The Middle Bell — Restaurant in East Staffordshire

Incredibly disappointed! Have been today as part of a party of 25 for a 70th birthday party. Firstly, my partner and I had 1/2pt Stella and a black coffee costing £4.30!! We are publicans and this would have cost £2.50 in total at our public house! We were seated in the upstairs part of the restaurant, where there were only places made up for 24 people. We paid £18 per person for a 3 course meal (which we thought was reasonable). Starter options were "Pea and Mint Soup" and "Prawns with Mustard Mayo and Baby Gem". We were advised that alternatives were available should this not suit everyone. When we asked for the alternative, we were advised they had only 1 (!!!) portion of "Game Pate". My partner and I passed on these options and settled for a small bread roll. For the main course we were all served "Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding and Roast Potatoes". The fat on the beef would have weighed more than the meat itself, the roast spuds were tiny (at least the ones on my plate were) and the dishes of vegetables (containing a couple of florets of cauli & broccoli, carrots and cabbage) were far too 'al dente' and unedible for my preference. The only food I ate was the yorkshire pudding, which itself was fine. The dessert options were "Apple Crumble with Custard" or "Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce". Both of these dishes were incredibly sweet and when asked if there were any alternatives we were told 'No'. I managed 1/4 of the toffee pudding. The service from the staff overall was good. When extra dishes of veg or spuds were requested, they were brought out relatively quickly, however, during our meal, we were confronted with a waitress having an angry outburst in what I believe was the kitchen area (at the back of the italian style room), where expletives were shouted loud enough for everyone at the table to hear (including 2 children). "I can't do anything f*ing right!" We left feeling as though we had paid £18 for a yorkshire pudding, and feeling ripped off with the cost of our 2 drinks. All in all, we had an appalling experience and will not be returning to or recommending The...

We've see many owners come and go over the years, some brilliant some terrible but it appears that the Derby Brewing Company led team have now 'got their mojo'. My son (6) and I nipped in for dinner last night and I have to say it was excellent. He ordered the kid's fish fingers and chips and I had the Buffalo Chicken burger as it was 'burger night'. Usually a kids meal is some frozen, breaded 'protein source' and I have to admit I wasn't really expecting much more of a chicken burger.

My son, asked for the triple cooked chips instead of fries and I was amazed....actual triple cooked (not cooked once before McCains freeze them and then cooked in two temperatures of oil) Heston style original triple cooked sticks of potato perfection. Honestly this is the first time I've had true triple cooked chips, done as they should be outside of a Michelin starred pub, well done! He ate loads of the proper, homemade battered fresh fish 'fingers' which were more like large fillets and even all the peas!

My chicken burger was honestly brilliant, I spend a lot of time in America and always find anything in the uk that's branded as 'buffalo' style complete dross, usually a sweet sticky mess, lacking any crunch as it's been doused in sweet chilli based BBQ sauce of some form. This was an honest buffalo sauce, Frank's style with heat and sourness...anchor bar Buffalo NY wings, not quite, but pretty damn good for a pub in Staffordshire! Maybe this direction of really well executed smokehouse style could be a differentiator in a saturated market of "good pub grub"!

We'll be dining here more often that's for sure, coupled with the brilliant Derby company ales, some excellent vintage dry cider, (not foreign muck, sweeter than lemonade, served with ice, or stuff flavoured with dragon fruit and jasmine or some other ungodly combo) p.s why are people buying Swedish or New Zealand branded cider?...last time I checked we're pretty good at Apples in the UK! sorry rant over....

Great service too.....very happy customers.

Thanks Tom, Evie and Jorge (Graham) see...

Having eaten here previously, we returned on 23rd december2016.3 PM, table for 4 people. The service was appalling and the attitude of the lady serving,was somewhat a very bad experience. She greeted me with'smile you look sad' as a retail manager I would never tell my customers to smile. She took our order, and when my food arrived along with my husbands, without the sauces, which was about 5 minutes after my sons meal arrived, she began to tell us it had been busy and there was little staff and in fact the chef had walked out 3 weeks ago,I understand the strains of a business when you have staffing issues, really this should never be shared with your customer. Then she had to be reminded my grandson had still not had his food served, had to remind her to bring the water, that was ordered on arrival, we had to open the bottle of wine ourselves as she had a hand injury, didn't mind doing this but I am sure one of the bar staff would have obliged. Each time she came to the table she reminded us of how busy it had been and no staff. My grandson had ordered the mixed grill, with the request for the steak to be medium rare,he couldn't eat it because it was well done, when he told her the steak was to done, She said but it is edible! Twice she said this, No apology.but advised us again the chef had walked out and there were only two 19 year old guys in the kitchen. Deserts were ordered with one express coffee, the coffee was delivered Luke warm, then deserts were delivered about 25 minutes later.delivered! A new set of colleagues arrived for there shift, a young girl rectified the coffee and brought a fresh one which was hot as espresso should be. We did tell her some of the experience we had, had, she apologised, which was very professional and courtesy of her, especially when she was not. Responsible.

Very poor service and a regrettable...