The Spring Inn — Restaurant in England

If you judge a place by how well they respond when something goes wrong, I’d give a 5. But it's better when they don't go wrong. That said, it has many good points as well, and the interior was full of people eating, so it must be doing something right.

It’s a few minutes from M4 J12 and much better than the services if you have time for a more leisurely meal. This is why we visited for supper, half way through a long journey.

We sat outside on a warm evening, watching a junior game of cricket on the nearby field – top marks for atmosphere. Our server was knowledgeable about the real ales on offer, and my pint of Goodboys, from the local brewery, was excellent.

I can’t eat onion for medical reasons, it makes me quite ill particularly if not cooked well, so I chose carefully. Perhaps I should have checked with the server, as I would if ordering anything with salad, but I wouldn’t have expected any onion in the dishes I ordered.

My starter of “Grilled goat cheese stuffed Portobello mushroom, fig purée” sounded safe enough, but there was a thick layer of red onion between the fairly small mushroom and the cheese – more onion than mushroom, in fact. And because the cheese had melted over the onion, I couldn’t pick it out. When I pointed this out, the response was very good. A version without onion was brought quickly, the maitre d'/manageress came to apologise and not only didn’t charge me for my starter, but took my partner’s starter off the bill as well. Exemplary.

Unfortunately that was only the first of our problems. Surely my main of “Slow braised Welsh lamb shank crushed new potatoes, garlic green beans” was safe? No, because the potatoes were crushed with chopped shallot. More apologies, a portion of plain (quite gloopy) mash was brought. At this point, I would still have given 4 stars.

However, I now asked for another half-pint of beer. “Certainly, Sir, I’ll get it now” was the reply, and I ate as slowly as possible, hoping for the drink to go with it. But it never came and as the server didn’t reappear, I couldn’t ask him again. Our meals were finished and we needed to continue our journey. That costs another star!

When the manageress came with the bill, we told her what had happened and she gave us a voucher for free drinks on a future visit. OK, but didn't change the experience.

Apart from these problems, the food itself was quite nice! 4 stars if nothing...

I visited The Spring Inn on Thursday 13 June 2019 at midday, a weekday during term time. I was with two other people. This was my first visit. I used Google Maps to find the pub, which was easy and led me straight to the right place.

I parked in the pub car park, which had plenty of space. The car park was right outside the pub.

Upon arrival I was greeted by a member of staff who was friendly and welcoming. I had pre-booked a table to avoid any delay on arrival - I was shown straight to my table. The pub was a good size with plenty of tables. Had I not pre-booked it appears that I would have been alright just to have turned up but I like to avoid any issues!

The pub comprises of a good sized bright and welcoming main dining area with a bar and toilets. I was well looked after by our waitress, who visited the table often enough to look after our needs and was always on hand if I needed anything.

I enjoyed a very nice burger. The food arrived hot, was well presented and tasted good.

The restaurant toilets were very clean and tidy.

What I particularly liked about my visit was the atmosphere - the pub was spacious, bright and clean and the staff were very welcoming and attentive - we spent a long time at the pub and didn't feel rushed - it was a very nice place to visit. I enjoyed my visit to The Spring Inn and would come again.

For ease of access I give The Spring Inn 5 out of 5. It was easy to find the pub using Google Maps - parking and getting to the pub was simple.

For food quality I give The Spring Inn 5 out of 5. The food was well presented, the right temperature and tasted good. There was a good selection of food and I found something that appealed to me easily.

For visitor experience I give The Spring Inn 5 out of 5. All of the team were friendly and welcoming and I had no issues - we got everything we expected in good time and enjoyed the experience.

For their facilities I give The Spring Inn 5 out of 5. The toilets were in a very good condition, as you would expect.

For value for money I give The Spring Inn 5 out of 5. I found the cost of my food and drinks to be a reasonable amount, in line with other similar pubs and restaurants that I have visited.

Overall I give The Spring Inn 5 out of 5 - I really enjoyed my visit and would definitely come and...

A wonderful pub/restaurant in a beautiful old building. Set in a lovely village opposite the local cricket pitch with good parking available and extensive outside seating, The Spring Inn gives a good account of itself even before you get inside. The interior is set over two floors and is full of character. I'm no architectural expert but I'd guess the core of the building is probably Georgian.

Choosing from the menu was difficult because we both wanted everything but in the end herself opted for two starters, Giant Prawn Gambas and Scallops with confit pork belly. Both looked and tasted delicious. Ample sized portions for starters, perfectly cooked.

I opted for a more conventional starter (Gin cured salmon) and main (pork shoulder, chorizo and butter bean cassoulet (essentially a bean stew). The salmon was a fantastic twist on the more usual gravadlax, sat on a rémoulade bed and served with two slices of sourdough toast. My main course was just gorgeous - the pork had been slow cooked and was topped with a lovely piece of crackling and the whole assemblage sat in the most wonderfully unctuous cassoulet.

Service was friendly throughout but somewhat dilatory. If you are in any sort of a hurry you are going to get very frustrated. Fortunately we were both in a relaxed mood and although we ran out of time for pudding we both agreed a return visit would be in order in the not too distant future.

Our bill for the food plus a bottle of wine and pint of diet pepsi came to a very reasonable £77 excluding service. Great value!

The Spring Inn advertises itself as dog friendly and on our visit three of our canine friends were present. I'm pleased to report that all of them were immaculately behaved although we were taken aback when one of our fellow patrons chose to park her (admittedly small) dog on the table.

The Gentlemen's lavatories were immaculate - always, I think, a sign of a well run...