Castle Inn — Restaurant in England

Fabulous Pub. Fantastic food, friendly staff and cracking atmosphere always. The pub itself occupies a large area with the front section offering a cosy and inviting more casual dining area with another area to the right which is still cosy but more opulent and in theme with Spofforth Castle and the roots of the village. To the back is a beautiful modern dining area full of light, natural wood and faux cherry blossoms and at the back is an enormous beer garden with a huge patio area and modern patio furniture. The drinks selection is expansive with everything from local draught beer to fine wines and cocktails. The food is great with everything from brunch to dinner to Pizza to Sunday Lunch offered. I like the fact there are other options on the menu for Sunday lunch apart from the classic roasts, last time I went for sea bass with nduja and tomatoes and it didn't disappoint. The fish was beautiful and cooked to perfection and felt like something that would be served in a luxury restaurant not a local pub. That said the pub also offers a selection of classically British "comfort foods" such as fish and chips and the classic roasts all of which from my experience have been delicious and satisfying. In my experience the staff have always been friendly and welcoming even down to the young weekend staff and they never fail to be polite even when they are rushed off their feet. There are also several monthly activities including quiz's, festive wreath making and film nights. We've done the quiz's a couple of times and although we were rubbish it made for an overall enjoyable and entertaining evening. All in all a great pub with tons of character and at a time where the hospitality sector is under increasing pressure this pub is doing...

Needs to improve the service but feel we need to give it another go! We were a party of five. Sat down and perused the menu. Had to leave the table to grab a waitress to take our order and to order drinks. We had to ask for the wine list. We waited over 30 minutes without a drink. We ordered a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine. They were delivered to the table but simply left. We were not asked if we were having a glass of either red or white! I had the crispy beef salad... wow! It was absolutely fantastic! Infact all the starters were fabulous and beautifully presented! I ordered the risotto for main... sadly was swimming in a creamy sauce... not at all the usual risotto consistency... very disappointing. The waitress came over to ask if all was well with our mains and offered to change mine... no question... almost as if she expected it! I did but for a caeser salad. It was back within a few minutes but sadly on a hot plate and no further cutlery. I simply pinched a fork off a nearby unoccupied table. One of the party had a steak... no steak knife brought to the table... I had to grab a member of staff to request one. This should be standard without question. We were out of wine once again. Ordered desserts... lovely... so nice but sat after the meal talking for over 30 minutes without any drinks... no-one came over with the bill or to ask if we wanted any more drinks. You missed a trick... we could have easily had another bottle of wine... if not two between the five of us. Other than the risotto the food was fabulous but the service let you down. We felt like we waited on our own table. Didn't seem to have enough waiters/waitresses for the capacity. Shame as this could have been so...

We stayed in the Windsor room on our stay. Although first impressions were good there were some things that could be better/ tidied up. Broken tiles in shower area, shower valve was just a mixer so couldn't get a constant temperature, had to keep jumping out of the water as I was either getting my skin burnt or frozen! The bath was fine but just needed the flow turned down to get hot water. Same issue with washing hands in the basin- hot was scorching. Stains on carpets, cobwebs etc in bedroom. Bar area was relaxing and a good choice of drinks were available. The restaurant although the main course was good (pie and double cooked chips), the starter I had the special of tempura prawns- it was £11 so was expecting something really special - it was rediculous- 4 small battered prawns and some green leaves!! In my opinion the prawns should have been 6x the size or at least 10 prawns the size they wer supplied. The starter was a bad start and felt stitched up before starting, the desert was apple crumble which was warm in places and cold in others,served with cold custard! My wife had sea bass which was the size of a small goldfish! The restaurant needs tidying up as seats were stained and doors and walls a bit battered. Finally- the room was just shy of £200 for one night and didn't even include breakfast.

Honestly- I wouldn't go back! If I wasn't so polite I would have complained about the food and not paid!

I would consider going back if the room was £120 with breakfast.

Apologies as I couldn't think of many...