Shoulder of Mutton — Restaurant in England

Pretty rubbish really.

Booked a table of 10 in advance on a Sunday at 3pm. When we arrived and the table wasn't ready so we sat in the beer garden for a drink beforehand. We went back inside after around 15 mins to check if our table was ready and were told that they had accidentally sat someone else where we should have been seated.

They quickly rearranged a couple of tables to seat us and then left us sitting there for 30 minutes until we called someone over to take a drinks order. Another 15 minute wait until we called another server over to take a food order and to chase up our drinks.

1hr 15mins after having been seated our food arrived at which point we chased up the drinks order again.

The majority of the food was okay, but a couple of dishes were disappointing and the vegetarian selection was a choice of two items.

Staff were inattentive and whilst one server cleared a couple of plates, the remainder of finished plates sat with us for another 30 minutes.

We ordered some more drinks (again having to attract the attention of a server), which took another 30 minutes to come.

We then had the entertainment of watching a gent who we assume was the team leader/manager berating another customer for having the audacity if sitting at a table just to have drinks when "clearly it's a dining room and that he had had a hard day and didn't need them making it any harder".

Eventually we got bored of waiting for someone to come to take a desert order so went to the servers counter and asked them to come and clear the rest of the plates and to take an order.

After another 30 minute wait (3 hours after having first sat down), we overheard the manager saying to another staff member that he needed our table and could they chase up our deserts, following which he advised that they wouldn't be long and that as we had been waiting for a few items he would take the deserts off the bill.

Deserts arrived and were pretty rubbish. We would probably have complained, but since they were being comped, didn't bother.

We then had to ask for the bill, at which point things improved slightly as the manager was kind enough to offer a further discount, but all in all it was a pretty shoddy experience.

They weren't that busy, no excuses were offered for the long wait times or lack of attention from the staff, it just seemed like no one was in control of the suitation and no one could really be bothered.

Probably won't be returning, which is a shame as we've previously had good experiences here.

All said and done, it was just a bit of a lacklustre affair spoiled by poor attention from staff and inadequate management.

Would...

We visited Shoulder of Mutton at the end of August to celebrate our eldest son’s GCSE results. My mother in law booked a table 2 days before for 10 of us. When we got there, we were told there was no booking for us, but my mother in law had definitely booked, she’d phoned up and spoken to someone on the phone and had asked if we could sit near the back doors, she was told we could. Thankfully they got a table ready for us near the back doors and we sat down and looked at the menus. They took our drink orders. I’d ordered a mocktail version of a mojito and so had my 16 year old son. When they brought the drinks over, my son and I noticed our glasses were only half full and the drink was red! We called someone over and told them what we’d ordered and they said there mustn’t be any lemonade in it. They took them away and then brought back exactly the same drinks! Half full and red! I’ve never seen a red mojito, or mocktail version of it! My 16 year old son took a sip and was almost sick! He said it was revolting. My mum tried it and pulled the same face. She said it was DEFINITELY alcohol! They then realised that they’d given me and my 16 year old son an alcoholic drink which contained THREE different types of alcohol! How no one had noticed this before, I really don’t know! I ordered a gluten free burger with jacket potato, as the fries there aren’t gluten free. They brought it out with fries. Someone realised after a few minutes and instead of taking the pot of fries away, they took my whole plate away from me and took about 10 minutes to bring it back out. In that time almost everyone at the table had finished eating and I was starving! My mum ordered lemon ice cream for dessert. Or so she thought. She asked if it was ice cream or sorbet and was told it was ice cream. It wasn’t. It was sorbet and so sharp tasting she couldn’t eat it. The service was very slow and we were there for a very long time. I understand that they were short staffed and it must have been tough for them, but it did somewhat ruin what was meant to be an amazing and happy evening for us. My son was visibly upset, but he tried to shrug it off as he didn’t want to upset anyone. The man who served us, who I think was the manager, or a manager, was very lovely and helpful and looked rushed off his feet, so I did feel sorry for him. But to give a child alcohol TWICE and no one to even realise is pretty bad. I think the staff manning the bar need...

Very disappointing Burns Night! Despite pre-booking the menu we'd be choosing from, several of the main themed dishes (pheasant and venison) were unavailable on the night. This could have easily been remedied if we'd been asked to pre-order our food, which is usually the case when themed evenings are held. We weren't told that these dishes had sold out until we came to order, which was a shame. We were later given a small discount on our bill, but when you come out specifically for Burns Night on Burns Night itself, it is still disappointing.

We were also sat opposite the fire escape, which was being used to access the beer garden, so at the start of the meal, we were subjected to icy blasts of air as people were going in and out. At least we we sat by the fire...and they'd also run out of ice for our drinks!

The quality of the food wasn't great. The crab salad I ordered was truly awful. It's probably the worst thing I have ever tasted. It came out on a boiling hot plate, the presentation was terrible, and it tasted horrendous, so I sent it back. As a result, my friend and I ate our starters after everyone else and then the rest of the meal felt very rushed, and we weren't given a lot of time in between courses. My friend actually didn't touch her main course.

The haggis course was actually the best part of the meal. The wild boar sausages were pretty average and came out minus the caramelised red onions on top (as shown on your social media pages), but at this point, I couldn't be bothered saying anything. The cranachan dessert was again awful, reminded me of a cheap breakfast granola and not remotely authentic. They also ran out of meringue for another friends Eton Mess...not sure how a kitchen can run out of meringue... surely, they have eggs and sugar???

I think better planning could have avoided all of the above. If you're holding a themed night, get people to preorder their food and take deposits. It's like turning up for a Christmas themed meal to be told there's no turkey or...