Dan's at The Crown — Restaurant in England

It was ‘OK’.

After reading the stellar reviews I had to check this place out for myself. My wife and I eat out quite a lot so quite a bit of room for comparison.

The staff were friendly enough. Social distancing still in place, masks requested and asked to scan for check and trace despite being post ‘freedom day’. But none of this an issue.

Seated outside in a marquee that felt a little bit like being in a socially distanced wedding reception, but nice setting and welcome shade on such a hot day.

Nice cold beer, wife’s cocktail was nice, but slightly watery.

Starters really nice, goats cheese with a honey dressing was delicious. Beef carpaccio was also very tasty.

For mains we had the lamb, which was very good, but expensive for what it was. We’ve had better elsewhere for less if I’m honest. The pork and octopus intrigued me, how could they work together I ask myself. I couldn’t imagine it. And in my opinion I was right. The flavors clashed horribly for me, pork served on a HUGE bed of raw cabbage ‘slaw’ mixed with some mint leaves. Pork was tasty and tender, but sauce rich and overpowering, but the octopus and pork together was just too strange a combination for me.

Deserts ordered, but lost somewhere between our table and the kitchen, so left to wait for a long time, not really much of an apology.

Overall I think Dan’s has potential. And obviously there are lots of great reviews. So lots that love it. But for me, for the price. It just wasn’t quite good enough to warrant a return. We didn’t make any comments to the restaurant directly as most of the above is down to personal preference rather than...

We booked a table for a small group for a Saturday lunch here. We had a vegan GF person in our party but there was an option for her, which was great. It's not a huge menu and what there is, to me, is just too busy. For example, one of the desserts was a peanut butter brownie or blondie with banofee ice cream. Those two things sound nice separately but together it's a lot of flavours to the extent it's kind of overwhelming / potentially don't really all go together nicely. When we arrived and ordered drinks, two pairs of people ordered the same thing. The server brought us two lemonades and then tried to give them to two people sat next to each other, but that wasn't correct. We grabbed the drink and gave it to the right person but the server intervened saying she had given us a male and female glass, thinking the two people sitting next to each other had those drinks and she seemed upset that a female-presenting person would drink out of a 'male' glass. She said she could get another glass so the person would have the correctly gendered glass but we declined. It was just awkward that something that was clearly done out of kindness and practicality was made so weird so quickly. The food and service were fine otherwise, not outstanding, which for the prices, felt like we got less than...

Venue - the team have done a great job of making a venue with a few previous incarnations feel like they have been there forever. Fireplace is a nice touch this time of year and overall it's v welcoming once at table. There is a sense of expectation which is frankly what all restaurants strive for.

Food - I had a fillet of beef. It was good but was made really good by a viscous and moreish jus. The dauphinoise was beautifully presented and tasted as good as it looked. My partner had the halloumi and didn't draw breath. Cheese options we chose were decent and onion relish was new to me and worked really well.

Drink - wine list pretty good and descriptive. Had a decent Spanish red... Also v well priced by the glass through the list, which shows some empathy with the customer that is normally lacking in restaurants at this level.

Overall - the menu is varied and not wedded to one style or culture. I'm looking forward to going back and trying something more adventurous on my part. Highly recommended and value for money. A must go if on...