The Star Inn The City — Restaurant in England

I visited The Star Inn the City last year on a trip to York, I was more than impressed with the service, atmosphere and food. The staff were so friendly and everything was up to standard, hence why I booked to return to the restaurant a year later. However, I am massively disappointed with the service we received in all aspects of the evening the second time around. The waiter was cold and rude, my question regarding the menu was rudely shrugged off, almost like I’d asked a bizarre question about the food they were serving - I was simply asking for more information on the chicken dish. He then went on to ask what sauce we would like on the steak, not mentioning that we’d be charged for it later on. I really do believe he should have mentioned this, as when the bill came it was a shock that he led us to believe that it was a part of the meal instead of an additional charged item - I find this quite sneaky and off putting as we would have ordered the sauce regardless. This also happened with the water when I’d asked for table water and he brought a bottle of water out we were later charged for. The food was lovely, minus my chicken being luke warm, and the steak being fatty. With the service we received, I felt extremely uncomfortable mentioning this to the waiter at hand. Following this, I had a dessert (baked custard) that in all honesty tasted like dish soap, very misleading on the menu. I was massively disappointed. My partners food was lovely, and the atmosphere was nice, I’m saddened that the night went the way it did, especially when you’re spending a large amount of money in the restaurant. I really do hope this was a one off, however for an anniversary dinner, I left feeling highly disappointed, again, especially when you’re spending a large amount of money in a cost of living crisis, you’d expect the staff to be pleased with customers coming out and spending their hard...

I googled top restaurants in York and this restaurant came up quite high. I booked this as it was my partners and I 5 year anniversary so with this all being said, expected the meal to be above average at best. However I was incredibly disappointed. I chose the scallops to start and my partner had cured trout which were both delicious and very well presented but The “mains” is were the disappointing started. I chose the ox cheek and risotto, my partner had the lamb. Honestly I’m not one to complain and I’m all my years of dining have never written a bad review but the risotto was tasteless and very buttery and didn’t go at all with the ox cheek, yes I’d seen the two together on the menu before choosing but after the tasty starters we had I expected it to follow through similarly. I couldn’t finish the main because of the taste but also the way it looked didn’t help either, a chunk of fatty-tasting ox tail in a pool of luminous yellow mush, tasing similar to porridge. My partners main was…okay but again quite frankly bland and not what you’d expect from a restaurant charging what it’s charging. Desserts (pineapple upside down cake) weren’t much better, incredibly mediocre and presented like pub food. The bill came to over £200 and I feel the food wasn’t up to standard nor was it worth it. Plenty of reviews say different to mine (part of the reason I chose this restaurant) but we will not be returning, unfortunately. We politely gave feedback to the waiter after he’d asked how the meal was and he seemed to not care very much at all and just thanked us for the feedback. I would never expect money off ect but at least to acknowledge the feedback in a more engaging way would have possibly helped the situation. (Attached photos are the scallop starter and bed...

Me and my partner were dining out for our anniversary and we’re willing to pay a premium for a special meal, however, unfortunately we were sorely disappointed with the star inn the city.

We ordered the scallops starter, which was alright but all the garnish overpowered the scallops which were totally lost to the sweetness of the dried fruit. From the ‘nibbles’ menu we ordered: black pudding fritters which were of the same quality I have had from a fish and chips shop. Bonfire skins, which were, frankly, totally bland. And whitebait which was clearly not fresh at all, probably frozen. Tasted extremely fishy, which it should not.

We wanted to make this dinner something really special, so we ordered a chateaubriand (the most expensive and quality cut of beef steak you can get) costing £70 for a sharing platter. The steak was chewy, the ‘seasonal greens’ just a bowl of mange tout (which was not in season and not even cooked properly), the carrots has no seasoning and we’re bland and the artichokes were over cooked and bland. The miniature jug of peppercorn sauce had clearly been in the microwave as the jug was too hot to touch. We are maybe half of this sharing platter which was of shocking size and quality for the price they were asking for.

After giving out feedback, we were met with a restaurant manager that clearly didn’t care about our experience and told us that ‘it’s just our taste’ so our opinion is invalid despite being a trained chef by profession, and very passionate about food.

I would advise, save yourself a lot of money and go to one of the many other quality restaurants in York. This is not a...