Little Walcot — Restaurant in England

I don't like to leave a negative review, but unfortunately, this was our 4th visit and 4th opportunity for Little Walcot to get things right.

The service is just not up to scratch. We arrived on time for our booking to be met by who I assume is the manager or at least front of house manager. We weren't met as such, just told to wait a minute (at least five mins) whilst he sorted out a receipt on the till.

We were taken to our table with a bottle of tap water. And left alone for about 20 minutes. Finally, someone came to take a drinks order. The restaurant was half empty. When we tried to order food at the same time, the response was that there were two tables waiting for food, so they would come back and take the order once the food had come out for the tables who were waiting.

It took at least another 15 minutes for two drinks to arrive. I reckon we were there for about 40 minutes before we could put a food order in.

Both Little Walcot and Walcot House offer 20% off the entire menu on Sunday evening. See photo of the website. However, when I asked who I assume is the manager about this, before the bill came, he appeared to think that they'd "stopped doing that", until I mentioned the website. The exact same thing happened the last time we were here.

I bet we were one of the only tables to be given the discount that night. Last time we visited on a Sunday, no discount was applied. Why make a point of announcing it on the website if the actual staff have no idea.

The food when it arrived was good. I am a big fan of Solina in Bath and Walcot House, also in Bath, but Little Walcot just lacks that special something and it is do with the service. I felt irritated within minutes of arriving by being made to wait whilst he sorted out his receipt, then being told to wait again to order food. Then, we waited for drinks to arrive.

We won't return. The space itself is not that great, but this could be overlooked with excellent service and the already good food. Unfortunately we have now had a similar experience four times and there are other places to eat...

Where do I begin? The food was good, but it might have been the worst service I’ve ever had in a restaurant. Truly. My partner ordered a glass of house red. I’m not kidding, it took half an hour to arrive. In that time we asked for it three times. Each time, very polite, lovely smile with “it’s coming”. Then nothing. The second glass took 15 minutes. That’s 45 minutes for two glasses of wine to be poured. Not to mix a cocktail, but to pour a glass of wine. To be fair, they took the 2 glasses off our bill at the end as a gesture of good will, saying “ it’s not usually like this.” But there were many things off with the service. Our starter arrived and it took another 10 minutes for cutlery and napkins to be put on the table. When we ordered ( one of us was having a steak), we were not asked if we wanted a sauce with it. When the food finally arrived we had to ask for salt and pepper. Chips were ordered (price of the steak was just for the steak, no sides at all come with it and the bill quickly adds up), and we were never asked if we’d like mayo or ketchup. Once we ordered a dessert ( a slice of bread and butter pudding with an extra scoop of ice cream), first it took another 20 minutes to arrive, ( for something that needs to be sliced from a pan and ice cream scooped) and when it came there was no extra scoop. Each thing might sound trivial, but it felt like one thing after another was wrong. The staff were friendly but really unprofessional. I mean cutlery, salt on the table, getting a glass of wine poured within a reasonable amount of time is all pretty basic stuff for a restaurant. Again, the food is good here. But our meal felt so...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Little Walcot, Frome Had our first dining experience in Frome at Little Walcot and what a treat it was! While the menu is quite focused and limited, the quality of what they do serve is absolutely outstanding. I ordered the chicken and ham pie - and I'm not exaggerating when I say it was probably the best pie I've ever had. The pastry, the filling, everything was spot on. My wife went for the pork chop and was equally impressed - she couldn't stop raving about it throughout the meal. For dessert, I had the chocolate mousse which was simply incredible. Just WOW is the only way to describe it! The atmosphere was inviting and welcoming overall. One small note - they offer a service where you can upload your photo to their website and they'll greet you by name on arrival, which is a lovely touch in theory. However, when we arrived they still asked for our name rather than recognizing us from the photo. It's only a minor thing and the greeting was still warm and friendly, but if you're offering this personalized service as a unique feature, it would be great to see it fully delivered. I'll be honest - it's not cheap, and we did feel the pinch on the wallet. But given the exceptional quality of the food and the fact that this might just be the going rate for quality dining these days, it felt like money well spent for a special meal out. If you're looking for quality over quantity and don't mind paying for excellent food, Little Walcot is definitely worth a visit. We'll certainly be back when we want to treat...