Saffron Restaurant — Restaurant in Stafford

Slightly bemused by some of the amazing reviews here. We visited for date night. The restaurant itself is a typical hotel restaurant, ie no atmosphere whatsoever. Tables were crammed in next to the entrance door when there was space elsewhere in the restaurant not being used, or filled with tables containing service items. Service was just ok. We were served promptly, but we asked for a jug of water with our wine, which was forgotten. We also paid extra for pickles with our poppadoms and this was also forgotten. When we got the pickles, they were disappointing. One piece of onion and something large that had something very woody in the middle of it. Uneatable between 2 people, so we left them. The food itself was ok. Just ok, but nothing special. Definitely not "best ever" or "amazing". We started off with onion bhajis and samosas, followed by chicken tikka, and paneer tikka. We found the food lacking in flavour and depth (and we aren't lovers of food that's so spicy that it leaves your lips on fire). We have had far better Indian food elsewhere. The garlic naan didn't taste of garlic at all. Also, as this is essentially a hotel restaurant, the wine prices are very expensive. The cheapest wine on the menu was £21. So overall, just an average experience and one we wouldn't repeat. Certainly...

We decided to come here as same name as my daughter and it was here birthday. Should have realised when so difficult to book what it would be like, I tried Facebook messenger then rang the stone house and told they would book but should do it another way! How! We got there waiting 5 minutes to be seated the staff were not friendly at all, no smiles asking if you were alright etc, Found it very expensive for what it was, had to pay extra if you wanted pickles or mint sauce! Then our warm plates came out and went cold waiting for the food as another 5 minutes before it came out, all just in containers difficult to get food out of so also went onto cloths, not really any staff about most of the time. It will be our first and...

Wow! Read some dodgy reviews before we went, but it was absolutely lovely the staff couldn't have been more attentive over everything, even asked about allergies. We had starters and main from the vegetarian non gluten sections and they were fantastic so full of flavour and so filling. The hotel is very pretty and great pictures of the area in years gone by. Will definitely go back and highly recommend. Only thing I would suggest is having some vegan options on menu, not having to...