The Roe Deer — Restaurant in South Staffordshire

The wife and I plus two close friends had a great evening here. They had been before and suggested we give it a try as we hadn't. Not knowing anything about the place I have to admit that it exceeded my expectations. The first thing you will notice is how well presented it is but don't look too closely, the second is how large it is, yet it still has a cosy feel. It's not perfect, but where is? There were some 'issues' incl, rock hard sprouts, no parsnips, missing off the last course of the Christmas menu, and not clearing the glasses off our table. Despite these, the plus points far outweighed a few minor niggles. It's not cheap but we felt it was worth the extra cost as we enjoyed the evening so much. To be fair this may have been helped by the the Christmas atmosphere and a rather pleasant choice of drinks.

We have since been back on two occasions for Sunday lunches and unfortunately haven't enjoyed them so much as our Christmas meal. Some of it is down to inconsistency in the service, either it is very good or 'missing'. In respect of just the Sunday lunches, I feel there is a bit of 'penny pinching' happening when it comes to what's on the plate. Someone also believes that 1 minute in boiling water is enough to cook green beans. Admittedly other dishes might fair better. The desserts are typically £8, I was expecting good things but was left feeling rather underwhelmed. Note the difference in the photos of our two pannacottas. Overall when it's good it can be excellent but I have found that this isn't always the case. But just to illustrate how customer reviews can be very misleading - on a further Sunday lunch visit we were looked after by Mollie and she was excellent. Indeed I would go as far as to say that she was the best waitress/waiter we have had in a very long time. Helpful is an understatement. Twelve months after my original post the four of us were back for another Christmas meal. Unfortunately it wasn't as good as the first time, the turkey was dry, the roast potatoes had been kept warm for too long and there were no greens. The banoffee dessert was a bit 'weird' and not particularly pleasant. That said the sirloin steak and the Black Forest waffle were very good. Some you win, some you lose. For me, at their price I was expecting better. A large wine and a pint of ale was...

On arrival, the grounds of the restaurant are beautiful and set a lovely sophisticated tone for the evening ahead.

We were approached to take the drinks order quite quickly, to which we kindly asked for some more time. I was a little disappointed at the small number of cocktails which were available on the menu but nevertheless were well presented and v pleasant.

We greeted and seated straight away. Our waiter was very friendly and asked if we wanted to order drinks which we asked if he could give us a little time to decide, he came back and took our order and the drinks arrived shortly after. Our food arrived within 20 mins of ordering and it was definitely worth the wait. My guest had the crispy buttermilk chicken burger with no mayo served with fries and coleslaw. Their food was well presented and arrived with no mayo as requested, however the presentation wasn’t consistent with the rest of the meals from my party, some of the coleslaw arrived in little serving bowls and others arrived just on the plate. We ordered more drinks with our meals and these didn’t take too long to arrive however when these were delivered the waiter left all of our empty glasses on the table which took up quite a bit of room, these then weren’t removed until we asked someone to do this for us. Our plates were cleared quite quickly and once we had ordered our desserts these arrived within a couple of mins, I had the triple chocolate brownie which was delicious. Although the service was a little slow at times. I would recommend the Roe Deer as the food and the atmosphere were amazing, however you would need to book in advance as it can get very busy.

The shrimp was very much over cooked, which was one of the main items on the menu which I was looking forward to but the accompanying sweet chill sauce worked well.

The service for food, was noticably slow and empty glasses were not removed from the table for a v long period of time until we asked our waitor. This meant empty glasses remained on the table throughout the meal and after a 2nd round of drinks were ordered which I feel is unacceptable when staff are carrying empty trays or are within view at the bar speaking to other members of the team.

The overall experience was that the food was lovely, however service did let the meal down...

They don't serve Roe nor Deer :-o The menu changes every day so they say, so perhaps that is why(!) Uploaded is a copy of the menu from our visit mid-November.

The venue is a superb building in a delightful setting, once you manage to navigate the entrance (on a different road to the exit).

Drinks available at the bar if you arrive early for your table (pre-booking is pretty much essential). Bar prices are a bit steep.

Friendly staff who are always very busy and seemingly under a fair bit of pressure. Not many smiling faces, but courteous none-the less.

Walking to our table through the various rooms, I could see 90% of the diners were women - ladies who do lunch I guess. A couple of noisy young kids which we didn't expect. If you get a table by a radiator then happy days. Our table wasn't and in mid November it was bordering on cold, certainly at the start.

Very efficient ordering. A good, reasonably fast service considering how busy it was. The food is very good quality and nicely presented but thankfully short of pretentious.

Unfortunately, the desert option (waffles) had run out by 3 pm, so presumably wasn't available for the evening meal later on either.

If you fancy a desert, but are a little full, then there is a nice option to have a smaller portion with your coffee (or other drink).

So, our 3 courses and coffee came to over £80 with a couple of glasses of wine.

I notice that The Roe Deer have started to do afternoon tea. It looked nice from what I could see of it, so that could well be what I plan for our next visit.

I have been a couple of times previously in the summer. The atmosphere is nicer, and the gardens are very pleasant too.

There is a kind of 'loyalty scheme' as well, in the form of vouchers. (Photo attached).

All-in-all, I would recommend the Roe Deer, especially for a nice meal, or...