Ego at The Forest, Lickey End, Bromsgrove — Restaurant in Bromsgrove

Dropped in as a birthday treat for my wife, hadn't booked but got in as we were there early ~4pm, definitely need to book if you're planning to go for dinner, there were 3 groups waiting for a table when we left at 6pm on a Thursday. The staff were very nice and getting orders in was fine.

Starters came about 10 minutes after we placed the order. Elder son 12 had the garlic bread, it was a full pizza size, definitely could have been a sharer but was fresh and crisp he really enjoyed it. I had the pork belly, fine flavour but a bit dry wouldn't have it again, my wife had pil pil shrimp, they were very good with a nice balance of garlic and chilli and would recommend them.

Elder son didn't want a meal so had camembert for main, nice. I had the minted lamb, very nice I would definitely have again even though it wasn't as pink as I had hoped it may be, the flavours were rich and satisfying. My wife had the pork, similarly nice and not dry as pork can sometimes be, the dauphinoise potato was delicious. My younger son had the build your own pizza with 2 toppings, he enjoyed it and said it was tasty, it was from the junior kids menu and was adequate size however for reference it wasn't as big as the starter garlic bread, not small but the starter was large.

Sticky toffee pudding - very nice not too heavy, mini strawberry and passion fruit Eton mess - not evidence of actual fruit in there but it could have been blended to a purée, rhubarb crumble and custard - very nice with real chunks of rhubarb and a nice crisp crumble.

It was a special occasion and we could have stuck to the prix fixe menu, the drinks cost £20 for 3 pints of cola and 1 apple juice. Seems expensive, maybe I'm out of touch. All in the birthday meal deal brought it down to ~£100, without the voucher it would have been £120-130. Glad we didn't drink alcohol!

A little pricey for me even if it's a nice pub with good food and staff, it's still a Mitchell's and...

I visited on a Saturday, at 3.30pm, booked weeks in advance to celebrate with a family of 4 for mothers day. I have never experienced such a slow service, larger parties were prioritised over smaller tables. We waited 30 minutes for our drinks to initially arrive. Starters came, no issues. Larger party of 12 arrive, then it's all downhill from there.

We ask for more drinks, another 30 minutes til drinks are served. Main arrived, seabass nicely cooked, however, Chorizo and onions were black and and burned to a crisp which spoilt my meal. My 10 year olds daughters pizza which failed to come out with the Starters, as asked for, looked like a mini aldi £1 pizza, no sides, it was far too overpriced to what was received.

After mains, the waitress was back and forth with two larger parties, accommodating requests. I asked twice for a dessert menu and food to be taken away, 1 hour passed. Waitress came over asking if we would like desserts explaining yes as we had already waited over an hour, she went to take our order and then just randomly walked off!! It was the most erract bizarre behaviour I have ever experienced. Although, I do completely sympathise as she had too large of an area to accomodate, we did feel like we were treated more of a hindrance than a customer. Two hours later with only been served two drinks, my daughter walked to the other side of the restaurant and called another waitress, not knowing it was the manager, who then came to our table. By this time it was 5.50 and we had just had enough, so I explained that we had waited too long and was not prepared to wait another hour for drinks and desserts. We had the worst experience and have never received such poor service. Not what I expected when it's not exactly cheap either. The manager had taken the drinks off the bill and that was the last I had seen from her, the waitress apologised and came over with the bill. It is safe to say I will not be returning to...

Some positives- nice atmosphere and space, drinks were nice, kebab mains were well received, paella was substantial and they made accomodations to the dietary requirements of paella, checking which ingredients would be liked. The children's 'make your own' pizza was lovely and a great activity for keeping little one busy. Staff also kindly allowed us to bring cake for a party members birthday, providing a knife to cut the cake and side plates to serve on. Service was mostly ok.

Some improvements to be made: We had to ask 4 times before a jug of water was brought to the table. 2 calamari starters were ordered; each varied substantially in quantity, and then upon inspection it was noticed the smaller portion had raw batter still, thus potentially undercooked squid. This has to be returned to the kitchen. The skin from red onion was left within the salad on plates, and the stalk (spider) from a tomato was also left in the salad. The mixed fruit was chosen from the children's menu, however this was not as described and we were not advised as such. Instead of the description of apple, orange, strawberry and raspberry, a bowl was provided with apple, strawberry and pineapple. Had we known this, we would not have chosen it. Within the fruit salad, the apple slices still contained the stalk and pips- which are not advisable to eat; fortunately the child in question was able to identify such and remove them.

Personally I just felt there was a lack of attention to detail. Having previously visited the Lichfield site on a number of occasions, I was looking forward to the experience. This first visit to the Bromsgrove location may likely be...