Severn & Wye Smokery — Restaurant in Forest of Dean

We visited this restaurant based on a recommendation from someone local to the area. Upon arrival we received a warm welcome and were shown to our table, the service was prompt and professional. My husband popped out to make a call and joined me shortly after, his welcome was slightly less welcoming, greeted with a questionably toned “how can I help you?”, rather than a pleasant “Hello/welcome” that is expected when you visiting an out of the way eatery. The Head waiter was attentive knowledgeable and extremely professional, he made food suggestions which we took as a result. I started with the scallops, my husband, the octopus, (as per recommendation) of the two starters - the scallops were exceptional!! Again, on recommendation, I opted the fish of the day, my husband and daughter had the fish & chips. The portions were huge, pricing appropriate, quality high and flavours well executed. An interesting point to note, I needed to visit FaceBook to view the menu before visiting due to the website not sharing it - a peculiar omission for this type of establishment. Would I go again? For the food - absolutely - I love my food to be of a high quality, and full of flavour - this certainly delivered on that.

The atmosphere, for a non regular visitor was mixed. More junior staff went out of their way to deliver great service, the more senior staff carried an aloofness that would only be adjusted to extend warm welcomes to regular ‘known’ guests. Traditional, consistent customer service, was missing from a percentage of the staff, which does sully the overall experience.

Whether everyone would pick up on these particulars I don’t know, but as visitors to the area, we most certainly did , and as a result, we could not give a...

Updated 13 July 2022 Quite disappointing. Lovely environment etc, but the food was disappointing. The Seafood platter was not good. Mussels and crab overcooked. I felt the fish of the day could have been partly filleted of the fin bones. The main bones are easy to fillet, its the little side ones that can easily get missed. Deserts as always are excellent. But i felt there should have been more of an acknowledgment of the very poor quality of the Seafood Platter. Its how mistakes are dealt with, thats important. Hopefully it will be rectified for future customers. Unfortunately i wont be rushing back. A bit disappointing. I've removed two stars for now.

Wonderful. Great food and also great deli. (reviewed 2015)

Recently went to the new Restaurant. It is very different to the old establishment. The old establishment had a lot of character and served wonderful food in a very casual atmosphere, sharing tables and benches etc. It was great to go and have a plate full of prawns and other wonderful dishes.

This has now been split into a restaurant and cafe. The restaurant is more formal with excellent food. I had the Shellfish platter which was excellent. Followed by a Pistachio parfait, again excellent. The service was excellent and a wonderful setting, but very different to the old place.

There is also a cafe downstairs that serves lighter bites, but nothing like the old place. It has become more formalised.

The deli and fish counter is still there, but the large array of desserts at the deli seem...

A Wonderful dining experience

As soon as we saw this place on Monday after visiting the Forest of Dean, we immediately booked a table the following day to have lunch.

On arrival, there is ample parking and just right in front of the building. Split onto 2 floors, the ground being the shop, cafe, and seafood shop.

Up the stairs we went to find the bar and a small waiting area. We were immediately welcomed and sat at our table right in the corner which was nice as it was packed and noisy, which is a good sign.

On seeing the menu, we were initially surprised at the menu pricing, pretty good in comparison with other venues of the same ilk. We ordered a few starters and 2 mains which came out pretty quick.

The starters were divine, and the mains were 10/10 for presentation and taste. The fish with ravioli was cooked to perfection with an incredible sauce.

Recommendations

We are going to make it a regular stop from now on, we're only an hour away and its definitely worth it. Especially feeling you are eating proper, quality based food with great staff ambience.

The shop is incredible too with great pricing and everything looks so yum. You just want to buy everything.

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