The Shoulder Of Mutton — Restaurant in East Staffordshire

Popped in here for a pint of Bass on the way home. On a bit of a mission at the moment, as a younger ale drinker, to explore the extent of Bass on tap in pubs in the Midlands. I haven’t visited too many pubs in the county, but if I find a friendlier pub in this part of rural Staffordshire I’ll eat my flat cap (and I don’t even have one 😂) for I received, as many pubs state but few verbally accomplish, a warm welcome!

There’s a double whammy of Burton ale on tap, both Pedigree and of course Bass. I think the Bass here used to be championed a bit more, visually anyway, because there’s an old very pretty Bass lantern looking fixture by the rear entrance and I know for a fact they did have the famous Bass logo on the front, sadly taken down. The Bass itself, poured as of the date of this review, was rather cool, which personally I prefer in these warmer months. For all the backlash I’ve gotten recently about drinking Bass when it’s hot at the moment, this Bass was refreshingly cool. Good price on the pint too, good facilities and a small beer garden to the rear. Can’t comment on the food as I didn’t have any, but I’m sure it’s fab! All in all, until I visit more of them to get a better idea of things, this is one of my favourite pubs in the county now, at least outside of Burton, and I’ll happily pop...

The barmaid was horrible to me, my friend politely asked her if I could make a drinks order when she was on a calculator as I had been waiting a while (I assumed she was adding something on the till) and she frustratedly replied ‘just one minute I’m taking an order’. Then a few minutes later she came to me at the bar and shouted at me, saying what I just did was extremely rude and saying that I wasn’t the only person in the pub. Now I don’t know what was up with this woman but for some reason she hated me with a passion and reluctantly served me a beer. Poor customer service, she literally shouted at me in front of everyone in the pub, it wasn’t even me that called her! Just don’t go here in case the barmaid tries to yell at you...

This was our first visit to The Shoulder of Mutton and on the whole, it was a good experience. The pub itself is well maintained and presented and the staff were friendly and helpful. We visited on Father's day and as we'd booked a table, it was ready for us upon our arrival. We were limited to the Sunday menu which we were expecting. Between 4 diners we had 2 roast gammon, I roast beef and a lamb shank. All the food was well presented and very tasty. There was a good amount of meat and plenty of vegetables. Our one criticism is that the food could have been hotter. We'd definitely return and would...