The Star Inn — Restaurant in England

Worst dinning experience to date. I booked this restaurant in advance for 7 family members to enjoy a meal for my brothers 18th birthday whilst away. We arrived at 18:20pm and were directed to our table. I asked if there was another table available as the area selected wasn't suitable for a disabled member of out party to which we were simply told no. The gentleman at the bar handed my aunt a pad and pen to write down our orders as he 'didn't want us to be left behind' as they were anticipating a busy evening. We promptly provided our order of starters and mains. Our starters arrived within approximately 30 minutes however after waiting 2 hours and being told twice our mains would be with us shortly, I then took to the bar to ask if our meals would be arriving soon as we had been waiting over 2 hours and my 3 year old was normally in bed. I explained that the 2 parties in our same area whom arrived an hour after us (one a larger party too) had already been served. The gentleman became very abrupt and told us it was our fault as we had ordered starters. At 20:45pm we were finally served our food by which point we were feeling extremely uncomfortable due to the behaviour of the staff and couldn't face the food we had been served and decided to settle the bill and leave. There was also an issue as we had been asked if we wanted a portion of onions rings with the meal to which we replied yes and were subsequently sent 6 large portions (which we were expected to pay for but explained we would only pay for 1 as that is all we had asked for). It appears the locals were catered to as a priority, and we were discarded as soon as we walked through the door. This made for an extremely disappointing end to a lovely family holiday...

I considered two stars because the people working there seemed nice, but the food was so disgustingly awful I don't think anything more than 1 star would be fair.

That's without taking into account the price, I can't believe I paid almost £20 for what I believe was a microwave meal from the bottom shelf of Iceland. I had BBQ ribs which had barely any meat on them, and what was there was hard and chewy, the sauce was all congealed, it tasted and smelt like a fusty carpet.

My partner had the pie, the pastry and filling seemed to form into one mushy anaemic tastless slop. The peas were rock solid and I'm sure we both had freezer chips. The pie was also on the expensive side.

We also seemed to have fallen into the same dodgy tactics as a few other customers as we received the onion rings that are sneakily added on and charged for, owners don't seem to care about this as I can see a few have complained.

I understand expectations might be different in the in the area as locals seem to love this place, and there doesn't seem to be much else on offer, but if you do come from further afield and have any sort of interest in nice food you'd be better off getting in your car and leaving.

I feel bad writing this but I genuinely feel scammed I've spent £50 on this place. To top it off I ordered battered brie as a starter, expecting a few small pieces of lightly battered cheese, I received two big slices of cheese with batter you'd expect from a chippy! What??...

One always hesitates to leave a favourable review in case it encourages hordes of people to visit and thus spoil the quiet ambience of a place. Our experience of the Star Inn was, to be honest, excellent. From viewing the menu online and anticipating the seafood sharing board I was looking forward to our visit. We were not disappointed.

Entering this small but pleasantly located old inn we immediately received a warm and friendly welcome. This, unfortunately is so rare today, when the simple concept of people in the hospitality sector being hospitable seems deeply unfashionable. No so the Star Inn. There were a few diners and what seemed like some locals at the bar. Not too busy but just right for the atmosphere in an English pub.

The service was quick but not obtrusive, the choice of drinks wide - white wine for the Mem and a pint of Inches cider for me. We, of course ordered the seafood sharing board as a starter, she had a steak, and I chose sea bass fishcakes from the specials list. How did this match up to our expectations? In a word, smashing! Well cooked, flavoursome and just the right amount.

I am undecided between recommending everyone visit this little gem of a pub which deserves to be full every day, to prosper and thus remain in business or hoard our experience, like a miser keeping a secret, hoping that only a few people visit in order to preserve the lovely, quiet atmosphere.

Hmmmm. Decisions. Oh well, five stars...