The Maple — Restaurant in England

Husband and I visited for Sunday lunch. We had booked a table so when we arrived, we were taken to it straight away. Restaurant is nicely done. Airy and modern with an open style kitchen. Jug of water and ice brought over by the waitress without even asking, along with the menus. Nice touch I feel as all so often you have to ask for water. Ordered drinks (wine for me, pint for hubby), and when they were brought over we were ready and ordered our food. I opted for the roast chicken and hubby ordered the roast trio (beef, chicken and pork). Didn’t wait very long at all for food to arrive. It was all piping hot and looked great. Separate cauliflower cheese in its own dish then arrived. Overall opinion of the food is mostly good. Highlights would be the gravy, Yorkshire pudding and cauliflower cheese. I had a generous amount of chicken, however the skin wasn’t crispy so I wasn’t able to eat it and that itself, in my opinion was over seasoned with pepper. This might be good for pepper lovers, however I am quite sensitive to it and don’t enjoy it in large amounts. Hubby’s trio was quite a small portion of the 3 meats (especially for the price), and no crackling as stated on the menu. Veg was nice, although not a lot of it. Parsnip was very large and could have done with a bit more cooking, as quite hard in the middle. Roast potatoes were quite disappointing as they weren’t crispy, more chewy in texture like they had been reheated, and only 2 were served per plate. We asked for extra gravy as we love our roast swimming in it and it was tasty. Hubby also asked for an extra roast potato and they provided a few in a bowl. We were not charged for any of these extras, even though we suspected we might. When plates were being cleared, I asked about the lack of crackling on the trio and the waiter apologised and offered to bring a little bowl over, which he did. Service was good throughout and food not bad, just a few tweaks would...

The first time we ate here the food & service was amazing. We called in for a Sunday roast today and wish we hadn't bothered ! We were shown to a table next to the kitchen and given a menu. No member of staff approached us again for around 15 minutes. She asked for food order and we ordered drinks as we hadn't been offered any by this point. The menu seemed surprisingly small,with no vegetarian roast option (as before) Intfact hardly anything vegetarian on the menu! When we asked we were told they don't do a vegetarian option but would do a nut roast. I wondered why they had nut roast if they didn't do a vegetarian option but my husband went with it & I ordered the (medium rare,stated on the menu)beef. After another 15 minutes, still no drinks arrived.I asked a member of staff about our drinks & eventual they arrived after around another 10 minutes. The restaurant was not overly busy so i didn't understand the wait. In this time we witnessed loud banter at the food pass between the serving staff and the kitchen staff, at one point the kitchen staff were 'play' fighting with each other! The meals were OK, but not to the same standard as the first time we ate there. The beef was very rare and fatty, the veg was undercooked and the cauliflower cheese was dry. The food could have also been warmer. We were very surprised indeed to see puffed pork put directly onto the worktop off the pass (not on a tray) before being plated! The waiting staff touch this surface and food was placed there before plating! Had we have seen this before our food had arrived we would have left! We have eaten here on a few occasions and it seems to have gone down hill each time. Safe to say we will not be returning. Such a shame as we highly recommend this place when it first opened. Save your money, for nearly £50 I...

April 2025 - 'Tuesday Steak Night'

Thought we would give Tuesday Steak Night a whirl.

Exceptionally good value and very good quality food (again). We both had sirloins which came with chips and large-ish side salads - and also two huge 'sharing portions' (green vegetables and mushrooms - we couldn't finish both of these).

We were both intrigued by the Dessert Menu but too full to be able to utilise it (and I'm a large chap with a big appetite!).

Add in some soft drinks and a tip and we rounded up the bill to £60 total which we both think was excellent value for the quality of the food (and size of the portions etc).

The lady says that her steak was much better quality meat/cooking than the one she had at the well-known national chain steak restaurant near the Morrisons' roundabout (locals will know what I am talking about) - I'd say that mine was of equal quality but much better value.

Huge shout out to Lily and her colleagues as the service was excellent too.

Proof of the pudding... we've already booked to go back in a few weeks time!

March 2025

Arrived just after 8pm on a Saturday night so beat the rush (cafe was quite empty as the locals here in Somerset tend to eat very early compared to London).

I had a steak and sides (not enormous, but very well cooked good quality meat) and my client had a vegetarian risotto. With some soft drinks the total bill came to £44 (note: they don't automatically add a Service Charge which I appreciate - we rounded up the bill to £50 as the service was friendly, prompt and excellent).

So... not the cheapest for Somerset, but given the quality of the food (client liked his risotto too) was good value.

There is oodles of parking as well...

Final note: I've been here for Brunch before and it was jam packed then, so recommend booking a table...