The Peddler — Restaurant in England

Was expecting great things from speaking to friends who had previously visited The Peddler and from a food point of view I certainly was not disappointed. What really let the restaurant down was the service we received. Town was really busy and had trouble finding a parking space so dropped the rest of the party off so we would not be late. When I arrived a waitress came and took my drink order and then asked us for our food order. I asked if we could have a minute or as I had just arrived and had not looked at t he e menu yet. She sighed and went away. We ordered our food when the waitress came back and our starter came soon after. As our starter plates were cleared the main course was delivered and we commented on the speed of the service. Upon finishing our main we asked if we could order dessert to be told no the kitchen was closed. We asked if we could have a coffee then and with another sigh that made us all feel uncomfortable the assistant manager brought us our drinks. When we asked what time they closed as our reservation until 10.30 the manager said she decided when to close and what it said on the reservation was irrelevant, a bit cheeky. Why had we not been told this when we arrived or why had someone not came and asked us if we required a dessert before the kitchen closed or even why could one of the waitresses cut a piece of cake. I feel that I would not recommend for a relaxing catch up with friends as we were all stressed at the end. To finish our meal we went to Tesco and bought cream cakes. At least they had not decided to close early. Come in get your staff to talk to your customers and not make them feel like they are in the way a little bit of customer service goes a long way. Really disappointing as food was nice. 2 months after my review and no comment from the owners. This could be why the service was as it was on my visit. Been to 4 different restaurants since and had excellent service at all really relaxing experiences there, so don't really understand why we got the poor service we got and had to finish our meal at Tesco. Looks like I never will as it seems customer service obviously is not important to...

Finally (after a year of him bugging me) tried The Peddlar one Saturday lunchtime - and been back twice more since! Saturday lunch visit, hadn't booked, sat in bar area. Timed it well as within 20 or so minutes, staff were having to turn people away as no tables left. Service was good, food was amazing! I had the mighty marra burger (omg, I only ate half and gave the other half to him!), He had the feather blade steak and prawns (might have been surf n turf). Steak just melted in your mouth, prawns were enormous. Twice cooked chips were yummy. (Pics are of the lunch visit). Booked for a Saturday night couple of weeks later, service good but a bit slower than the lunchtime had been. We both had steak - chef did a cracking job on my medium/well-done but his medium was much better. Twice cooked chips again but they were different from the previous time and not quite as yummy. He is so impressed with the food we were back the next morning for breakfast! Cooked brekkies all round and again, no fault to be found. It's definitely on our list now, probably top choice for eating out. Hits the spot for me for menu choices (he eats owt, I'm the fussy one), uses locally sourced food and has soya milk for my tea. That's a winner right there. Worth checking the menu regularly as I'm sure they change the food choices - I've looked previously and thought there's nothing on there I'll eat but right now...

Visited with hubby mid-week for late lunch to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary booked online for 1.30pm deliberately late, expecting the venue to be quieter at that time as this was my first time eating inside a venue since the start of the pandemic. It was busy, but not overwhelmingly so. After our explanation we were seated at at a table with plenty of distance around us. The ceilings are high and there was a real sense of spaciousness in the venue, which was reassuring. Although not all of the staff were wearing masks (which aren't a requirement) there were covid measures in place. Tables were wiped and sanitised as soon as patrons left, masks to be worn by patrons whilst standing, etc. The food was delicious. The pulled lamb flatbread was flavourful with lots of textures with the crunchy nuts and apricots and cabbage and the creaminess of the cheese and bite of the harissa ketchup. Hubby had the cumberland sausage and enjoyed it immensely he said the black pudding was lovely and the mash was so smooth and creamy. The wine is fantastic quality. We couldn't manage desert sadly. The staff were attentive, friendly and worked hard, a real credit to the place and we weren't rushed which made our lunch a relaxing experience. I will be more than happy to return, and will...