Upper Deck Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in England

I booked the Upper Deck for my husband’s birthday, it is a wonderfully styled restaurant with a real mix of features, from an Asian style elephant statue to ducks wearing skis on the wall.

We arrived early and sat at the bar for a drink, I was driving so we both had a glass of Noughty - a non alcohol sparkling, you couldn’t tell it was alcohol free, it tasted exactly like any other Prosecco. Upon being taken to our table we both ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio Rosé, Cockle Popcorn and the Artisan Bread & Dips (Tzatziki, Hummus & Aioli) - the wine was cold and crisp, and the cockle popcorn crunchy. The bread on the other hand was toasted rather than being fresh bread but the tzatziki and aioli were creamy and flavoursome, the hummus however was a little tart, possibly from a little too much lemon juice.

To start I ordered the Sticky Xo Pork - Braised pork cheeks in Asian xo sauce, toasted buttered crumpet Pickled onions, hot honey plums & coriander and my husband ordered the Salmon Terrine - Layers of oak smoked salmon and dill butter served with horseradish mousse, avocado & watercress. The pork was tender and just pulled apart with no effort at all, the crumpet and plums were a little odd but the crumpet soaked up the juices and the plums added a tang to cut through the sticky pork. The terrine was delicious and the horseradish mousse paired very well, although there was far too much of it which felt a little wasteful.

On to the mains…. My husband ordered the Partridge - Red wine partridge breast, fondant potato, butternut squash, wilted spinach & red wine sauce and I went for the Stone Bass - Roasted stone bass fillet, cep puree, wilted spinach King oyster mushroom and rosemary sauce. The partridge was very taste with just the right level of ‘bite’ to not be tough or chewy. The bass was delicious, flakey fish cooked perfectly with the intense mushroom flavour running through the dish. We decided to add some sides as well; Skinny Fries, wonderfully crisp and piping hot, plus Truffle Mac & Cheese which had a real punch of truffle flavour.

For dessert, our waitress recommended the Assiette of Desserts; miniature versions of a selection from the menu; Warm Dark Chocolate Fondant, Cheesecake, Panna Cotta & Ice cream - everything on the plate was delicious, the stand outs were the fondant which had a decadently rich taste and glossy melting centre, as well as the ice cream, smooth a creamy and all 3 were flavours were intense.

My husband was presented with a Happy Birthday plate with fresh homemade cube of fudge and a homemade brownie truffle bite - a lovely touch to the end of the meal.

All staff were very friendly, our main waitress was wonderful, giving us time to choose, allowing time before requesting the next course so we had time to relax and just enjoy our time. Unfortunately we didn’t catch her name and it wasn’t on the receipt. The evening restaurant manager was also on the ball and attentive. The lighting in the restaurant was turned down for the dinner service and the seating areas for 2 people by the windows don’t have lights above them so my husband had to use the torch on his phone to read the menu properly.

A few alterations and this would...

So my wife and I know this hotel very well and we have been many, many times over the last 30 years to dine here and also at The Jetty which is the hotel’s (newer) waterside restaurant.

The staff are wonderful, friendly and attentive and the location is superb. The food is very good too.

However, the hotel dining room and relaxing areas need improvement as the atmosphere is wanting… dreary in fact.

The piped mood music served to us over supper was not conducive to digestion and was somewhat harassing with a harsh drum rhythm, rather than relaxing and mellow - more suited to a fast food restaurant or late night pub. No candles or even a flower on the tables so the lighting is very, very poor and the atmosphere lacks the glamour and romance promised by such an upmarket harbour side hotel. The tables in the dining room are plastic and are better suited to a cafeteria - in fact I think they are the same tables as found in “Subway” the fast food sandwich outlets. Surely an upmarket traditional hotel dining room should have nice wooden tables, or at least cover the plastic tables with crisp white tablecloths, unless of course the aim is to emulate the atmosphere of a Harvester pub. The fireplaces were unlit and un-adorned and again there were no candles or flowers in the public areas to make the ambience more cosy and “hotel” like. Well, to be fair, we did find two battery powered fake candles either side of the fireplace in the main reception area that were covered in a thick layer of dust, but the batteries were flat.

So we like the hotel but the dining room and relaxing areas feel dreary. The hotel staff know what is needed to make it first class, but sadly they have no authority or budget to improve how the place feels.

I hope this review is helpful to guests and hotel management alike - small things can make a HUGE difference and are generally very inexpensive to execute.

We really wanted to give the hotel 5 stars and hopefully next time we go the ambiance will be much improved and we will be...

Had it's ups and downs.

The location is lovely, sitting on the glass fronted terrace, looking out over the bay is quite lovely on a summer's evening.

The service was fabulous, considering there wasn't an empty table in sight. The team all worked so hard, they needed help really with it being so busy, but they definitely tried their hardest and the individuals cannot be faulted.

There doesn't seem to be an enforced dress code, which is odd given the prices and general upmarket feel.

The food was hit and miss... The children's fish was a little overcooked and dry. The seafood picnic (starter) was delicious. The mussels (starter) were great. The crayfish and prawn salad (starter) looked amazing and tasted wonderful. The stone bass and risotto (see photos) was a little overcooked and the skin, whilst it appeared crispy, was quite soft. The hake and ham (see photos) was a little too salty but otherwise delicious. The jam roly poly was swimming in custard, which is great, nobody ever seems to give enough custard anymore!

I wonder if the kitchen was slightly over-run and this affected some of the finer details/finishing??

£9 for 4 slices of bread, a spoon of hummus, tzatziki and aioli is far too much, also why not tell us there wouldn't be enough bread for the whole table to have a slice each?

The wine menu is fairly good and the prices not unreasonable (£64 for a nice Sancerre).

All the above being said, we had a lovely evening and would...