The Libertine — Restaurant in England

For Context: Prior to Covid I lived in the area and regularly went to dinner and the pub at Libertine. Post Covid I've moved further afield and still came back to the restuarant for dinners. What on earth has happened? The menu has changed to more of a Harvester type menu. If only the cooking stood up to that? My partner ordered a starter of Chilli and Garlic Tiger Prawns. First off, there was no metion of the prawns needing shelling. Bit difficult to do when the dish is piping hot. When the dish had cooled sufficiently to be able to pick up the prawns to shell them, there was so much chilli on the dish as to ruin the flavour completely. My partner had avoided the "Tiger Prawn Tagliatelle" as a main because it specifically states "Shell On" - in a tagliatelle? With sauce? Shell On? Really? I had the beetroot humous - passable but you can't really get that wrong.... can you? For mains we ordered the "Aged West Country 8oz Bavette Steak" The steak was slightly grey and tough, the fries were a reminder of McDonalds fries and overcooked (how???), the onion rings were overbattered and overcooked. The only bit I could finish was the side of Brocolli. I didn't finish any of the main dish.

For atmosphere expect to be eating in the middle of a busy drinking pub with loud music. My partner and I had to lean into each other to talk. (Manager - Pub music up and restaurant music down maybe?) This has been noted by other reviewers but apparently the management don't care.

I'm very disappointed in how, what was a favourite eating destination, has deteriorated. 2 years ago I enjoyed a decent steak, well cooked, with new potaties and winter vegetables and a lovely peppercorn sauce. What has happened?

I would recommend several places from Poole, Ashley Cross, Bere Regis, Wimborne, Weymouth and Dorchester who all server a West Country 28 day aged steak that is wonderful. Supplier issue or Chef issue?

Carry on like this and The Libertine will no longer be a going restaurant concern. Judging by the noise from the pub, that might just save it...

I decided to come to the Libertine to try the food menu and in doing so the cocktail menu caught my eye - I fancied something a bit different. I found something I liked the look of and went to the bar to ask for a "Long Island" to be told it is not served. I kindly pointed out it was on the cocktail menu (British Long Island) and it appears the female bartender, in an attempt to save face for not being aware of the items on the cocktail menu, started repeating I had asked for a Long Island Ice Tea (I hadn't) to me and a colleague of hers (who I presume was the supervisor).

He mentioned the menu had some new items which confirmed in my mind the female bartender clearly has not learnt the cocktail menu. That's fine, I really wasn’t that fussed about getting a cocktail and didn’t want to make a big deal out of it (and in all honesty bartenders not being aware of what items that have on their cocktail menu is often a sign they are not going to be particularly good) so I kindly said "thanks but I think I’ll pass" at which point the female bartender blurted out "you've totally misconstrued what I said!" seemingly upset I had changed my mind about my choice of drink.

It was the cherry on top of what felt like a rising passive-aggressive cake. I didn't intend to offend this bartender by pointing out something on their menu they were unaware of but that seems to be what happened. It was a really odd interactions and as someone that has worked years in hospitality, both front and back of house in various parts of the world, it took me by surprise.

I exchanged an awkward glance with her colleague and a patron at the bar who both seemingly were as surprised as I was about this outburst.

As it had turned quite quickly into an unwelcoming environment, I second guessed whether the pricier than normal food/drinks items were worth it in the Libertine and decided to pass on dining at the Libertine altogether...

We had an early table (5.30pm) us, our two young children and their grandparents. We were off to a good start, however, the service then started to be quite slow, bearing in mind we were an early sitting and there were only a couple of other smaller tables there at the time. When our drinks order came, 3 out of 4 were wrong. The children ordered the pasta with cheese sauce from the children's menu, when our food finally arrived, the children pasta was STEAMING hot, which by this point they were starving and then had to wait another 10 minutes for it to cool down for it to be safe enough for them to eat. When they did eat it, both of them said it wasn't very nice, so we tried it, and it was the most bland dish, couldn't taste any cheese, it was more like a milky/white sauce, so my husband ended up giving our daughter his pizza and he ate the bland pasta (mixed with some gravy!! from one of the other meals, to give it a slight bit of flavour!) We then ordered 4 x crumbles, a kids brownie, and a kids sundae. Then 5 minutes later we got told there were only 3 crumbles left, so we ordered another dessert. Then another 5 minutes later we got told there was only ONE crumble left!! so we changed the dessert order again. Our daughters sundae arrive, and it was missing the chocolate flake that she had read came with it.....she politely asked for it, to be told "we've run out of flakes"!! We ordered coffees with our desserts, which I had to chase up, and they came out long after the desserts. Needless to say we came away feeling very disappointed with the service, and the quality of some of the meals. Which is a real shame because we have been before, and the setting is lovely, and we would love to return but have been put off by...