1. a big faux pas, no obvious allergen list on the menu (apparently there was a disclaimer listed at the very bottom of the menu in tiny writing, but none of our party saw it.)
2. no notice of allergens used against any of the dishes.
3. when ordering, no mention that my dish (attached photo) had peanuts, one allergy that will definitely ruin my day. (The waitress announced later she asked the table if there were allergies, but none of our party heard any mention of it, if I had been warned there were peanuts I definitely would have reacted!) - 1 star lost

When the dish was brought out (this is a main course dish!) it I thankfully spotted that it had peanuts in, I noticed and asked the waitress for a replacement. The manager was summoned, the first thing he said (before I had chance to say anything) was not "Sorry" or "Our mistake", but spoke defensively "Our servers always ask the table for allergens". I was taken aback, it was not how I expected to be treated. - 2nd star lost

When we came to pay, I noticed that they had charged me for doubles rather than the singles 2 Gin & Tonics that our party had. I questioned this and the waitress insisted I had asked for doubles, though both myself and another guest both said at the time we had definitely asked for singles. This was "resolved" by the waitress just asking brusquely "Cash or card"? Right, so no acceptance of a possible mistake made then, the customer is not always right. - 3rd star lost.

I am saddened by this experience at the Cherry Tree, though I think there are some lessons to be learnt here by the organisation, particularly being pro-information on informing about allergens, costs of additional food items, etc. Perhaps also accepting that things do go wrong and when do, just be polite and say we screwed up sorry, what can we do to make it right. Sympathy and a quick sorry goes a long way.