The Durham Ox — Restaurant in England

We thought the over-pricing pretentious but the food, service and surroundings all very good. Starters of avocado and pea/peashoot, sundried toms salad with other nice stuff was well balanced. The 'sizzling' prawns were breast stroking in oil with peppers and had they ever sizzled it was long prior their arrival to the table. Accompanying flatbreads were two slices of pizza base (complete with passata) which were... unexpected. Mains were whole dover sole which was very good and queen scallops which unfortunately were served with their two-cheese partners baked firmly to their shells, so had I not been tenacious a third of the dish would've gone back to kitchen. Lemon mess was light and the sticky toffee was superbly paired with a good icecream. The Wine Was Over-priced. With a veritable bottlebank of cheap prosecco-type empty fizz bottles in every direction (yup, partially soaked off labels leaving sticky patches on the candle holders, tap water bottles and 'bottle displays' didn't disguise the Astoria branding) it looked like a hoarders paradise. Great that dogs are catered for with canine hydration stations...

Visited Sunday 2/6/23. Without doubt the worst restaurant service I have ever received, and most worryingly, it appeared to be from the management. Unwelcome on arrival. The female manager was abrupt, we were left waiting for our table with no offer of a drink at the bar. It felt like we were an inconvenience for her to deal with. Horrible interaction verging on aggressive with an older male waiter, after informing the kitchen that my teenage son had a sesame allergy. It was highly upsetting and embarrassing for my son, particularly when the waiter stalked off shaking his head and muttering “health and safety gone mad!” through the restaurant. The food we received was average. The female manager dealt with our bill. I refused to pay they added service charge because of the way we were treated. The transaction was carried out in silence. I don’t think she cared about our complaint. Nearly forgot to add that after informing the kitchen about my son’s allergy, he was then served a plate of food containing sesame seeds! A nightmare from...

OK where to start we researched the place and we sent them an email knowing it is dog friendly we booked in telling them we had a dog . email back saying you're booked in and they noted we had the dog looking forward we already decided that we were going to have the Chateaubriand and make this a special night BUT AS WE WALKED IN SAID WE HAVE A MEAL BOOKED HE LOOKED AT US AND SAID OH YOU HAVE A DOG DID YOU TELL US In a very unfriendly way. I said yes we e mailed you I have a reply from you oh follow me he said and then took of at speed to our table my wife could not keep up and I had to wait for her before he stop and stare and he was friendlier with other guests. not very happy he did not bring our bottle of wine i ordered the rest of the staff were great food was not that great greasy onion rings raw tough beef did not say anything as he would not of cared so we ate else where for the rest...