Iford Manor: Cafe & Kitchen — Restaurant in England

Well it’s a very beautiful place and I was really happy until I chewed a piece of plastic in my salad bowl. It’s a large piece of plastic feels like it would have been came out from food containers. Learnt a lesson for life - don’t just look from the surface. I am very disappointed I lost a nice place to come back. (Response after my initial review) Ok, now you’ve seen the response from the owner, and they don’t even acknowledge that there was plastic in the food. Not taking photos of the plastic and making a scene at the time has now become my regret. I’ve learned another life lesson: always remember to leave evidence.

When I showed the large piece of plastic to the waiter and asked why there was plastic in my food, they responded, “I don’t know, I don’t work in the kitchen. So, what would you like instead? Another salad?”

I understand that this wasn’t the waiter’s fault, but as a representative of the restaurant, I expected at least an explanation or an apology—which I never received.

When he served the pizza, he didn’t mention anything about the plastic in my salad, as if it had never happened. Yes, they provided me with a pizza instead, because I was hungry, and I obviously didn’t want another salad that might have contained more plastic. I wouldn’t say I was happy with the outcome, but after a long hike, I needed to eat. I saw that another lunch option on the menu was a sandwich, but since some of its ingredients were the same as the salad, I chose something completely different.

It’s tactical to shift the focus to “we offered you a pizza as compensation, so you shouldn’t leave feedback.” But let’s be clear: I paid for my food, and I even tipped when I placed my order. Of course, I should receive the food I paid for. It was a fair exchange, and as a restaurant, it’s your duty to ensure that customers receive what they paid for.

The reason I’m leaving this review is to share my honest feelings and experience. I did not feel respected as a customer while I was at the restaurant, and I felt even angrier after reading the restaurant’s response. Their reply made it seem as if I was in the wrong simply because they couldn’t find the plastic I had told them about. What does that imply? The response also tries to make me acknowledge that I received a pizza after returning the salad, as if that alone should have been enough to resolve the issue. They even described me as being “happy” after receiving the pizza.

The truth is, I was not happy—I just needed to eat. I am upset because I never received an explanation or an apology. You are lucky that this wasn’t a potentially life-threatening situation—because I only chewed the plastic in your food instead of swallowing it.

It’s a beautiful place, and I’ve seen many happy customers. I’m sure you’re not worried about losing a customer like me, but that doesn’t give you the right to silence me from sharing my real experience.

If your idea of handling a dissatisfied customer is simply replacing plastic in their mouth with pizza, then...

We have been to see the gardens a few times (and can rate them above so much of the others we have been to, in case you were wondering), so a visit to the restaurant was inevitable. The first thing that struck us was the beautiful location. We had the option of sitting outside or inside. If you do choose outside, you do have large umbrellas protecting you from the unpredictability of the British weather. Inside is as relaxed as you would expect, with a clear of the kitchen too. The staff were extremely welcoming, everyone saying hello to us and offering impeccable service. A special shout-out to our server Harri, who, aside from his friendly and charming demeanour, demonstrated a detailed knowledge of the menu and offered fantastic advice on everything, including choice of wine, when requested. But what about the food itself? Well, we ordered a pasta with meat bolognese and a sirloin steak. The former was a wonderfully rich and flavoursome affair (which is saying something when you come from a home where you were weaned on pasta). The latter was something else. A beautifully aged cut of meat treated with the sort of finesse that seems rare these days, it tasted extraordinary, a wonderful melt-in the mouth slice of perfection that may be the best I have had. Served with fries and dressed lettuce, the clever mix of flavours only raises the experience further. After such a fantastic main course, of course we felt we had to sample the dessert menu. Whilst one of us settled for the best sorbet they have ever had, I chose the tiramisu. I say I chose tiramisu, but what was served up was like no tiramisu I have had (which is saying something). An incredible combination of sponge, soaked in coffee of course, ice-cream, and meringue, this was a work of imagination and genius, lifting one of my favourite Italian dishes to a level I didn’t think possible. A word to the wise … we were advised the menu could change with little notice, so I would make a point of sampling this astonishing dessert whilst you can. All in all, a...

It’s a beautiful location. They’ve clearly spent a fortune on the building to make it a nice place to be and now have a bank manager to keep happy.

The food and drink is hugely overpriced. The drinks are of good quality in terms of of tea and coffee. I mean, you shouldn’t really mess up a cup of tea for something ridiculous, like £3.80. But for some hot water over some tea leaves, it’s perfectly drinkable. Equally a small bottle of Moretti brewed in Manchester is hard to mess up, but that won’t stop you paying £5 for the pleasure.

A cheese and chutney sandwich will set you back £10 and a slice of cake is £5.

None of what we had yesterday was of particularly special quality considering what they charge. I’ve had far better lemon cake at the school summer fair. I suppose you pay for the location.

Anyhow, despite the eye watering prices, there was no shortage of people queuing up to pay well over the odds for this stuff. The queue was so long due to the service at the cafe being so slow, a male member of staff told us all to move out of the doorway and queue inside the building. It would have been better if he’d put his efforts into eradicating the queue and serving customers in the first place.

The experience was so much more special when they used to serve tea and cake from the old Manor House. Now, like everywhere, this is just a big commercial enterprise where you’re held to ransom for a service in beautiful...