Maltsters Arms — Restaurant in England

Web site says open at 12:00 got there-at 12:30 ish , waitress explained chef was on his way and would be 40 mins. Stupidly we agreed to wait. He arrived , another couple did sat by the fire same as us as BTW there is zero heating on elsewhere by then it had been over an hr . We ordered , so did the other couple, their food was served way before ours , now 1.5 hrs. Our food arrived it was terrible, fish pie was a slop and over salted to a ridiculous degree.The waitress tried to argue we knew it would be a while but by now it was 2 hrs + The owner /chef approached and I said I just wanted some food as by now we where starving and just to leave it. The waitress asked if I had finished which I had I thanked her for taking the plates… the owner approached I said I just wanted to finish . He clearly had a go at her as she was now in tears I have no idea why.We left £38 lighter … my wife just had a sandwich !another women followed us to the car and started shouting at my wife and myself , I returned to the pub and was accused of bullying !!!…the only person who might have bullied her was the chef .Another person who had been sitting down with head phones on and a laptop in another room out the back by the toilets who I smiled at earlier and he looked at me in a very odd way also had a go saying I had a go at her from the start … utter rubbish how on earth does he know what was said with headphones on sat in another room.I was then told they would call the police if we didn’t Leave !! And we were banned !!! Absolutely Bizzare place clearly with some serious staffing issues …. Shame as we used to go a lot as we are local...

Around 18 months ago my wife and I popped in here for drinks and had such excellent service that we vowed that we’d come back and try the food at some point (we are local).

Today on a very rare day off that was also a lovely day to sit outside, we headed over after checking their website for food serving and opening times for a spot of lunch.

We parked in the village car park and walked up and before we’d even made the door, a polite, but very brusque Eastern European female told us that the pub was ‘shut at the moment’ because ‘we need to prep for tonight’. This was 12.35pm.

I’m not sure if something special was happening ‘tonight’ but this lady didn’t even know if we just wanted a few beers or lunch? How hard is it to pour a few drinks, or offer a limited lunch menu?

If we can’t be assured somewhere will be open, when website etc states it will be, we won’t bother making the effort to visit. Especially as it’s a bit off the beaten track.

I really do hope ‘tonight’ wasn’t simply food prep for the tourist trade/season, because if it were, I’ll await the usual winter ‘we aren’t supported enough by locals’ statements and shall remind the owners it’s a...

Decided to visit as we were in holiday in Cornwall. We saw the sign and realised this was the place that we used to get ghost bookings for when we owned the Maltsters in Henley. We weren’t booked but they found space for us. Top quality floor walking team and an excellent carvery chef. This isn’t a carvery by carvery standards. Think more of a personal table chef asking you which cuts you would prefer, the only difference is that you are stood up at his table. The meats are all top quality, no Makro deal of the week stuff here (or maybe they just know how to cook a cheap cut properly). The real star of this offering are the sides and veggies. Each one had attention paid to it that Alain Passard would enjoy. No exaggeration, no inside dealings, this fayre would’ve commanded £60-70 a plate in London. Well done guys. Great to see someone climbing out of Covid with...