Shepherds House — Restaurant in England

We're regulars at Shepherds House. Normally the service is super speedy (and we like the food - so keep coming back - even if we wish they'd occasionally change their menu, nice though the options are).

But.

We had a pretty disappointing night on the recent Burns Night evening meal.

We booked a table for 1745 (so nice and early), as we had two wee children in tow. The menu was pretty well set (four courses, a few choices for three of the courses, the second course being haggis of course).

First - the positives. The food was SUPERB. (Even if we would have much preferred a little (a LOT!) more haggis, to be honest). Our waitress (sorry, I've forgotten her name) was superb too - but under immense pressure.

Now the negatives...

To wait 30 minutes for our pre-meal drinks was nothing short of ridiculous. 5 drinks. In a not busy (at that time) pub? Dreadful. But just a warning to us as to what was in store.

Then to be presented whisky with water and ice in a brandy glass. On Burns night. (we didn't require water or ice or a brandy glass!).

To run out of Cullen Skink before 1830 for a Burns Night is something that is almost incomprehensible. Note I said 1830, not 2030! Poor planning?

THREE HOURS for a four course (set menu) meal which was booked at 1745 is incomprehensible too. Especially as it was clear one of our party of 6 was under 6yo (that's after all why we booked our evening meal at 1745 and not 1930!). Absolutely appalling.

I had to ask twice for our puddings and eventually, before they came, ensured that we would get the bill at the same time as the puddings - as we were by then, desperately worried we'd be waiting three quarters of an hour for the bill, like we were for each course.

Look.... we don't blame the staff. They all looked busy (enough) and were personable and pleasant. We can only assume management hadn't bought enough Cullen Skink in, or staff for the evening, or single malt whiskies for a Burns night.

We tipped our waitress at the end and made it clear to her that we didn't blame her for our poor experience - not at all.

Yes, the food was superb - but to be honest, the whole experience was completely let down by the snails' pace service.

I wasn't paying the bill (my father in law kindly did), but if I was, I'd have asked to have seen the manager if they were around and asked for a hefty discount on a pretty poor experience.

(Note- we were eventually offered a £10 discount on a £200 meal , but even that was taken away from us as we used a blue light card discount).

A dreadful shame, like I say (my original rating was a 5 star rating as we like the pub, and normally the service is very fast and SUPERB!), but honestly... 3 hours for a 4 course set menu for a party of four adults and two children is completely...

Been there for the Festive Menu with colleagues this week. First, I’d like to mention that we booked the table back in October. As it the was the Festive Menu we wanted we paid deposit in advance there wasn’t an option to not pay for whoever didn’t wasn’t the festive so we just all paid the deposit. I emailed across the orders mid November no response to the email. I called to check if we can preorder for the people who don’t want the Festive, a not friendly guy told me he’s busy and I should send an email. Eventually I did receive a link to the website where I could follow out the orders. I was contacted 2 days before by phone again by not a friendly lady telling us we can’t have mixed menus and either all of us have the Festive Menu or we chose all from normal menu which is ridiculous as I’m sure there would be other people turning up on the day wanting to order they wouldn’t be sent away just because our table has the Festive Menu. On the day we haven’t been welcomed it was really hostile reception, not once we have been asked if everything was okay or did we like the food, vs. all the other tables were asked all the time and there was definitely a pre- judgement towards us probably because of the phone call I had with that lady prior to the visit. The food was not fresh it was all reheated, we could tell, it wasn’t good at all, you’d expect if you preorder that is because they would be cooking all fresh. Anyway disappointing, not going back at all. Used to like the place years ago, not this time with this hostile environment and...

5 years ago, I rated 5 star across the board. Today, we went for breakfast for fathers day, and it was the last straw for us, we have felt the service and quality of food has dropped recently, but this has always been our go too pub. From now on, we will not visit, the jug of milk for our coffee, had congealed gravy remaining round the sides... the server (a manager) would of seen this clearly when pouring the milk in, showing no care or attention to detail. It seemed they were short staffed, but we were not warned or advised about a lengthy wait for food, no apologies were made when the food was brought out, the breakfast was short a few items, 1 sausage instead of 2, half a bacon rasher, mushroom cut in half, served to us as if we wouldn't notice, half of which was cold. A manager looking lady (who served the milk) dressed out of uniform, seemed annoyed when you asked for anything, and as soon as younger members of staff started their shift, it's like she disappeared, filthy tables, with nothing cleared, customers complaining about the wait to the staff who have just started, I honestly felt bad for these girls, and it really killed the atmosphere.

Genuinely such a shame, as really was a great place to visit. Drive 15 minutes towards the A329 and try the Oakingham Bell, better service, good value portions and about the same...