The Springhead — Restaurant in England

Plates of utter, unseasoned disappointment would be the simple headline of this experience.

My husband and our 2 kids went to eat dinner at this pub. We ordered 2 medium / rare sirloins steaks, 2 kids chips and nuggets, a starter Camembert and 2 small bottles of water which came to £100. In this day and age we appreciate that it’s not the most expensive meal however not the cheapest either and with that cost comes an expectation that the food should at the very least be to of a standard worthy of the price which it couldn’t have been further from.

After collecting our food from the service point (after paying 12.5% on top too) and tasting the food, we questioned whether the chef had even attempted to season the food let alone taste it. The peppercorn sauce tasted of double cream and little else, quite a feat considering all it takes is some peppercorns to flavour. In addition to this, my steak - although cooked medium / rare was riddled with sinu which made it inedible for me - understandable, this cannot be helped - however my husband’s steak appeared to have been cooked twice, was medium / well and completely tough and tasteless. Salad garnish was dry straight out of the bag and chips much of the same. Even the kids didn’t eat the nuggets which is surprising as they eat most food on a kids pub menu.

I wanted to send all the food for our entire table back but my husband, having an understanding of the struggles of the hospitality industry said he would eat mine and only take back his one as thought this a more fair and understanding way of handling even if in reality the whole offering was completely below par given the price. He didn’t eat the steak and we opted for feeding to our dog so that there could be one happy customer.

On speaking to the landlady he was offered to have the steak recooked, however by this point it was clear the kitchen staff were not capable of producing food to an expected standard given all the meals we ordered actually were left mostly uneaten and the fact he had lost any trust in their skills, he politely declined. Sadly the response from the landlady was the offer to refund half his meal only and a disingenuous “thanks for the feedback”.

Now being in the industry he understands she may at times experience people who eat half a meal and try their luck for a cheaper meal, however, there are also people who have a genuine issue with their food and take the time to explain it in the most amicable way possible and in that case, would expect as a minimum a refund of one meal given the circumstances (from my husbands plates he’d had 2 mouthfuls only) but sadly was just faced with much of the same. Terrible food, terrible service.

Final point - the toilets are dirty, expect the cleaner must be on their summer holidays.

Would avoid at all costs. Shame really as the village it is in is gorgeous and certainly...

Delicious food, varied menu; a warm welcome; great setting. We had a super evening at Springhead and one of the nicest meals we've had for a good while. The setting is wonderful, looking out over the stream/river and watching the ducks and their ducklings. Hours of entertainment! The garden looks over hills and fields and the surrounding area is lovely and quiet. The chef has been at the pub for ages and I feel that's a great sign for a pub/restaurant. I knocked off a star for 2 reasons. The back garden, whilst have a good view of the countryside and the horse carved into the hill, wasn't wonderful on the evening we were there. Just a little tired at the time but perhaps the sign of a busy lunchtime? There are some things being built around, a stage/scaffold in the garden from memory. It was the end of the day and perhaps it's more of a daytime place...but something didn't feel quite right so we moved to the front and were really happy. I imagine there would have been times where the garden would have looked more beautiful and the atmosphere would have been nicer, so please don't write it off - it was simply our experience on a particular Saturday evening. The other thing was the fact that we were really looking forward to a coffee after the meal only to be told the machine had been turned off. We'd have loved to have been offered while it was turned on. We were thoroughly looking forward to rounding off such a wonderful meal with a coffee and a liqueur. But hey, all in all it was a great night and the staff were very happy to cater for us when we arrived late due to getting lost on our walk!! (we called to let them know and the young lady we chatted to was really lovely) If I'd had the option of 4.5 stars, I'd likely have given that instead. Lovely pub, great food, great location, friendly staff and well worth a visit. If we're back in the area we'll definitely return and we recommended it to some fellow campers who also had a lovely lunch...

abusive customers and unforgiving management.

it’s such a shame that a pub like the springhead allows itself to be let down by the clientele and management, and how the latter handles issues relating to said clients.

there’s been google reviews in the past few months about terrible clientele and i don’t imagine mine will be the last.

we came here for an afternoon sunday roast. the food was lovely, and the walk we made before hand was scenic and full of life.

upon leaving, i was with my mother who was taking a photo of the outside seating area.

an older man stood up, one we’d seen be greeted by name inside by the carvery area. obviously a regular. he began to walk towards my mother, raising both crutches at her whilst threatening her not to take pictures of him. his language was abusive, we could handle this, but the spoilt experience was the reaction of the manager to this abuse towards us.

she had told us that she didn’t care about the abusive language, and seemingly blind to the fact that he’d threatened to hit my mother with his crutches, and instead told us that leaving a bad review would damage the reputation of her pub. she had claimed to not know the man, although he’d addressed her by her name when she came outside, and he’d been addressed by his by another member of staff inside.

we are paying customers. you do not expect to come somewhere with management that belittles you rather than proactively disputing a situation with a customer they are familiar with. by letting these regular customers speak to tourists like this, you allow yourself to have reviews like mine posted.

it’s ridiculous to think that you are not responsible for YOUR regulars. this reflects on how you hold yourself as a business.

a terrible shame overall, management needs to have training courses on customer service to ensure this doesn’t...