The Spread Eagle — Restaurant in East Staffordshire

A dinner night out with good friends. Greeted by friendly staff and taken to our reserved table in an alcove in the restaurant. An extremely pleasant atmosphere, where conversation was possible, in reasonable tones, without the need to shout. No blaring music to drown our chatter. Well lit by a candle on the table and balanced, by an ambient electric light. Three of us ate off the three course house menu for that night. My wife off the main menu. The waitress was knowledgeable, pleasant, and welcoming, taking drinks orders then returning after an appropriate and well timed interval to take our orders. There was not too much wait for our starter courses, which were big enough to let you know you had eaten, but not so large as to temper your appetite for the main course. We all cleared our plates, and in the wife's case bowl, as she had the soup. We were all delighted by the tasty house ciabatta and freshness of the pate and salad. The main courses of hunters chicken, sirloin steak, rump steak and a an all day fry up consisting of egg, black pudding, sirloin steak, gammon steak, sausage, chicken breast, chips, tomatoes, mushrooms, onion in batter and ciabatta. Perfectly cooked and very moist and tasty. Portions were large but not overly so. The exception being the all day fry up, which was as gigantic as expected, all was devoured whilst still sufficiently warm, unlike some premises recently, all the meals were served piping hot. The deserts where plentiful in portions, but light on the stomach, after such fulfilling main courses. As with the the previous courses, they were served with appropriate expediency. The chefs and waitress clearly working as a team, communicating with each other in order to make our dining experience most pleasant. There were no over delays or a feeling of being rushed. The waitress discretely observing the diners in order to time the most appropriate moment to collect crockery and cutlery. There was none of the uncomfortable hovering some establishments are guilty of. The food served with efficiency, good manners and all present at once or momentarily after the first meals appeared, conjured from the wings, carried by additional staff without fuss or hindrance, during each interlude between courses. Following on throughout from the initial service of the starter. The cost of the meals and drinks were very reasonable. We found ourselves planning our next visit even as the last of the desert and drinks were consumed. Well done to the managers of the Spread Eagle, who must take a bow for producing such a well executed service, and encouraging their staff to reach exception heights of...

Short Review]

A nice pub, pleasant staff and decent food. The price is moderate, but it's a nice time out with decent decor and good food. 4/5

I will definitely be going back again and have been there a few times before in the past with family.

[Longer Review

Situated in a lovely old town of Rolleston on Dove. There is plenty of car parking. But the place is popular so it often fills up. 10/10

[Decor]

A very old building and pub. But it seems in good condition all in all and the decor and design of the place is very nice and feels welcoming. 9/10

[Prices]

Definitely a place with moderate pricing at ££ price point. An average meal would be around £15-17 per plate. But as anything it depends on what your getting. Price to food ratio on some items was ok. 8/10

[Staff]

Staff are polite and up-front. They are clean and we'll dressed and seem to follow a uniform dress code that is smart. The food and getting their attention for things was easy enough and they were welcoming. The service was good. 9/10

[Service]

Food was delivered promptly and was quite quick. I would have liked the vegetables to be cooked more. Some broccoli and carrots I couldn't literally cut or eat as they were raw (mainly broccolI). That could be an issue as undercooked broccoli could contain salmonella and other things. (Unlikely, but possible). 8/10

[Food]

I had the Sunday Trio. Dinning partners had the sirloin of beef and hand carved turkey breast.

Barring the vegetables. The meat and its contents were excellent. Wouldn't have minded a bigger stuffing ball but that is just preference. My dining partners agree the meat was tender and beautifully done.

They do offer extra gravy for those that love to slather things in gravy. Myself included. I also opted in for an extra Yorkshire pudding at £0.50p more. I will comment that that the roast potatoes were frozen and seemingly not from the restaurant so that was a bit disappointing

Overall a solid meal. I would have it again. 8/10

[Conclusion]

A nice place. Good food and good service. A nice place for a date or to bring grandparents or just have a pint. A solid pub.

[Why four stars] I had some issues with some of the food not to my liking. Some vegetables like broccoli being very raw and undercooked completely that I struggled with at the recent meal. The roast potatoes were frozen.

You certainly couldn't cut them and I'm a young man who is reasonably strong. I think the grandparents and such would have a real struggle on their hands. My two...

Upon arrival, there were 4 girls stood behind the bar and we were acknowledged by one in which I told that we had a reservation. She then prompted another one of the girls to see if our table was ready, who then prompted another girl that came from behind the bar to seat us to then have to return because she forgot what table we were at. When we approached the table, she didn't specify which table we were to be sat and had to go back a second time to check. She then automatically asked us for drinks orders, I hadn't even removed my coat at this point! When we did order drinks, it took 3 times of repeating and showing her the menu which drink I had requested (Mulled cider). After 10 minutes of waiting for my drink, my partner had to go and ask for it and a gentleman behind the bar then made it. A regular, cold cider was then bought to our table and I asked if it was the 'mulled cider' that I had ordered in which the same waitress replied 'yes'. My partner then had to take this back to the bar and tell them it wasn't what I had ordered. The same waitress then bought over what looked like a mulled wine, approached the table and maybe thought she had the wrong drink, in which she proceeded to ask me 'do you want a mulled wine instead?' she returned to the bar after I said no and finally bought the correct drink back to the table. By this point, we had already decided that we were going to just eat and leave and go to another pub to continue our night which we had planned as a festive evening for the 2 of us. Food was reasonable but unfortunately, due to the incompetence and un-friendly nature of the staff, we won't...