The Star Inn — Restaurant in England

THE STAR FAILS TO SHINE - NORTH DALTON DISASTER

Booked a table the night before for my mums birthday, turned up to find no table reserved. After waiting for 5mins we were seated away from the main restaurant (even though it wasn't busy) in a side room and given 1 menu to share between 5, the table wasn't set for food. We were then informed that half the menu wasn't available and the 'manager' suggested we have back ups in case what we ordered wasn't available. Once we ordered it took 45mins for the starters to arrive (there was only 2 one was prawn cocktail and very vinegary), which came without cutlery or condiments, we had to ask. We then waited another 45mins for main courses to arrive and during this time we asked for some more drinks which the 'manager' said he'd be back to take our order but never came, so we had to go to the bar which wasn't manned and had to wait another 10mins for the same 'manager' to serve us. Then chef came and we were told that one of the salmons had been dropped on the floor and it was the last one .. at which point (due to having a staff member to talk to) we expressed our disappointment in the time it'd taken and lack of communication and were ready to leave .. she said the food was on it's way out and offered a fish pie as an alternative, after having 5 mins to cool down we asked for the fish pie but then got told they'd run out! 4 of the 5 meals had come out and anything else would have taken too long to cook so I shared my mums meal. We would have told someone about our concerns but no waiters/waitresses came to see us or check to see if our meals were ok so we ate what we got. On our way to pay we told the 'manager' our frustrations with the meal, service and lack of attention to which he asked us what we wanted to pay, we suggested 50% which he didn't seems to be happy with so then asked to to leave and not pay anything. It's a shame as the venue is lovely but the manager and staff need retraining in customer service. He did apologise and said that they had been busy the week before and a couple of staff had called in sick but if they had pre-empted this by saying that they were working on a limited menu and that food was taking 40mins to come out due to staff shortage at the beginning then at least we would have had the choice to stay or leave before committing to an order. Not the best experience and won't...

This restaurant has being transformed from what i remember years ago. You enter a well presented restaurant, clean tidy and not over the top. The decor is clean and on the right side of minimalistic.

The service we received was again brilliant and is completely in tune to the surroundings, nothing was too much much trouble, but whilst still being very relaxed and very friendly.

The food was a little bit harder to review as i really wanted to sample so much of the menu, though was recommended by more than one of the team to order the Cóte de Boeuf. We went with this recommendation against our better judgement (due to having a similar sharing steak a week before) and how wrong we would have been. It was delicious. It was very well presented with accompaniments to suite and the portions were more than enough for both of us. My only niggle was i would have preferred a little less salt, though that maybe a personal preference.

For dessert i ordered a cheese board, and honestly i cant remember what my partner ordered. When ordering my dessert i tried to order extra biscuits, as my experience tells me the 4 biscuits to accompany the 3 small pieces of cheese is never enough, though i was told not to do so, as i would not require them. Well for the next 15 minutes my attention was directed to my dessert labouring away at an amazing selection of cheese accompanied by a very large selection of biscuits, hence why i had no interest in her dessert and could not tell you what i order. This was the second best cheese board i have ever eaten.

Value for money for this meal was 14/10 as it was a complete contrast to the steak we had shared less than one week earlier, in a very expensive restaurant in York. This menu has been thoroughly thought out, laboured over and presented extremely well.

This restaurant defiantly makes my top 5...

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at The Star Inn North Dalton. I was up from Southampton visiting friends and they recommended that I stay at the star. I was met by very friendly and helpful staff and the landlord was a character and new a lot about the area. We decided to stay for some supper and I could not pick fault with anything. I had the Sirloin and it was beautiful as did my partner.

As for the comment about an illegal lock in, I did not experience anything like this whatsoever. I stayed over on a weekend and yes the pub was open till 12.30 - 1.00 am but thats to be expected in a pub on a saturday night and we thought it was fantastic that there where so many people there enjoying themselves. We had a quick nightcap and met some fantastic interesting locals who again made us feel very welcome.

I could not pick fault with the place, it was in a great location clean tidy pub that served fantastic food and service with a smile.

I will definitely recommend The Star and will be coming to visit...