The Plough Inn — Restaurant in England

A year or two ago, we’d come to the plough on a weekly/fortnightly basis as you could always guarantee good food, good service, and good beer, and it would be our go-to place if we had mates from out of town staying with us for that exact reason.

Food-wise, it is unbelievably hit and miss now, and as a whole the kitchens standards seem very low. The last three times we have been, food has often come out cold, ingredients missing, or is flat out over cooked, flavourless, and/or dry. If you are going to charge premium prices, you simply can’t afford to be inconsistent with what comes out of the kitchen. And when you mention it to staff, the response is very indifferent, as if it’s no big deal you’re giving them nearly £20(!!) for a burger, which was the case on our last visit. In fairness, they refunded some of the money, but having to complain and feeling like we’d handed over the worst £55 we’d ever spent, it ruined an evening we were looking forward to spending together, and a partial refund doesn’t make up for that.

The little touches have gone as well. Not that it’s a huge deal, but sauces used to come in ramekins. Now you just get crusty, crushed up bottles of hellmans mayo brought to your table like a Wetherspoons.

The prices either need to come down, or food has got to improve to make it worthwhile...

Normally the food is excellent at the Plough Inn and would probably rate it as a 5. On this particular occasion i could only rate the Sunday lunch as a 2. We were a table of 5 people and didn't really wait that long for the lunch to be served, maybe half an hour or so, when the meals arrived we had to send them all back as the food was cold and the yorkshire pudding was well over cooked. To be honest i think the Plough has employed a new chef, ( the meals are considerably smaller than they use to be ) two potatoes and little veg. If you wanted stuffing with your lunch you had to pay extra again. My husband had belly pork and no crackling on the top he was totally disappointed . I understand one of the waitresses resigned that day and the other was in tears. The owner/manager had to sanction the meals being replaced but did not come to our table to offer an apologies, between the 5 of us the meals and drinks came to over £130 which sadly didn't reflect this amount of money on this occasion. Will be keeping an eye on reviews for the Plough as i fear they may be in for a turbulent time and loosing customers pretty soon, which...

Booked a birthday Sunday lunch here for 8 of us for my Mum's 90th as staying in an Air B&B in Rottingdean. It was fine and the food was ok although we waited for an hour for our food. When we asked after 40 minutes if our lunch was en route the manageress told us there had been a problem with the oven. That happens and we were cool with it but they might have told us. The meals arrived in two batches so the first were not that hot once the roasts had arrived. I asked for medium beef and it was well done. This pub is quite expensive for what it is. London prices really. The manageress then apologised that we had waited so long for food ( we had arrived at 12.30 and were hoping to be out earlier than 2.30 to celebrate more with our Mum) and she offered us free dessert. We said no thanks as were going home for birthday cake. The first bill that came was not discounted at all and as we were about to pay they produced a second bill with my Mum's main course knocked off. It was ok and judging by other reviews we were just unlucky. It was just a shame it was for such a special...