The Woodman — Restaurant in England

My wife and I visited the Woodman for the first time on the evening of Thursday 07 March 2024 after having recommendations from friends . We booked by telephone after a prior engagement had been cancelled at the last moment .

We were a little confused on arrival , initially parking at the front of the building , until we spotted the sign for visitors to park at the rear of The Woodman . We then parked at the far end of the car park mistakingly what looked like an entrance on the right-hand side. We then retraced our tracks , in the dark , to see the large sign pointing at rear entry door .

Entering through a small glazed porch , the restaurant is accessed via a wooden door on the right-hand side . A large 'L' shaped , multi area , room surrounds a small bar at the centre . We were greeted as we entered and taken to our table near the front window . A drinks order was taken, and I tried a half of Enville Ale - a very light real ale. They have another pale real ale on Wye Valley HPA.

I was really pleased that a Steak and Kidney Pie was on the menu . When the lady took the order, she was unsure if there were any left . On returning, she had to explain that they had run out, so I ordered lamb . Much to my surprise, the lady returned to then say that since the ingredients were already available, the chef would prepare me an individual steak and Kidney Pie whilst my wife's fillet steak cooked . When it arrived, it was delicious with plenty of fresh kidney bathed in a lovely beer sauce and covered by a glorious pastry lid . My wife really enjoyed her steak and we both are looking forward to returning to TheWoidman - now one of our favourites in the area - Highly...

We popped by for a drink during the afternoon as we were in the area visiting my parents. It states it is a country pub and dining so we thought we would be okay to pop by for a drink.

We arrived it was a nice sunny day and there was seating outside. The entrance door to the pub was open and there was no sign to say it is closed. On the website it states it takes booking for dining. It does not mention the pub opening hours. We could hear people laughing and joking inside so we assumed the was open as the doors were open. We walked in and was met by a lady who told us they were closed and we would have to come back at 6:30 when they re-opened.

We only wanted a couple of drinks! We could have sat outside out of the way so we were not interrupting the staff break time or whatever was going on.

We go out of our way to try and support independent pubs and cafes and local businesses. But Clearly some places don't need the custom. I don't think it would have put the staff out too much to serve us a couple drinks where we could have sat outside out of the way of everyone else sat inside the pub. It's obviously not a pub and just a restaurant.

Such a shame, we were looking forward to visiting here as we have often drove past on the way to visiting my parents. We will try...

Second time I’ve been here and the food has always been lovely. Went last minute last night and luckily got a table for two. As soon as we walked in we was greeted by a lovely host (unfortunately I didn’t catch her name, but she was tall, wore black glasses and had black hair) absolutely wonderful lady, very pleasant and helpful. We had the bread & oils to share - the bread was fresh and warm. For mains I had the the Pan fried filet of pork served with whole grain mustard sauce, wrapped in Parma ham, black pudding mash (which I swapped to bacon & cabbage mash), sage & onion stuffed mushroom and green vegetables. And I can say the main was the best thing I have ever tried!! Unfortunately didn’t have space to have dessert. And as you can tell I was too engrossed in eating my food, I took a pic half way through eating it! Will definitely be going back again, make sure you book up and check times as they get very busy as this is a...