Townhouse Bar & Brasserie — Restaurant in England

It's tough to stick the boot in during such difficult times, especially when it comes to the hospitality industry. But, by the same token, as somebody who enjoys a meal out and has been largely deprived of the experience for the past year and a bit, I expected more from a local restaurant, considering the rave reviews I'd heard about the Townhouse.

Unfortunately, for me it didn't live up to expectations; a real case of the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

The good:

The setting. Undeniably, the Townhouse is set up very well for a worry-free dining experience in these Covid-ridden times. With an outside area with seating in the open and under a heated canopy, the experience is comfortable and relaxed and, importantly, free of the ever-present mask menace.

The service: The staff were very attentitive and friendly. They were prompt to the table, offered good, clear information on the menu and were very helpful. Nothing was too much bother.

The menu: The menu offers a wide range of dishes and is accessible enough for most to be able to find a starter, main and dessert - from the point of view of family dining with kids, this is always a bonus.

The bad:

The food: Despite the menu's wide-range of dishes, the actual food left a lot to be desired. I was left distinctly unimpressed by the meatball calzone. The description promised a wood-fire oven folded pizza with meatballs. Unfortunately, what I got was a dry base, watery tomato sauce, too much cheese, and largely absent meatballs - which, when located, were dry, lacking in flavour and not terribly inspiring. The chunky chips that were ordered as a side were limp and lacking in texture and flavour, also (they seemed microwaved).

Dessert, 'salted caramel Oreo pie', was flat, too salty, and looked like something from the fridge at the Ikea restaurant.

My party was made up of four, this is simply my reaction to my main. It was, unfortunately, not the flavoursome, exciting experinence that I was expecting.

The ugly:

The bill: Times are tough for the restuarant industry. I understand that. And supply is undoubtedly difficult, what with the perfect storm of a driver shortage, pandemic and Brexit. BUT, the consumer is having a tough time too, and surely deverces better than to be presented with a bill of over £100 for the meal described above and a largely disappointing experience (for reference, we had 3 adult mains and dessert and 1 child main and dessert).

We chose to stay local, rather than drive to Chester or Shrewsbury, to celebrate GCSE results day and I have to admit, I came away feeling like dissatisfied and somewhat cheated. For the money paid, I would have expected much better food, which is a shame, because the location and the staff were great. The whole thing, though, was let down by a very bland meal. I can't escape the feeling that we would have got better value for money elsewhere, which is a shame...

Do not book.

We had booked for a family birthday celebration. Service was so, so. Drinks order not taken upon seating and slow to arrive. There were only 3 tables in so can't blame on busyness. For the size of room and number of covers the music was too loud.

When it came to taking our food order turned out half of the items weren't available. After placing order waitress had to come back twice to say items we'd ordered weren't available. Standard practice is you tell customers upon seating when items are off the menu. Of the mains of pork, steaks, white fish and risotto my husband was left with only risotto to choose as he's allergic to fish.

Pork dish listed as cote de porc (pork chop) but tough, chewy gammon appeared instead.

A table near us had to leave (presumably because of little being left).

A couple then sat down and proceeded to order things that weren't on the menu we were given. A look up on the website later showed them to be on the bar menu.

Apparently the restaurant is closing. If this is correct they should have been transparent when booking about the likelihood of a restricted menu. And also upon arrival.

But also poor prep of staff to then not let customers know that items were available from a different menu. ‐------------------

Edit in response.

We did tell staff about unhappiness, including with the pork, which is why your staff gave us money off our bill.

Bar menu food was served at the table next to us: chicken burger and plaice and chips. Neither of which were on the main menu we were given.

We recognised that the servers were trying to do their best under what appeared to be trying circumstances and left a tip.

Re husband's allergy. There's normally a good choice of other things. The main time we need to mention it is when going somewhere which has...

Terrible.. this was a complete mess, chips Not cooked, steak.. completely over cooked nothing left of it.. Not 15 oz.. microwaved sauce which was all congealed.. and some lettuce on its own as a salad.. FM,,, and don't get me started on the lager... Didn't eat it and didn't pay.. ruined my birthday. Zero stars. Just read the response..

The wine was not opened. No offer to re-cook was made. Bring my own alcohol.. rubbish never said that And i suppose the chef response that blue cheese sauce is gravy based ....Which explains the brown blue cheese sauce... Please..

And i ordered the steak on a more to the well done side.. not a piece of dried up leather.

If your going to respond.. trying being truthful.

Now i know your dam liar.. i suggest you learn to tell the truth and then maybe learn to cook . And yes i am right over the road. Something i suggest you fix immediately is calling me a liar The wine was not opened and the all the food was...