The Swan Inn — Restaurant in Malvern Hills

We decided to go for Sunday Dinner with our Dog yesterday. Knowing it would be busy, we decided to book online - open garden tables were not bookable which is pretty typical for most pubs so no bother, "let's go and if we have to wait for a table we have to wait". Turned up, tables spare, sat down and went to get drinks and menus.

That's when it went downhill; "Hi, we're really busy and because we have 2 big bookings we are only serving Sunday 'baps' for walk-ins"

Feedback 1: We had to be a walk in to sit at the uncovered garden seats, the only bookable option was covered which we didn't want. We shouldn't be treated as second rate for our choice of your seating. Same thing counts for big groups vs couples.

Feedback 2: Nowhere did or does it give any indication online or on social media (that we checked in advance) that because you were a walk-in of any description that you would only be offered a bap.

Feedback 3: I find it mind boggling that an establishment of any description is shocked and surprised when they are busy! Imagine if you went to John Lewis to buy a laptop and they said "Sorry Sir, you can only buy socks today because we are really, really busy and they are easier for our cashier to scan". As a pub, your capacity of seating should be your capacity as a kitchen. If you can't handle your covers, don't offer them.

Feedback 4: With what has happened over the last few years, you would have thought any pub/restaurant will do everything within their power to hold onto every penny of business they can muster. As it happens we drove 1 mile down the road and happily spent near enough £90 at the Plough & Harrow and were in, fed, watered and out in about an hour and had a lovely experience.

The extra star is for the nice waitress who tried to help us (but with no luck) after speaking with her manager.

We hate complaining about anything, and I hope this comes across as just our honest feedback. We may try again at some point as you have been recommended by people who speak highly of you; hopefully our experience would be different but with such good competition nearby it's no longer as clear cut as it was...

Lovely pub, I've stayed there before for work, but avoid The Gooseberry room, this time I booked through a third party provided and when I arrived was shown to the Gooseberry Room which is a nicely appointed and clean room with a bathroom.||However, ten minutes into my stay the kitchen fans started. I had no idea what the noise was, went to ask at reception was told they were the kitchen fans and would be on until 9.30 or thereabouts. The noise in the room was awful, I tried to work but it was impossible due to the constant noise, I left after about 45 minutes and went home.||The staff did offer to see if they could find alternative accommodation in the area, but by this time I had a beating headache and just wanted to get away from there. I did make a formal complaint by email but was told in the reply that I would have been notified what room I was in and if I had looked on the Swan Inn's website it would have informed me that the room was noisy until 10pm. ||The third party booking agent did not at any time let me know that the room was the Gooseberry or warned me about the noise, if it had I would have cancelled my booking within the time allowed to do so without charge. ||I was perfectly happy the last time I stayed there, but it was in a different room at the front of the place. ||I stayed just under an hour ate two biscuits and left, the managements response to my complaint was appalling, although the staff at the hotel that evening were very professional. ||If you want to spend several hours in what resembles the noise of a generator room the Gooseberry room is for you, but if you want to have a peaceful evening catching up with work avoid it like the plague. ||Terrible response when I complained by email, I had hoped there might be a good gesture of a partial refund of part of the cost for the night's B ad B but I was made to feel it was my fault because I didn't check the room on their website, however as I didn't have the name of the room I could not have done so anyway. ||Such a shame, I won't be...

Visited here with my wife for some lunch the other day. It's about twenty miles from out house but on the main road from between Malvern and Hanley Swan. We hadn't booked so just a took a chance on getting a table. the main difficulty with this place is that there are few spaces for cars, so vehicles have to park on the road around the premises. ||We had some Ham Hock terrine and Cauliflower bites for starters with some fresh breads and butter and olive oil. Followed by some burger and Fries for the both of us. As usual we had some soft drinks.||We were told that it would be at least 20 minutes wait for food but we had all day so it was not a problem. The Ham Hock was home made and the Cauliflower was grilled with a lovely sauce as a compliment. The burgers were tall and well cooked, slightly pink in the middle with melted cheese and accompaniments. We even had some metal mugs full of chips to go with it. ||Overall, the food was terrific and one of the best meals we'd had for a while. The bill came to about £70, which seems a lot for a two course meal in a small country village. But the quality of the food made it all worthwhile and in summary, the meal was excellent. Anyone around who likes good food, get yourselves to this place. Definitely a place not...