The Salt Pig Too — Restaurant in England

We popped into The Salt Pig in Swanage yesterday on the off chance of getting a table for lunch.The eating area was quite busy. We originally managed to get a table for two, opposite the till area, but this is the main walkway for customers entering, leaving & paying their bills. People are walking past more or less continuously & coughing & sneezing & you are extremely close. We then moved further down the eating area, where there is much more room & much more comfortable to eat. However, the seating area is quite uncomfortable. There are pillows provided to use on the seats, but this makes little difference. At least one of the chairs I went to sit on was broken. By the time we had decided what to eat, the eating area was less busy, even so I felt like some of the aspects of service were one hundred miles an hour. The waiter who took our order had a lovely smile & was very pleasant & polite. I did however, notice the waitress go out twice whilst we were eating to vape. Whilst I don't have an issue with this & I am sure she had not had time to take a proper break, I did notice that on neither occasion did she wash her hands before starting work again. Food wise, I chose the beef brisket & my husband chose the pulled lamb. My husband said the lamb was only aired & a soggy mess & although he eats lamb on a regular basis, he found the lamb to be very greasy. The beef brisket I ordered was not as I expected. I expected a slice of beef brisket as advertised on the board, but instead I received brisket the was more like pulled brisket in gravy. Again my food was not hot. Possibly because it was late lunch & had been standing. I ordered wedges as they had run out of chips & these were also only aired. You are allowed two choices for sides with your meat choice, but I struggled to find anything that would go with gravy. I therefore just had the wedges & my husband had wedges & coleslaw. Overall, our lunch was extremely disappointing & served a bit like you put out a meal for a dog in a bowl. The waitress did however, very kindly deduct the cost of the meat from my meal, which was £9 off £14.95. I paid £6 for aired wedges. Even though I am aware it was my own choice to only have one side instead of two. We will not be using the Salt Pig again & would not...

I've been meaning to visit for such a long time, having heard amazing things about the food (and the meat in the window always looks incredible, even though I'm a veggie).

We had a good evening meal, the food was nice (slightly pricey), the service was OK (nothing special) and although I'd go again there's lots of other places I'll probably visit in preference.

Maybe it was a bad night (it was very busy).

And finally, because I often do, something that makes me smile. This is not about the place I'm reviewing!

What do you get if you paint a pink pig mint-green?

A pigmint of your imagination.

How I Mark I may mark differently to some other reviewers, some might see this as harsh, others may see it as fair. But here's how I look at it:

5 star - WOW. I want to go back and look forward to doing so. They delivered everything expected and more. The 'more; is normally about the service or attitude of the staff. 4 star - GOOD. They delivered everything I wanted and a bit more. I recommend them and would go back. 3 star - OK. They delivered what I expected, I would go back if I needed to, although don't currently plan on doing so. 2 star - Not very good. I didn't get what I expected and the service wasn't good. I don't recommend this place. I might get dragged back here, although will always try to avoid it 1 star - This was rubbish. Don't go there, I certainly won't go there again. I didn't get what I wanted, the people were unhelpful and I didn't enjoy...

We booked as we heard so many good things about the food and service. What a disappointment from arrival! We had specified we had a dog with us and requested if possible to be put so we were out of the way, the table originally suggested was central in the restaurant and essentially bar stools. I asked to be moved, noting there were several free tables without reservation signs and was huffed at by the member of staff seating us not the best first impression. I even apologised and said we asked to be seated out of the way due to our dog also. Ordering took a while even just to get drinks. We ordered the special pork chop and a venison pie. The pie was tasteless and watery and the meat was very dry (when you could find any!) The pork chop had barely had the fat even cooked through we expected the fat but to the point you couldn't even try it. Would never visit again and definitely would not recommend such a disappointing dinner & service.

** Additional comment in response to restaurant reply - All of our issues listed above were reported back to the staff members on that evening. I actually had to wave at them to check back on us, so I could bring our issues to their attention. At which point the pitiful offer changing the food to wait to be further disappointed made matters worse. The offer of free vegetables given the overall experience was totally...