The Black Lake Inn — Restaurant in Stafford

Where do I start, my family and I went out for a meal here recently and we had 2 adult meals with starters, my 2 kids had a main each and shared a starter. I had a sirloin steak that cost the best part of £15 and my wife had the same. To say the steak was poor quality for the price is an understatement. As someone has already stated in these reviews, very stringy, fatty, poor quality and very chewy, both were cooked medium rare. The chips tasted like they'd sat in a bowl of fat for a week before cooking and actually made my wife feel physically sick. The hospitality was none existent and all the waitresses were just hanging around at the end of the bar behind us making us feel uncomfortable. When they noticed we weren't eating anymore they just walked over and picked up the plates without saying a word. On top of this the drinks were almost dropped on the table and not placed making us feel like we were disturbing someone when ordering a drink. We aren't the kind of people who like confrontation so I called the manager the next day to complain. I explained that I wanted to speak to him and not just put it on social media as I was hoping for a satisfactory resolution in the form of a sincere apology for a bad meal and maybe some kind of reimbursement as the bill come to £75. The guy said (I think he was name Lee) "I don't care about social media it doesn't bother me what people write as I get 1000 customers each week". He was very arrogant and basically said we must have been expecting something that The Black Lake wasn't. I feel this is a very strange response to a customer complaint from someone who hasn't enjoyed their food and experience. I have since spoke to people and they have also had the same experience, poor quality food for the price and met with complete arrogance when complained. We have had a far better experience and enjoyed the food at one of those pubs that offers 2 main meals for £10. We would highly recommend the Wayfarer for around the same price or just a couple of pound more but it's certainly money well spent, great hospitality, atmosphere and quality food. It goes without saying we won't be going here again or recommending it to anyone at all. If this is his attitude towards social media and complaints from valuable customers then he will certainly struggle to maintain 1000 customers each week, good luck...

Lunch with family. Prawn cocktails..served on rectangular plate, too much sauce, bits of green salad only, on the side, no other salad ingredients, ie tomato. It would have been more presentable if served in a round raised glass with just lettuce, diced cucumber, diced tomatoes and onion and laced with a smaller amount of sauce. Served with a small slice of buttered brown bread, halved, not a bread roll, (which really is served with soup,) which seemed to have previously been frozen then into the oven, as there was no actual bread when cut into, and it was too hot to handle at first. The mains… The chunky chips that 3 of us had were anaemic, very pale, even the one other portion of fries were pale and so were the fish goujons. They didn’t look cooked enough. Chunky chips are too big, the portion was too much, overwhelming and therefore not eaten. The side salad was nondescript and tasteless so not eaten. The lasagne was good but had to tip out onto the plate as eating it from a bowl is difficult. Why not make large portions in a baking tin and divide up as needed? Surely this wastage is not cost effective for yourselves. Dessert.. The sponge pudding was nice but the custard was claggy and had separated. The meringue was very nice. The service was very good. The owner was spoken to diplomatically about the above issues and he took the feedback on board. We have eaten in various eateries over the years and I have worked as a cook so have experienced a great deal. This review isn’t meant as a complaint, more to highlight areas that could be improved. We have eaten here before and all was fine then. This was a treat by my parents, so it cast a shadow somewhat on...

The Black Lake Inn used to be one of our go to places for a light lunch or Sunday dinner. Unfortunately we went off it when it changed hands, but thought we would give it another try last Friday. We were disappointed to find that the restaurant has gone even further downhill and we didn’t enjoy it at all.

Firstly, the menus resembled a takeaway menu which do not reflect a restaurant setting. The tables were very close together and despite it being relatively empty, they put us next to another lot of diners which felt quite cramped.

We were also shocked to find how much the prices have increased. They are asking over £10 for a jacket potato, just under £16 for a Lasagna and £10-12 for a wrap / baguette. I don’t mind paying a higher price for quality but unfortunately the food served was nothing short of mediocre. The cheese and onion baguettes were bog standard with thickly cut onion and barely any cheese. Two sandwiches a kids meal and 3 drinks came to just under £50. We also noticed other meals coming out such as the Lasagne which looked very small considering the price. Overall it was just ok enough not to have to complain.

Also, the staff seemed to just stand around and chat at whisper which can make you feel quite uncomfortable when the atmosphere is quiet. It almost felt as though they were taking about the guests the way they were looking around twiddling their thumbs.

Unfortunately we wouldn’t recommend The Black Lake and will give it a miss until we hear it has either changed hands again or heard of some improvements. It is certainly a far cry from how it used to be which is sad as we have lots of good memories of...