The Otter — Restaurant in North West Leicestershire

I booked The Otter for a lovely Saturday evening meal out with my parents and husband-to-be. We haven’t been to The Otter in a while and decided to check out the new Autumn menu. I have serious allergies which could result in an anaphylaxis reaction, sadly my food allergies are not recognised or mentioned in the usual food allergy or intolerance list, so eating out can be a real headache at times.

I honestly don’t know where to start, we had a wonderful, stress free and lovely evening! The server we had was a pleasure! Very chatty, accommodating and understanding. I was advised to chose my idea meal and she said we would then asked the chefs/kitchen if what I had chosen was free of my allergens and suitable to eat.

My starter was ok’d by the kitchen which were the cream mushrooms on sourdough - delicious!

The main I had originally chosen (Pie of the day) wasn’t suitable, the assistant manager (I think she said she was, she was a really helpful blonde lady) came back with a suggestion of what the kitchen could do for me with alternative sides instead. I ended up having steak (medium) with mash (couldn’t have the fries or peppercorn sauce) roasted tomato’s with a specially made mushroom sauce. The Ribeye was cooked beautifully and delicious.

The fact the staff were helpful in advising my food decisions and checking food ingredients properly was a nice change! I feel The Other actually provided me with proper attention to detail In assisting with my allergies, which was lovely and welcomed!

The service I had yesterday was how I wish all restaurants would deal with special dietary requirements, I have had some disgusting service from other places on the past which has resulted in an ambulance being called and an EpiPen being used due to their lack of care or attention. The evening was so enjoyable and I cannot wait to return to The Otter for another meal again soon!

The staff, food, newly renovated surroundings were all elements to how an evening out for food should be! Well done The Otter you should be so proud of your staff and the fact that they actually took their training on how to deal with allergies seriously, it didn’t go...

As the Rose and Crown was fully booked we decided to go to the Otter as it's one of their sister pubs. We booked online and selected the normal menu when asked and not the festive menu. When we arrived we were told they are only serving the festive menu which caused us problems as our daughter is fussy with food and the festive menu didn't really have much she liked ( the normal menu does tho, hence why we selected it when booking). The service here is not good. It wasn't really busy in there at all. We were sat at our table and told that it's table service and someone would be with us to get a drinks order soon (why the woman who seated us didn't take the order god only knows!). Having waited around 10 - 15 mins I went to the bar and ordered my own drinks, only for the barman to sat he would bring them over, and after seeing our tray of drinks sat on the bar for quite a while I had to get someone's attention to tell them our drinks are on the bar and can we have them. So after about 20 min we have only just got our drinks and still haven't ordered yet. We finally ordered and the food came out quite quick which is not something I'm fond of, always makes you think it's just been sat there waiting for you. The food wasn't anything special, dry meat, over priced sides. Just a bog standard cheap Sunday dinner with a higher price tag. Had to send the pork belly back as it was literally a square block of fat. Why does nobody check what is being put on people plates?

Back to the service again. Once we had got someone's attention to have the fat brick replaced with some meat we finished our meal and was left sat around with plates in front us and when they were finally taken away I asked for the bill and the card machine as by now I was annoyed with constantly wanting for someone to serve us.

What turned up?? Yep just the bill no card machine. Had to wait even...

My first experience of the Otter was three years ago and it was very favourable, we had a two course Sunday lunch, good food and a beautiful setting by the river. As it's quite a distance from where we live we found ourselves in the area once again and was looking forward to a good meal. Total disappointment, the setting they can't ruin but the food was terrible. The first thing we noticed was it was not buisy, always s bad sign on a Sunday, I had rang through to ask for a window seat, although there was one available they had put us on a dark corner by the serving station but they did move us to a window seat. I chose roast beef and my partner a trio of meat, we paid £3.00 extra for cauliflower cheese but they said it was to share. The food arrived cold , the cauliflower cheese had the smallest amount of sauce on and was tiny, they eventually bought more cheese sauce after we asked. My beef was dry and tough, it looked like a child's portion, we ate it and sat disappointed and hungry. When our plates were cleared we were asked if everything was ok, I said no and explained why, the guy looked put on the spot but offered free desserts, which we had to try and fill the Hunger. They looked amazing, but we're lacking flavour. The ultimate part of this experience is whilst we were eating out dessert, we had to listen to the server explaining to the manager in detail behind the bar, that he wouldn't usually give food away but he felt put on the spot!!!! I actually could not believe what I was hearing. For two lunches and two small beers, our bill came to £39 if we had paid for desserts on top of that it would have been in excess of £53. High prices, poor food, small portions and staff with loud voices and no common sense explain why you will will most likely be able to get a reservation at the last minute for...