Pony Chew Valley — Restaurant in England

We had Sunday lunch and asked if we knew the format? It's basically select the 3 courses in one hit! It's a set price menu to help the kitchen run smoothly on a Sunday as the cost seems slightly less to the menu during the week. Plenty of vegetables that was set too and arrived at the same time as the roast beef. The staff are very friendly and helpful, l spotted the Chef gave him a wave as they follow me on Instagram but seemed too rushed to be sociable. It's only open 5 days a week so l expect trying to make it viable in just 5 days with a Cooking School thrown in. I should have stuck to 2 courses but paying for 3 you want to get the full experience and opted for the Mince lamb and my wife had Trout which looked Instagram ready and pretty as a picture. Although free Wi-Fi is available it seems to be a secret password so Google doesn't even know l was there so not letting me upload the photo's with this review. We both had the roast beef, obviously no choice it comes as the Chef thinks you should be eating it, which was fairly rare and my knife struggled to cut it. I thought the cutlery looked worn out. The meal was very tasty and the roast potatoes were amazing the best ever, nice surprise in the Yorkshire pudding with a pickled onion inside, no idea how he does that. I had Sticky Toffee pudding, no different to any other pub and definitely not Instagram worthy my wife had the Rhubarb and apple crumble, bit boring and not much flavour. Not sure if l would dine during the week as the cost is eye watering and as l said the Sunday roast is much more affordable as a treat for Easter.

I did notice no condiments on our table and accepted that the Chef thinks we do not need them but then noticed other tables did, so maybe just an oversight.

Nice wine list and local cider but this place is in the middle of nowhere, so just had to stick sparkling water.

Did l mention its dog friendly, a water bowl was provided in the bar area, although a much bigger bar in the main restaurant, dog owners have to sit away from all the action.

We did walk the extensive grounds and garden and it leads to a county walk through the fields.

Would l return to this Michelin star restaurant, maybe for a Birthday treat...

Not worth for what we got.

Pros: Really nice location, it is a great place for a restaurant just of Chew Magna. They have good selection of wines and local ingredients.

Cons: unfortunately, service here is not up to the standard we expected. If you choose to pay for special Sunday roast, I imagine you would also expect more than you can find elsewhere. We were not at all impressed by the roast, except their root vegetables. They were really tasty. So, I cannot eat my meat if it is not well-done and i asked that. One piece of meat was well-done while the other piece came medium-rare. It would be fine if waiters/waitresses would at least recognise i am sending my full piece back and there must be a reason for that (that is what I would then call a good service). She only asked her automatic question if everything was okay. So I was honest assuming she means it and said I asked for a well-done beef but it was not cooked well-done. She was surprised and looked at my plate (nope, didn't offer cooking further and I didn't have appetite left for meat anyway so I asked for desert menu). We thought perhaps Sunday roast is not part of the service the Michelin star cook prepares (would be great if they read this and clarify that). The service was more disappointing. I booked it more than 2 months ahead to assure a good sitting for my boyfriend's birthday, no we didn't get that. All we got was a dark corner. I also noted that it was a birthday booking for him. They called me two days before the date and confirmed birthday reservation, which would mean a cake with a candle at the end. I automatically expected they would do that without me reminding them next to my boyfriend. Nope, they totally ignored it. When I realised nothing was happening and reminded them at the end, the waiter was again quite surprised, yeah so was I. I think, not worth paying £30 for just a Sunday roast to eat it outside the city for which you also drive half an hour (from Bristol). Also, asking if everything was okay and not being ready for criticism is beyond my understanding. I really hope they would rather take it positive and respond with a solution because that would help them to improve...

Where to begin? Michelin is the mark of excellence and this place has a single star. Whatever the guide itself says, for me this indicates really good food worth a journey to enjoy, and this is almost always borne out by a happy visit. Two and three stars suggest to me that the food is beyond excellent and reaches towards the unimaginably wonderful, usually with ambience and service to match. Most pubs serve food that you eat because you are hungry, and for no other reason. Our lunch was somewhere on that scale rather than anywhere on the stellar trajectory we were expecting. Do the inspectors judge pub meals on a different measure? Surely not. The Pony & Trap has had a Michelin Star for donkey's years. Maybe it deserved one once, perhaps it did yesterday or will tomorrow, but it seemed to me that on our visit its star was an insult to the many wonderful venues that fully live up to this honour, not to mention the even larger cohort of non-starred places that also serve really excellent food and are just a hair's breadth away from the accolade. Yesterday, 1st of October 2018, Michelin again awarded a star. Perhaps I really am missing something here as I have only made a single visit. But I have no intention of risking another disappointing meal. And now, a year on in 2019, this place retains its star. This cannot be right. I welcome any challenge to my observation that this must be based on something other than the quality of the food in what I judge to be a pretentious and self-satisfied little tourist trap. My meal here was the most disappointing of any I have ever had after arriving with serious expectations, and I welcome comment from the chef or from Michelin. It's all very disappointing and confusing. NOW CLOSED in the lockdown. But planning to reopen under a new name in Spring 2021. Thus it will no longer have a Michelin Star. Perhaps I will be able to stop complaining about an absurd and questionable award to what is nothing more than a pub...