Black Swan — Restaurant in Great Britain

Came for a family meal, my sister having travelled home from New Zealand and I from Western Canada after a few years away. Pub has a damp smell. Tables very wobbly and felt like they could collapse any moment. Asked barmaid about vegetarian options with very little response. Upon looking myself it appears there is 1 pizza option and a couple of small appetisers for vegetarians. Disappointing. Website does not show food menu even though they offer an "order online" facility - not sure how with no menu on there?? Asked about wine list, barmaid pointed to the bottom shelf of fridge behind the bar and said "we have that". Sister ordered a britvic that turned out to be over 1 year out of date. Could see there was no more stock and had already drank most before this discovery. Ordered fish and chips, no fish. Ordered steak and asked for it to be rare. Steak came well done and tough. Asked if everything was ok, informed of the overcooked steak, was told she'd speak to the kitchen and never heard back. Told barmaid about overcooked steak as that's who I ordered with and was informed I had ordered the last steak "but you did order it rare". No alternatives offered or any form of sympathy or compensation. Reluctantly ate half the steak as I was hungry and it cost £17. Had to ask for more ketchup and mayo twice as was given the tiniest amount to go between 5 adults and 2 hungry kids. Still charged full price for my half eaten, greatly overcooked, tough steak. The only good thing about the place was the kids toy corner which distracted from the shoddy service and lack of care for the food. Others in my party did enjoy their burger, scampi and hunter's chicken however, once they had asked for and received more sauce. Vegetarian pizza was also overcooked but my mother didn't want to say anything since they didn't seem to care about my steak. Took the remaining half of it home to feed the birds in the garden. Overall a lack of customer care and staff didn't seem to have much knowledge of the wines or food menu. Would...

If I could give Zero stars...I would!

I visited The Black Swan a few days ago, with family as we were recommended the pub and wish that we'd paid attention to the more recent online reviews.

After purchasing our drinks, we were informed that the menu listed on the website had been replaced following a new chef - this meant a reduced menu, and having picked out meals prior to arrival...most of us were left disappointed at having to make alternative choices.

Positives: those that ordered burgers and pizzas were happy with their choices...however, the child's ham pizza is actual ham pieces rather than normal wafer thin ham you'd expect!

Negatives: too many to list but here are the cliff notes...

Chilli and Cheese Loaded Fries - be aware that this is chilli flakes/powder...and not chilli as you'd imagine. The portion size was also less than the amount that arrived with the side of fries with the burgers...so for £5, absolutely disgusting and misleading!

Buttermilk Chicken Wings - all drummers, no wings in sight. Bland, no flavour and no dip. We later found out that these were from a bag...

Onion Rings - deep fried to the point of nothing!

When we raised the above issues, one of two portions of the Chilli and Cheese Loaded Fries were removed from our bill as well as a Wild Boar Dog...as the Chef was not happy with it (yet still sent it out) - so the actual meals we complained about, weren't even addressed as there was "nothing" that could be done.

The pub also has a massive fly issue, those that did 'enjoy' what they ate had to contend with the flies that descended onto and around us whilst the food was on the table.

Avoid this pub and save your money...I begrudgingly paid £115 for a less than average meal that most people...

To start with I will say the burger with pulled pork which I received was nice and tasty. Now for the rest of the meals that came. Firstly, the fully loaded chips with cheese and chilli is a major rip off, its basically chips with cheese and chilli flakes. So you're paying a whole pound for chilli flakes and they're half the portion size of what you actually receive with your meal. Secondly, we ordered a boar hotdogs for one of the kids for a chilli dog to turn up instead and burn the kids mouth, to find out the chef knew his mistake and sent it out anyway. Thirdly, the onion rings or should I say oil rings are actually inedible And finally the chicken wings which were tastless and consisted of no wings but only drummers. Not sure how they were butterchicken either as they looked like they'd come out of a iceland bag, which was later confirmed by the bar staff Clearly this place has a new chef, from what the menu shows online and its pretty clear he's talentless unless cooking a burger. For the sake of the pub you're better off replacing them...