The Melville Inn — Restaurant in Great Britain

Went for dinner here last Saturday. Originally booked a table for four people at 7pm, however, we had two extra people that wanted to join so went inside to speak with the staff to see if they could accommodate. They were friendly, and advised they could accommodate six people if we moved our table sitting time to 7.30pm, which we agreed to. We arrived and were told where our table was, all okay. Lots of people in the restaurant, as expected on a Saturday night, though we did not expect to be left waiting till nearly 8.20pm for someone to come over to our table! No one even came over to recognise we were waiting. We ordered and waited a while for the food to come out. When the food was delivered, no one asked us if we required anything else (like sauce or drinks). Some guests went to the bar to order their drinks, and to also ask for some ketchup for me. The ketchup never came, so I had to get up over half way through my dinner to ask again. One of our guests sent their starter back (that they ordered to come out at the same time as their main), and another had so much fat on their steak it was ridiculous. My dinner was missing onion rings, the gherkin, and sauce it should have come with, though I didn’t realise this till I went back to my room and looked back at the menu. Two guests ordered fish, which had undercooked batter and dry flesh. When we raised the fish issue to the server when he came to clear us, his explanation sounded a bit ‘fishy’, making us think the fish actually comes in frozen and isn’t prepared on site. I went back into the restaurant about 45 minutes after we left to complain. I didn’t want to complain in front of our guests. The staff explained that they had multiple people call in sick, so they were pushed for service, but that they would pass my comments over to their GM so they could contact me to discuss further, surprisingly, no one has reached out. The customer service from this restaurant is really lacking.

The only positive from my experience here was that I could take my dog into the restaurant. There were poo bags, treats, bowls, and water available at the front door, which was...

Latest updated review, June 2025: We went for breakfast earlier today. We've been before for dinner and really enjoyed it - see previous review below.

We walked in and were waiting to be given a table. A group walked in right past us waiting and were then seen to before us. This didn't exactly set us off on the right foot.... We were holding our two young babies (we have 2 under 2) whilst waiting at the time so could really have done with being seated sooner rather than later. We were then seated - in the dog friendly area. Zero atmosphere as we were on our own in there for a while until other folk showed up. The usual restaurant bit has much nicer furniture/ vibe etc. to it than where we were. No one came to serve us for a while, so we ordered via the app. By the time someone came round to take our order we had already placed our order on the app. Food arrived and it all looked delicious. However one of the sausages was raw in the middle - we had cut it up to give it to our 2 year old! We called a waitress over and told her. She didn't even seem shocked nor offer an apology which is really disappointing. Just said "oh ok, i'll take that from you." Very bizarre and we were determined to speak to the manager on our way out as nothing else was said after the sausage went back initially, but a bit later on someone brought us a newly cooked sausage. Great. Fine. The issue is that there was no communication beforehand to say - "Really sorry, this shouldn't have happened. We will bring you another one." It's very simple customer service skills that need to be improved here, and obviously the checking of food before it is delivered to the table too, but we just left feeling really disappointed having had a brilliant experience previously.

Previous: Great food, great service and a cosy atmosphere. Dog and child friendly restaurant. Lots of space, perfect for...

Where do I start, firstly we were allocated our room, it absolutely stank of stale smoke, they changed us rooms after our complaint, which was much better. Then it went from bad to worse, we went for our evening meal in the restaurant , two of meals Thai chicken had to be sent back as they were not hot enough. They were pinged and sent back out. The next morning we were looking forward to our breakfast as we were excited to be travelling to Lanzarote on holiday. We had the most horrendous breakfast experience, we were left to stand outside in the pouring rain, the breakfast service started at eight, but they left us standing till they begrudgingly opened the door at seven fifty eight, with a remark of we were two minutes early, shocking attitude to guests. Thinking it couldn't get worse, how wrong were we, the waiter informed us that there were no eggs for the breakfast, they hadn't arrived apparently, one of the main ingredients of an English breakfast, which meant, no poached/scrambled eggs either. After the experience of the night before, it certainly points to an incompetent chef. We were proved right when the breakfasts arrived, everyone breakfast was cold, the beans, bacon, mushrooms, sausage even the toast was not the sourdough that was on the menu, just thin cold toast, we sent them all back and asked for a refund. The same lady with the bad attitude earlier, came out and informed us it was at the right temperature, we doubt the environmental health would of agreed with her. It was shocking. We would just like to point out the only good asset to your restaurant was the young lady behind the bar ,and we told her so as we walked out, the rest of your staff clearly need a training course on customer care, as we are the ones keeping you in a job. If I could give less stars I would,...