The Packe Arms — Restaurant in Charnwood

The Packe Arms Hoton - So disappointed. A group of us went for the 'Festive menu'.

Starters: Mushrooms -some warm some cold King prawn cocktail - 4 prawns - no sauce, No butter for bread Mainly lettuce served on a plate

Roast turkey, smoked pancetta: 4 small pieces of turkey A jelly-like filling More pastry than filling

Forestiere Chicken Breast: Cold, bland and tasteless

Desert: They had 'run out' of chocolate ice cream!

All dishes had very few veg and portions well down on previous visits.

Come on guys this is basic food under a 'festive' title

After each course we were asked how it was - and we told them, but clearly they were not interested in what we had to say.

When it came to the bill they over-charged us for the wine because they had 'upgraded it' - I don't think so!!!!!!! PLUS added 10% service charge.

Now don't get me wrong I don't mind paying a service charge for a good experience - obviously we did not pay this.

I know the hospitality industry has suffered over recent times but serving sub-standard food, sneaky 'up-selling' and adding 10% service charge is not the way to encourage customers to have a nice experience - we will not be returning.

Thank you to the owner for their response to the above, however, you failed to explain why the prawn cocktail starter was so horribly dry - where was the 'bloody Mary cocktail sauce'? surely failing to provide what is advertised is basic mis-representation.

You say that the errors were down to being busy, well the problem with this excuse is a). You are in the hospitality industry so you would expect to be busy on the run-up to Christmas (sounds like bad planning to me but b), There were 37 people in the Packe Arms whilst we were there - are you really saying that this is too busy for you?????

Come on guys & gals...

We went for my birthday meal as we absolutely loved the pub and its food. It started of well. Attentive friendly staff on hand. The pub wasn't busy with only a few people sat in the area eating. The starter came out, which was lovely.....we're do I start with my main meal!!!!!! I ordered the sea bass. It came with a creamy sauce with prawns mixed in it. When it arrived the sauce was cold and so was the prawns which i had eaten half of one. I asked the waitress if this was how it was ment to be as I wasn't sure. She said no and took it away. The next plate came out, the plate was stone cold and the sauce had been slightly warmed. I told them it was still cold. They took it away. I was told they were just going to re-heat again!!!!!!! Surely re- heating prawns 3 times and not properly could cause some very nasty side effects! When It came back the 3rd time I just ate the fish and potatoes as it was only jusy warm...again. It was the same prawns and sauce as I had cut one of the prawns in half and had eaten it the first time it came out. They had just scraped it from one plate to another 3 times. The pudding was okay. Our waitress said I could have the pudding for free as my meal was bad but there was never an apology. Once our puddings plates had been removed, no staff came back. We was not asked if we would like any more drinks throughout the meal. So after 1 drink, and awful meal we gave up and left. No one around to ask for the bill, so we had to go to the bar. The only postive note, my partners meal was lovely. Very very disappointed with what was once a lovely place to go and eat. What has...

Not the best experience, but not the worst. When we waited at the bar for service, the person was busy and so avoided eye contact to ensure we didn't assume that we were about to be served. Once our turn arrived, the menus were pointed out in a wooden box opposite the bar. We grabbed one each and found a seat. Unfortunately these turned out to the Christmas menus and therefore not advertising anything we could order. I asked the lady at the bar, and again the gesture was the wooden box... Oh, my mistake I thought...this time we took the 'scrolls' tied up with red ribbon and returned to our seats. Nope... Still not the food menu. Ah well, third time lucky-we asked again and found the menu on the bar. The food was served promptly by courteous and friendly staff. It was tasty, but portions quite miserly. We went on pie night and I found myself wanting more after scoffing something that claimed to have both chicken and pulled gammon. There were a few chunks of tasty chicken but I didn't discover any gammon. It was in a dish with a puff pastry pie lid, not a conventional pie, but tasty nonetheless. The mash that accompanied had a dry crust. A pessimist would say that it was sat under a hot plate for a while, but I'm confident it was meant to be served that way. Once I'd finished the pie I ordered a portion of chips to deny my hunger, and I was presented with a small pot containing maybe 8 or 10 chips... Again tasty but inadequate portion. I think this place is better for diners with...