Middlemore Farm — Restaurant in England

Terrible sickening experience, booked 1 month in advance, got there at the time they requested us, went to the bar to let them know our party had arrived, the bartender suggested he has nothing to do with the restaurant, at which point he moved off to serve another customer?. Being left with no direction as to move forward, flagged down a waiter and let them know we're here, at which point she suggested we were 45 mins early but with the booking and correspondence online we were correct. Now 30 mins in (supposedly they allocate a 2hr slot for your meal) shown to a table with no cutlery, presumed they had forgotten about us at 50 mins in, caught the attention of an extremely brow beaten manager/waiter guy who insisted our starters are being prepared. Another 10 mins later, (which was broken up by the cutlery arrival) the starters arrived with the smiling guy, (looking like he has this under control) with 4 plates of pate in hand, we had to let him know that out of six starters not 1 of them was for pate his shoulders dropped as he asked what we had ordered, he slipped away then returned another 20 mins later with the correct starters. At this point although dissatisfied with the whole operation it looked like we were back on track, but to no avail as 40 mins dragged by along with numerous flagging down of staff to prompt the main courses. Another 10 mins in, and the guy asked what we ordered for our main courses, now we are seeing and hearing from others who have had refunds, free drinks etc as a small compensation on this Christmas day fiasco. With 2 children involved, getting uncomfortable and hungry, I went to the bar to get them a packet of crisps at which point the mains arrived after another 20 mins. The veg was cold whilst the steak was holding its heat like it had been microwaved, reminded the guy of the sides we had pre ordered at which point he changed his direction of retreat and managed to get them to us in a timely manner. The music was adding insult to injury, 'Feed the world' amongst other jolly Christmas tunes on a loop. The sudden out burst of another customer shouting obscenities as he stormed into the kitchen, followed by three complete strangers and his mother, hoping to minimize what could have been justified homicide, only for him to reappear with 4 plates of food that he picked up randomly (presumably another customer would have to wait another 40 mins); his mother, who had obviously taken advantage of the free drinks compensation, (of which we hadn't been included) came out of the kitchen shrieking with rage "you've ruined my Christmas day" 👏. Well into overtime now, it was pudding, which was at least another 30 mins after the mains, out the kitchen comes the guy with four puddings of which only 1 out of the six was correct, as we relayed our pre ordered pud choice from our online menu that we supplied them with 1 month prior, we queried about a refund having heard of others being offered this option freely, the guy (manager) suggested he was going to offer that option at the end of our tortuous experience, but once again, fore going the pre ordered coffee's, we had to que at the till, to then receive a small refund as compensation.

It was 4 hrs in total for 3 courses.

With all of the ways of getting in touch available these days, the situation could have been avoided and even improved for the amount of customers that they...

We went here to celebrate a family birthday, there were 5 of us, we booked ahead for 7pm and sent a note that it was a birthday celebration. It is a really pretty venue, unfortunately that was the only positive we can say about the evening. We are a friendly family, we don't drink excessively and we tried to just enjoy being together as a family in spite of the poor dining experience. We were placed near the bar area so it became awkward to realise that the staff just weren't bothered about serving us, we kept having to go to the bar to order drinks which we didn't mind except they would then tell us to go back to our seats only to wait for ages for them to deliver our order. The starters were ok, and then we waited 1 hour and 35 minutes for the mains. As a family we didn't chase them, we just enjoyed our celebration. When the food arrived the burgers were only ok, but definitely not value for money and the pricey Sirloins were awful, served cold, terrible cuts, poorly cooked and they tasted horrible, we didn't know it was possible to ruin a steak but I am not exaggerating when I say it was the worst I have ever had. We requested sauces and pepper and the server slammed it onto the table. It was probably from the slow to arrive mains, sauces, having to go to the bar to order drinks that we stopped ignoring the glaringly obvious terrible food and service. We left most of the steaks and explained to the waitress when she came to clear why they were disappointing, she said she would relay it to the kitchen. On reflection it seems that there was no management to over see, it felt like the staff were all over the place but not responsible for a certain area. We requested the dessert menu but they didn't come, we eventually went to the bar and they gave them to us. We requested coffees and the bill. Coffees eventually came but no bill, after waiting a long while we went up to the bar and paid. There was no apology about the mains, no one checked to see if we were happy with our meals at the time and no one checked to see if we wanted more drinks. It was a Friday evening but not particularly busy and there were staff in sight so we can't excuse the lack of service. We really didn't feel welcome and if it hadn't been a special occasion I think we would have walked out. Birthdays are about making good memories and we didn't want to completely ruin the night. We all agree that we can't recommend this place at all, we have since been to a different local pub restaurant and had wonderful food and service for half the price and we really felt welcome and that was the best experience but the Middlemore pub...

The place is a great setting, the conversion from a farm barn to an Inn is very well done and impressive as a Marstons pub. The Servers /waiting staff are very friendly and fantastic to interact with. We have eaten there before and the food at that point was good, well presented and considered to be good value for money. However last night we were disappointed, although 'Gem'? was attentive and understanding to my request to no cucumber on my Prawn and Salmon cocktail we felt let down by the dish, both of them were presented ok, but I found it lacking any real punch as there was very little paprika, Marie Rose sauce and I had to hunt the seafood in a stack of lettuce leaves ( mostly lettuce heart), my girlfriend felt the same. Next the main course, my Salmon En Croute was ok, I like lots of sauce, so all good for me. I also acquired some gravy to enhance my mash potato. Unfortunately my girlfriends chicken was very dry, something I noticed and was of the opinion that even I would struggle with it, even with the gravy, my girlfriends bottom lip quivered a bit. By this time 'Gem' had finished her shift and Paul took over, so we pointed the food out to him, to be told 'yes' it's dry as we only reheat it. He was very honest and did try to offer other sauces, from mostly steak dishes, nothing appealed to her. Now, I'll admit she can be slightly fussy, she's a chef herself, and not a big sauce lover, but nothing was suitable to accompany the dry chicken. I could see her actually push the plate away before having an attempt at it again, but the conversion started to dry, like the chicken, she was clearly not enjoying herself any more, slightly difficult for Valentines night. Paul came to take the desert order, I let my girlfriend go first to get what she really wanted, and to attempt to finish on a higher note than at this moment, she asked for vanilla ice cream on her triple chocolate brownie. Well, when it came the ice cream looked dark, tbh, was chocolate 😯, so Paul was called over again, and to be fair he apologised for the error and got a ball of Vanilla ice cream. Overall, not the best night considering the occasion.

Scores- For the service 9/10, a definite effort made For the food 3/10 For the singer 8/10, he was good

I know its essentially a Martons pub, but it could be done better, I didn't expect Cordon Bleu, but not good...