The Railway Inn at froghall — Restaurant in Staffordshire Moorlands

Been wanting to try our local establishment since it reopened, against the bad reviews we read prior to visiting, we went along as a treat before heading onto the polar express. Firstly, staff have no idea what drinks are available, they have you pop around the bar to ‘look for yourself’, however, after ordering, turns out they had no ale on at all. None. Same goes for mulled wine, we ordered 3 but were then told by staff 10 minutes later they only had enough to do 1 small portion. Food took over an hour to arrive, so I’m glad we booked the meal 2 hours before the train. Portions were small for what we paid for. We ate from the express menu, which I’ve read here since is smaller portions, although it doesn’t state this anywhere on the menu that I saw? I’d rather have a larger meal & not get 10% off for having a train ticket. And something I can’t believe I’m even having to comment on, they had run out of tomato sauce….essential with fish & chips, especially as there’s no tartare. The Polar Express has been on for a month now, please don’t blame that for these issues. If we had been made aware of no ale/mulled wine we would have eaten at the station instead and not spent over £100 here. I messaged the establishment 2 days before regarding a separate query to which I had no reply. So sad, because this place was amazing back in the day. Hopefully there’s a reasonable explanation, because after all, we do want to support our local establishments, but based on tonight, we...

Booked for mothers day, arrived 5 minutes early, people waiting in front of us, the first thing I noticed is that the tables were not cleared, there were loads of dirty glasses all over the bar, we were asked if we had a table booked and then we were told the table was not ready and to wait in bar area, there was no where to sit as people before us were also waiting The host then asked the lad behind the bar to go and clear our table and reset it, he had no idea how to relay and asked her how to do it, that's when alarm bells rang About half an hour after arriving we were shown to the said table We waited another 30 minutes for them to get our drinks order, only to be told they had run out of what we wanted!! We then ordered the food, to be told many things on the mothers day set menu were unavailable as they had ran out We eventually ordered 4 garlic mushrooms, another 30 minutes later they were served, and oh dear how terrible they looked, we called for the host, and explained we were not happy with the starters, to which she apologised and said that the portions were small as they had run out !!! To save any more embarrassment we cancelled the rest of our food and left, other s who were in the restaurant also did the same, I understand they could run out of things, but it was book only with a set menu, so to be honest they should no what to order in, The place and service was terrible and we will not...

This is more for the gracious Spirit of Christmas that the team spread with us during our visit. We visited Froghall for the Polar Express, this was a special occasion as we had invited our very close family after a long while. One of our guests had a last minute business meeting arranged by his work place ( around Christmas n work call !!!...I now). I had spoken with the landlord of the pub to book for a table as it was close to our Polar Express timing. Like all meetings, it was delayed and we ended up to wait for a bit longer. In spite of the busy period, the landlord accommodated our request to stay and hosted us to some lovely mulled wine and food. Everything was fresh home cooked and the kids loved it, so it was a bonus, as festival times would otherwise be a top-up of processed food bought as an impulse-buy. My guest really appreciated for the excellent Wi-Fi and meeting space at a short notice in a holiday place and we are ever so grateful for them accommodating our needs even in the busy period. We hope to visit again at a leisurely period to enjoy the food and the places surrounding but this visit was memorable for their kindness as well. Have a lovely year guys and happy to vouch for great food...