The Loopy Shrew — Restaurant in Shrewsbury

Stopped off on a Monday evening, which for Shrewsbury was a good result to find somewhere open, given that most places seem to close on Mondays

The staff were attentive, but it was fairly quiet so that was really to be expected

The menu reads wonderfully, we spent a long while looking through and a lot of things stood out. We were only stopping for a light meal so opted for scotch egg, ham hock and pistachio nuggets and a cheeseboard. We had already earmarked some other things for a return visit

Unfortunately the food itself didn't live up to the excitement of the menu. It wasn't bad in any way, but it was very lacklustre

The scotch egg was quite tasty, but the meat had been skimped on, so the ratio of egg to meat was off. The salad was a bit lazy, a couple of lettuce leaves and a spoon of carrot chutney really let it down. The chutney is great, you can pick it up from the farmers market in the square in Shrewsbury, but with a scotch egg? I'm not convinced. Really I'm expecting a home made ketchup, maybe some potato straws, something with a bit more effort

The ham hock nuggets were also quite tasty, not as exciting as I had hoped, the pistachio didn't really shine through. They came with a disproportionately large amount of blue cheese dip, which was cheesy, but it didn't have a strong blue cheese flavour. Somehow not quite right

The cheeseboard comes in at £10 and was probably the most disappointing element. As you can see from the picture, there was a lot of ancillary things, chutney, grapes, malt loaf, jelly etc but not a lot of actual cheese! The balance was completely off, there should have been at least 50% more cheese and less other 'stuff' The menu mentioned fruit loaf, but this looked and tasted like a malt loaf. Like Doreen, I like a slice of Soreen, but not with cheese. That was just weird and felt like more plate filler to distract from the lack of cheese

Overall, it wasn't a bad experience, it was reasonably tasty but not special. The initial excitement we had at the menu now seems misplaced and our planned return has been forgotten about. Somehow they have made this independent restaurant, using local ingredients feel like a chain restaurant. A truly weird feat to pull off

With a bit more attention to detail this could be a great place, but right now you are basically paying a bit too much for 'nice enough' when you should be getting something a bit...

Not a cheap place to stay (£170 per night with advance non refundable booking), but the photos gave a great impression and the website looked very professional.|We arrived at 4pm to be greeted by a packed bar, pools of vomit on the pavement outside and an obstacle course to get our cases through to the narrow staircase up to the rooms (we had to ask a few drinkers to move their chairs so we could get through). The noise was incredibly loud upstairs.|The room was large, but very tired and with an uneven floor meaning the bed sloped to one side (2 singles zipped together). The bathroom was mouldy, with paint peeling and not good at all - the extractor didn't work. The shower was an over bath fitting with scalding water dripping from the hot tap on to your feet.|After our evening out with the family (a birthday party), we arrived back, after navigating many more pavement pools of vomit to even louder heavy beat music that continued until 12.30am - we should have guessed there was an issue as they provide packs of earplugs!|6.30am the huge kitchen extractor outside the bedroom window starts up, making a Sunday relaxing start impossible - so an early shower with scalded feet!|Not great, and honestly one of the least restful places we've ever stayed, at quite a premium price for the privilege. Great for central Shrewsbury, but next time it'll be Premier Inn or similar.|Communications from the establishment were dire - we never received a receipt for our booking or confirmation, despite 3 separate emails asking for them, however we did receive automatic replies saying that we were important and someone would get back to us within 24 hours. Something definitely needs to change.|I'll finish on a high note though - the breakfast was absolutely excellent and one of the best hotel full...

Not a cheap place to stay (£170 per night with advance non refundable booking), but the photos gave a great impression and the website looked very professional. We arrived at 4pm to be greeted by a packed bar, pools of vomit on the pavement outside and an obstacle course to get our cases through to the narrow staircase up to the rooms (we had to ask a few drinkers to move their chairs so we could get through). The noise was incredibly loud upstairs. The room was large, but very tired and with an uneven floor meaning the bed sloped to one side (2 singles zipped together). The bathroom was mouldy, with paint peeling and not good at all - the extractor didn't work. The shower was an over bath fitting with scalding water dripping from the hot tap on to your feet. After our evening out with the family (a birthday party), we arrived back, after navigating many more pavement pools of vomit to even louder heavy beat music that continued until 12.30am - we should have guessed there was an issue as they provide packs of earplugs! 6.30am the huge kitchen extractor outside the bedroom window starts up, making a Sunday relaxing start impossible - so an early shower with scalded feet! Not great, and honestly one of the least restful places we've ever stayed, at quite a premium price for the privilege. Great for central Shrewsbury, but next time it'll be Premier Inn or similar. Communications from the establishment were dire - we never received a receipt for our booking or confirmation, despite 3 separate emails asking for them, however we did receive automatic replies saying that we were important and someone would get back to us within 24 hours. Something definitely needs to change. I'll finish on a high note though - the breakfast was absolutely excellent and one of the best hotel full...