Strawbury Duck — Restaurant in England

Judging from the number of positive reviews we must have gone on a really bad day. (Tues 14th Feb)

To summarise for those of you who can’t be bothered to read to the bottom of my waffle. Nice pub in a lovely spot BUT the service was poor, and the food was inexcusably bad…truly awful.

The poor service was probably because they were understaffed. To be fair to the waiting staff, there were only two of them and they were clearly run off their feet. They showed us our table, told us they’d return with menus and forgot us. I had to remind them after ten minutes that we were waiting.

We ordered 4 starters and 4 main courses. We are not fussy eaters and we were really hungry but of those 8 dishes, only 2 were eaten and the other 6 were mostly left uneaten. We decided not to risk a dessert.

Two of us had a hummus starter which was virtually tasteless except for a slightly odd flavour we couldn’t identify (sort of bland with a hint of stale fridge?). The cheese pie was similarly tasteless with a really unappetising texture. The so called “duck burger” was almost entirely without seasoning, relishes, sauces or pickles, except for a disappointingly small spoonful of shredded duck and a slice of tomato on top of the beef burger. The tiny portion of veggie curry was a joke. These days there is no excuse for serving up something reminiscent of a 1970’s school curry. It says something when the best bit on a plate of curry is the chips! The “highlight” for me was described on the menu as “Aireys braised shoulder of Herdwick lamb” which conjures up an image entirely different from what was served to me.…. shredded, reformed meat, pressed into a mould and served as a sort of cylindrical lump on the plate. Crispy on the outside and flavourless in the middle? It was served with dauphinois potatoes which oddly had a similar flavour to the hummus. Maybe it’s my ignorance, but I’ve never been served or seen lamb prepared in this way, and I worked in catering for years.

The two stars are because it is a lovely pub in a lovely location but sadly let down by the food...

I've been to the Strawberry Duck 1-2 times a year since 2016, as it's the only pub within walking distance after a walk around Entwistle Reservoir. In general, it's convenient, but if there were alternatives, I probably wouldn't go there, apart from on a sunny day to take in the beer garden.

The main problem is that the staff just don't seem that interested in putting in a bit of effort and providing good service: it may be a pub, but at times it comes across as though it's a privilege to drink or dine there.

The Coronation bank holiday weekend was a good example. I arrived at 19:30, on the Sunday, after a few hours walking round the nearby reservoir. Sitting at the bar for a couple of minutes, I had two staff right in front of me more interested in fiddling about and putting away things, rather than addressing the customer right in front of them. Given the apathy, I went to the bathroom before coming back for another attempt.

Thankfully, when getting back, someone else had managed to get their attention. An attempt to order food was met with a "We're no longer taking orders", despite it only being 19:35 on a bank holiday weekend, a time when you would think that pubs would be looking to maximise takings! An excuse was given that they had had a busy day and seemingly didn't want to serve customers at a reasonable hour of the day. It just came across as a 'can't be bothered' attitude.

Now, I am used to this: the UK can be incredibly backwards in its serving hours, especially on a Sunday. However, in taking my drink to a table, I couldn't help but notice that at least 6 people were seated at tables, with staff then taking orders. The whole experience just became incredibly rude and discourteous as the staff had evidently lied, but pretty much summed up a lot of experiences there over the years.

My advice if you're walking the reservoir, take a beer or two with you, then journey to a pub who'll be happy...

Firstly a great location, by nice walks along the reservoirs, and easy connections into Manchester.

Food is also very good. Good classic pub food dishes done to a good (if slightly pricey) standard.

Main issue has been service. Have been twice now and the first time we were moved from our table as it was ‘reserved’. No sign and plenty free around us, but it was a table for six and we were a party of three so we were happy to move. Were then placed in the ‘Mud Room’, a draughty separate room (essentially a big porch) which was cold with hard seats and flooring, away from the rest of the pub. When we were unhappy there we were told that was the only free table despite many empty tables in the main pub rooms. Only on preparing to leave were we magically found a new table, this time tucked away in a corner but at least in the main pub. We moved there and had a good meal but very slow/invisible service which the others in our room experienced too. (Incidentally two tables next to us were never occupied in the time we were eating.) Waited for 20 minutes to pay the bill but had a train to catch so eventually had to track down a server to pay at the (unmanned) bar. Checking the receipt afterwards we realised we had paid for our neighbouring table’s desserts too!

Second time I went, I booked ahead and was ushered to the same very quiet corner which was ok until the speakers turned off as there was live music (which we couldn’t hear all the way in the corner). Again slow and forgetful service leading to having to track down servers for missing parts to our order and again to pay at the end.

Overall this is a great dog friendly pub in a lovely location, which is enough of a draw on a nice day, but the service and particularly service decisions are lacking and you should go in expecting a low...