The Bell and Cross — Restaurant in Bromsgrove

DO NOT EAT HERE IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING!

A beautiful pub and beer garden - a wonderful spot on a sunny day. I'd give it five stars just for this and if you're just here for drinks then you'll probably love it but unfortunately if you're eating then it's a completely different matter.

I've been here for lunch on a couple of different occasions and unfortunately the lunch service is shocking for the price. I wouldn't mind if it was a Wetherspoons or some other cheap place but they charge quite high prices and so set an expectation for a higher standard than the one they provide. Both times I've eaten here it has been very hard to get served promptly and I've had to wander into the corridor to ask for service. Once when I did this, the waiters were just stood in the corridor chatting.

Disgracefully, one time I was eating here I was with someone who has a severe gluten allergy. The menu boasted that they could cater for people with allergies, so when we asked for the gluten free menu the waitress returned with a grubby copy of the same menu with almost everything scribbled out messily, leaving just one dish from each course available. Even worse, each time the waitress delivered the dish there was something on the plate that contained gluten! EVEN WORSE THAN THAT, when we pointed it out, she took the dish away and brought back the same dish with the item removed, leaving the rest of the plate contaminated and also looking messy. So EVERY TIME we had to point out that cross contamination is possible and she had to go and get the dish re-made from scratch. This is ridiculously dangerous and lazy service, and could easily have hospitalised the customer. There was never an apology or any display of consideration and to have it happen three times in one meal is just horrific.

Finally, none of the staff seem to know how to serve properly. Sometimes our dishes were passed to us over the heads of other diners, plates were left uncollected once finished and the next course came before the other dishes had been collected, and the staff couldn't grasp why there wasn't any space on the table to lay out the next course. Eventually we had to tidy up our own plates in order to make space while they waited.

Lastly, the coffees were all wrong - nobody seemed to know the difference between an espresso and a latte or an americano.

I won't be eating here again. It's a huge shame because the sister pub at The Chequers is wonderful. This pub will damage The Chequers' reputation and will likely get shut down if they hospitalise someone else with an allergy...

We visited this Pub today for an afternoon meal. Lovely Pub and beautiful beer garden. The food was good and tasty. However, it is a real shame that bad service lets it down. We ordered 4 Sunday lunches and waited quite a long time for them. This was bad enough but we ordered pudding and again had a very long wait. After some time one of the Waitresses told us the puddings were on their way. When they eventually arrived, only 2 out of the 4 puddings were served. Again, we waited and the third pudding arrived. This was Ice Cream which has obviously been left out waiting to be served as it was melting. We then had another long wait for the fourth pudding. My husband ended up having to chase it up as we thought they had forgotten us. When it arrived we were told they had a problem with gelatine in that pudding and it wasn't quite right so they took it off the bill. At no stage did any member of staff apologise for the long wait we had. I was also disappointed that all the puddings weren't served together. I appreciate the problem with the last pudding but why did they not explain this whilst we were waiting and I don't know why I waited so long for a helping of Ice Cream. Won't visit again unless I have alot of...

A complete hidden gem. The food was extremely high quality, sensational and had the service & surroundings to match. The chef even took the time to come & speak to us as we wanted to see who was behind the amazing food.

The location & setting is beautiful, they have thought very carefully about table layout as you have plenty of space & they haven’t tried to cram too many in, the staff are genuinely lovely & very attentive.

We went for a special occasion for my partners birthday & they all came & sang happy birthday - even the chefs, made him a special treat without asking.

The main thing being the quality of food - it was fine dining with plentiful portion sizes, top quality & cooked to perfection. It tasted unbelievable & what i loved about it was the fact that they were all so down to earth & really don't realise just how good they are. Will be recommending to...