The Shoulder Of Mutton — Restaurant in Bury

I have drove past the shoulder of mutton many times and this Sunday I decided to invite the family to try out this pub as I have heard and seen good things about this. Before visiting any new establishment I like to read reviews look at pictures, location etc.

The shoulder of mutton is based in a fantastic easy to reach location, plenty of parking with a competent chef team.

I went to their web page to look at what they had to offer, prices and if there was a easy way to book. I quickly found out this could be done via facebook and I thought this was great a pub and convenient, after a few mins of trying to book this via a conversation with someone at the pub using facebook messager I quickly gave up due to long delays and masses of starving people.

Upon my visit I instantly noticed the cosy feel this pub has with, dog treats, water bowls etc for the dogs. We were quickly greeted and seated after nearly falling down the step to the left of the enterance. Drinks and food ordered (reasonable price around £12 with some basic and more interesting dishes). The menu was well designed and choice for everyone (even veggies).

The drinks arrived fairly fast, we were disappointed that the tea arrived with a scrunched-up teabag in a cup and a pot of water (not that hot). This could easily be fixed by placing the tea bag in the teapot and an empty cup. The orange juice was loaded to the top of ice, not too sure why some food establishments think it is acceptable to fully load a glass with ice and then orange juice after. OK it means less ‘orange juice’ but totally spoils the drink.

While waiting for our starters we witness an elderly woman go flying down the step (which I nearly fell on) face first, she had bruises all over her face. This step due to poor lightning each needs some warning tape to make it clearly visible and is a dangerous hazard.

Starters of wild mushroom soup arrived in good time. The bread and butter were well presented with the soup. The soup was very good however a little too much salt, if the chef had cut down on the salt and let the customer add their own to their likely this would have been perfect. Apart from that extremely good!

The mains took over 1hr to arrive, it took us two visits to the bar to ask where the food was when we were first in the pub at 12 and ordered before everyone else. We had seen people come and go eating the SAME food as us but yet we were still waiting.

An apology about the kitchen mess up and a round of on the house drinks was offered. The Sunday roasts eventually arrived 10 mins after.

The Sunday roast was presented well, the massive Yorkshire pudding raised eyebrows as it was either done as a shock item on the plate or a coverup to a poor dish.

The Sunday roasts were inconsistent, the mixed meat portion of lamb and beef was wafer thin and you only had one slice of each. The beef dish you were provided with three or four much thicker slices. The roast potatoes were the worst thing we have ever tasted, they were so hard it was near impossible to eat let alone cut them up. They were pale in colour and I am not too sure if they are in the roast potato class or something else.

The other micro veg was totally mixed, average with a bit of everything. Some carrot or some colour apart from green and white could have scored a lot more points. The gravy was extremely salty and concentrated, we were not aware that the dish came with gravy and thought due to the menu, dishes etc it would come separate for the customer to choose how much or little they required. This was not the case and we just had to deal with it. Finally the Yorkshire pudding, it was a shock item. It appeared homemade and large in size, it was tasteless and had to be complimented with some other items.

I am rating this a one star because there are so many mistakes each one of these can be corrected by training. The biggest upset to the day is watching odd people nearly fall down while being seated.

I really hope these can be fixed as these minor issues make a difference between a 1...

The food was on the pricier side, but you don't mind paying for food that is truly worth it. And this place is definitely worth the extra price in my opinion.

There are other eateries in the area that are similarly priced that have food which is much worse. They don't have a large menu, but what they do they do they do well.

My only thing that I disliked would be the sherbety tangy/sweet rocks that were with the brownie and ice cream desert. I feel that was a poor pairing that ruined every bite that had some in. Everything except that particular part of that particular dish was very good.

The atmosphere was good, service was also very good. Nothing much to complain about, unless you're an especially price conscious person. If so, then admittedly, you might find the value proposition lacking. An example of this would be the fact that the sticky rib starter is £9, and it came with 2 ribs (first time I had it, it came with 3 slightly smaller ribs, second time with 2 larger ribs). Now, for me, I didn't mind much. The ribs were rather big and were excellent. Absolutely delicious. But for some the prospect of spending £4.50 per rib might be offensive regardless. For me I'm okay with spending extra for a nice meal every now and then after a long country walk.

Edit: Upped my overall score to 5 stars because I do feel the overall experience was worthy of 5 stars, despite the food and atmosphere losing a star each. The loss of star for food is due to that desert I disliked and the price. While atmosphere lost a point due to how crowded and rowdy it can get. I prefer a calmer, comfier dining experience, but at the end of the day, the building is an old one in a village near popular walking paths so there's not much to be done about it. Hence the loss of just a single star. I would have also liked some comfier chairs when not in a booth, and for it to have higher quality furnishings in general. With that being said, considering a considerable number of clientele are those who've been on dirty country walks (and those with dogs), they may feel that it's simply not worth it; and their current aesthetic does have its own charm in my opinion. Now that was a fair bit of criticism but with all that said I think the overall experience wasn't really negatively impacted despite these issues being there. Somewhat greater than the sum of its parts in a way... the great location great food combo is hard to beat even if some issues...

Before I booked, I checked the ratings and photos, both online and on the website. I had very high hopes of some top quality food.

It was a while before they took our order and we were told there was an hour's wait for food, as they had an "unexpected number of walk-in customers". It's the day of the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships, how could they not have anticipated a busy day?!

I ordered the roast beef dinner and my partner ordered the roast chicken.

As soon as they arrived, I should have sent them back. The Yorkshire puddings looked like frisbees. I can't believe they were allowed to leave the kitchen.

The beef was so dark, I'm still at a loss to how it's possible to get that colour from inside a roast joint. I can only assume that they pan fried it to reheat it. It was so dry, I had to saw through it.

The roast chicken wasn't what you'd expect, either. We were served a flatenned chicken breast, also as dry as a biscuit.

The mash was lumpy and cold, the roast potatoes weren't crispy and the carrots were raw (not al dente, there's a difference). The menu promised "buttered, seasonal veg". The veg was not buttered, nor seasonal.

The green beans and gravy were nice, although the gravy was served straight onto the plate and there wasn't enough of it.

We won't...