The Spotted Cow — Restaurant in Great Britain

A disappointing visit, for the first time, to the Hungry Horse pub chain. Having made a reservation in advance for a group booking, we assumed that would be fine to come along and have an enjoyable evening of food and drink, we were wrong! There is plenty of parking outside and the pub looks clean and welcoming from the outside; inside however it was quite dim and worn.

Upon being greeted and seated, we found a table with enough space for around 6 of us. The area was a bit messy and the carpet is very worn; we then looked at the menu offering. The deals were fabulous and the menu really was enticing and so we chose a wide selection of main meals and side dishes to go around the group. You have to go to the bar to order, which we did. The person on their own behind the bar was running around and very busy, we then placed the order.

After doing this, we sat back down and waited (having been given drinks straight away). The person behind the bar said the wait for food was "more than 45 minutes" to which we grudgingly accepted. The pub was definitely not busy, with many empty tables. They didn't appear to have many staff at all working and I was surprised to be told this given that the pub only had around 5 tables visibly seated. When waiting at our table, more than an hour passed with no food at all. One of our group asked a server in passing how long it would be and this was met with the response "I will check for you". Nobody ever came back. Approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes after ordering the food came and that was it, the staff then disappeared.

The portion size was very small (photo of onion rings some had been eaten), but the flavour of the food and taste was delicious (hence my 2 star rating instead of 1). The presentation was nice, but, my burger was advertised 'with lettuce' to which there was the smallest single leaf inside, like the bit you get when you reach the end of an actual lettuce. I asked them to re-dress the burger as it had been made in a hurry, with little care. The onion ring 'horse-shoe' was actually a small bowl of onion rings and overall, most of the guests in our booking were not satisfied with the portion sizes, or the wait time - plus the fact we asked a question and nobody returned.

The food was tasty and the venue looks nice, but the visit was an absolute disaster and there were hardly any tables inside. When I used the toilets, they were dirty and hard to find. Another group turned up whilst we were eating, and they were asked if they had a booking. They didn't have one and were turned away. I was surprised at this, and they were too, as there were more than a dozen empty tables, nevertheless, with the wait like we experienced it probably did them a favour! We did not receive a thank you or departure greeting.

Overall very disappointed with this visit and it has put me off visiting any of the pubs in this chain (based on this bad experience), as if this one is not run properly, chances are others aren't! I will not return to this location and unfortunately I would not recommend this pub to friends or family, take a look and explore some of the other nearby restaurants and...

The Tale of the Post-Apocalyptic Mushrooms

To be fair, if it weren't for what I can only assume began their existence as mushrooms, I might have given this pub a solid four stars.

The signs that this would be an underwhelming experience began early. As I approached the bar, the barman made eye contact while serving another customer. This would normally be a promising sign that he acknowledged my presence—especially since I was the only person waiting.

However, after the customer received their drink, he dashed off to the cellar to fetch something, leaving me in limbo. Upon his return (with a fruit shoot, no less), he immediately served another couple who had just arrived at the bar! By this point, I had been standing there for 15 minutes, having been acknowledged at least three times. Yet, when he finally decided to ask who was next, he turned to the couple next to me who had only just approached the bar a few minutes before. Well, hello, I’m the guy who's been here since the last ice age.

Eventually, I got the drinks and found a table. Time to order food—except, there was no table number in sight. After asking a waitress, I finally secured the elusive number and placed our order via the app.

Forty-five minutes later, the food arrived. During this time, we had to make yet another trip to the bar since the drinks we ordered with the food never materialised. Cheers for the extra half-pint by the way! My lady friend doesn’t drink pints hence the half pint on our order, but hey, a mistake in our favour.

As for the food, everything was ok—except for the mushrooms. Ah, the mushrooms. Those poor, nucleated fungi that had seemingly survived a nuclear holocaust only to be served on my friends plate. The bacon on the all-day brunch had also suffered, having spent about 20 minutes too long on the griddle.

We asked the waitress to replace the mushrooms (See attached photos), and she returned a few minutes later with more of the same—little round balls of charcoal. I had to ask if the chef was being serious or if this was some sort of elaborate joke.

The waitress, clearly embarrassed, returned yet again, this time with a fresh pot of deep-fried mushrooms, ohhh the taste of cooking oil bursting into your mouth when you bite down on them eeeeem NOT

By the tone of their arrival, however, the person eating the all-day brunch had finished his meal, including the overcooked bacon, which was never addressed.

It’s evident there are staffing issues at this pub. By the end of our two-hour visit, we had accumulated 13 glasses on our table, despite only ordering seven drinks ourselves. Apparently, the staff have never heard of the concept of never returning to the bar or kitchen with empty hands.

It is a shame that Google will not allow me to post links as I was going to setup a GoFundMe page to get the Chef! Some cooking classes.

Edit- Nice of you spend the time to personally reply to my review with a templates response, maybe replacing the place holder in your template “location-email” with your actual...

Despite a steady stream of customers this afternoon/early evening (most of whom were diners), the Spotted Cow is now a shadow of its former self. Living locally, this pub has always been a venue of choice for family gatherings due to its large and varied menu (of simple, bog standard pub grub), but also being very family friendly.

Today's visit (the first in about 6 months) was distinctly lacklustre. Food was edible, but bland and underwhelming. We felt the quality of many ingredients had been lowered/reduced. Steaks were cooked correctly but lacked that 'meaty' grilled flavour as were some accompaniments which I suspect were frozen (such as onions and peppers for the sizzler). Presentation was hit and miss as were portion sizes of puddings which all cost the same, but varied greatly in quantity.

Overall the whole experience was average and forgettable. Bar staff looked bored and disinterested (not the usual banter) and the atmosphere was just weird with staff floating around looking lost. There seems to have been a lot of changes since our last visit, none for...