Juliet's Garden — Restaurant in England

After having heard rave reviews about this place I was really disappointed by the experience.

That's not to say that the food wasn't good (more on that later), but rather that I felt let down on quite a number of fronts. First off we arrived earlier than our booking, so that may have contributed to some of the issues, but they were happy to seat us on arrival. Having sat down I sampled the cask Tribute and am happy to report it is one of the best pints I've had of that brew, so big tick for that one.

Once we had chosen our starters and main courses from the shortish, but adequate menu our issues began. The wine we ordered to coincide with our food, the Picpoul de Pinet was excellent, but it sat there for a long time waiting for our starter which eventually arrived 50 minutes after being ordered. Additionally, no tasting of the wine was offered and it was merely plonked on the table for us to serve. In the meantime another diner had asked about the delay and was told that it was the first for a new chef, with a new menu. Why were we not informed of this at the point of order placement, or indeed during the interminable delay for the food arriving?

When the starter arrived my wife's risotto was very good whilst my mixed bean salad was adequate. However, that precipitated another long wait for the main course (c.25 minutes) in which time we had made a sizeable dent in what was supposed to have been accompanying wine. The mains finally arrived and my wife declared her lamb chops to be excellent, but they were accompanied by chilled/frozen chips, not what you expect from a meal costing £24. They were okay, but for that price you expect to be wowed. I'd chosen the duo of Cornish fish accompanied by roasted new potatoes and salad bowl. The potatoes were nice, the sole a little bland and the hake tastier, but not much wow factor overall. However, the salad contained cucumber and lots of it despite me having being crystal clear that I didn't want any of it included. The dressing was nice and therefore disguised the taste until after several forkfuls a piece appeared at the top of the pile. Had I suffered an allergy to cucumber it would have been game over, but thankfully I just hate the taste. The obligatory enquiry about quality came from the waitress later than normal, so my complaint about this was academic as by then I'd picked out the dozen or so pieces of the offending item. She offered to source another bowl, but I declined as most of the other food had already been consumed by that point.

As we were there for quite a while I had occasion to visit the gents and to my dismay the hand sanitisers positioned nearby were empty, a basic hygiene failing for any establishment in these COVID haunted times. This was probably a minor point under normal circumstances, but when added to the fact that the bill came to £100 for pretty shoddy service, it really annoyed me.

All in all a let down after much expectation of a beautiful meal to match the fantastic location...

Tonight's meal was due to be the last dinner out for our family holiday. We had saved the venue till our last evening out and were expecting special food, especially considering the prices. The first issue was an aubergine burger priced at over £16. When it came it was literally a slice of aubergine fried with crumbs, served with ordinary fries and a small salad. We did return this and the replacement, which was an alternative dish was acceptable. We also ordered a red Thai Seafood curry. As I am gluten free I was offered fries rather than the couscous ( couscous?) When it arrived it actually looked like a tomato soup with Seafood. I asked to send it back too but my family were finding the whole situation embarrassing, so I kept it and was disappointed as I knew I would be from the first look of it. It tasted like tinned soup and I was charged £23.50 for this pitiful dish. (I'm ashamed to say I payed for it ,as my family were becoming stressed with the situation.) These prices may seem reasonable to some people, but for us it was expensive and supposed to be a highlight meal for our holiday. I am looking for a helpful response...

Great location overlooking the harbour. Had high hopes for the food, however was left disappointed. I chose asparagus to start, served with lashings of parmesan (shaved and grated)and a soft poached egg. This lacked seasoning and the sachets available did nothing to add. As main course dishes are usually too large for my appetite, smoked mackerel pate was my second dish: simply awful. Rather than a course fish, it resembled a slushy dip, which was served with stodgy bread and a few salad leaves covered with raw onion! Thankfully, my husband's meal of Moules, followed by Cornish Sole faired better. Oh, and the champagne we ordered needed longer in the fridge before being served. Not one of the waiting staff asked if we were happy with our meal and we had to find some one to pay after getting the bill (very annoying). My husband then told the staff member of our disappointment only to be asked if our drinks were ok as she had prepared them! Really? A jug of water and popping a cork was all that was involved. Such a shame, we were really looking forward to our visit, especially as it had proved difficult to...