The Black Horse Inn — Restaurant in Stroud

We live nearby and have been to this pub many many times in 2011 and it quickly became our favourite pub. However, in the last week we have been twice and the appalling attitude of the landlady, with her lack of people or management skills has meant we will never go again. We went on a busy Friday, arriving at 6.30pm for a drink followed by food. At 7.30pm we went to the bar to order food only to be told that we needed to come back in 15 mins as the kitchen was busy. We went back in 15 mins to be told again, we needed to go back later. This went on for an hour and 15 mins until the final time I was told the kitchen closed at 9pm and so no more food. There was no apology. Apparently the tills were causing problems but rather than manage the situation and tell customers what was happening, they instead chose to keep people waiting so they could sell them more drinks rather than be honest and admit there was no chance of ordering food. Strange thing was that only one table in the whole place was actually eating! We then went back a couple of days later. From ordering, we were kept waiting an hour for our food to arrive (although the landlady argued it was actually 55 mins!). After a 45 min wait, we asked to cancel one of the dishes as one our our party could eat so late. They didn't bring out the dish but then refused to take it off the bill. The landlady has the worst attitude you will ever expereince and is the sole reason to avoid this pub - shame as it used to be great. It has a great view but don't expect anything...

Edit:

June 2023. Food not quite as home made and lush as it was 5 years ago. Mostly burgers, hotdogs and tacos. Prices like everywhere, have shot right up sadly. But unfortunately worst of all on our recent visit on an admittedly very busy Thursday evening, the food order we had took over 90 minutes to get to us. Some people were waiting even longer. The staff were completely rushed off their feet but we weren't warned how long the food order would take to arrive on ordering. Be warned if you go at a popular time.

I've knocked a star off of my original review due to the above issues experienced this time. I'm sure it was a blip and they were short staffed. Still a very lovely pub to visit, and well worth it sadly not quite as good as it was pre COVID for food. The bonus is they have sorted out their crazy loud kitchen extractor fan and sitting there is no longer disturbed by the sound of a spitfire taking off!

Old review; A really great discovery (for us). Great food, I had the mushroom gnocchi which was extremely tasty indeed and home made. The views from here on a late spring evening were beautiful. Highly recommended. One star that might have been deducted was for the noisy (irritating) kitchen extractor fan outside which is very audible in the garden area. You do eventually manage to blank it out and enjoy the place but if they repaired or replaced that fan then I would happily give the place 6 stars...

We visited this pub on a weekday lunchtime and it didn't seem particularly crowded. We ordered our meal but had to wait over 45 minutes for it to arrive. I had ordered "steak and ale pie, chips and greens" I received a very mediocre looking pie, chips and peas. Overpriced we thought for what we were given at £10.50.

While we were eating another diner complained that she had found a piece of plastic in her meal, what she said looked like part of a radio. (How did that happen)!!! The customer was told "You should have said before and I would have given you a new meal", (another long wait) no offer of a refund was mentioned.

When talking to the customer in the ladies loo she said "The toilet doesn't flush either and then I found the hand dryer wouldn't work. D'oh.

Overall not a good experience. It's a shame as this used to be a good pub which we had been looking forward to revisiting after not going there for few years, but we won't...