The Plough and Harrow - Murton — Restaurant in Wales

Update: Went back recently, 11 months after the review below. I’d given it 5 stars and was incredibly impressed! Sadly 11 months later that wasn’t the case. We had starters, mine was a chorizo scotch egg, which was massively under seasoned. It had no flavour at all, just texture. The saddest part was the chicken roast. All the seasoning seemed to have gone into the chicken in the form of way too much salt. I ate as much as i could but left needing pints of water. It was sad and very underwhelming. I don’t like leaving negative reviews but I also don’t like seeing somewhere that has been great, slip into the world of mediocre. It could have been a bad day, it was an unseasonably hot day, but on this occasion, the balance was off. Sad but recoverable. Hope to be back soon.

Original Review: I love a roast dinner. I mean I LOVE a roast dinner… The Plough and Harrow is the best pub roast. Pure and simple. Book in advance to avoid disappointment.

Right from the starters… which were beautifully presented & flavourful, the tone was set.

We had the Welsh lamb & the pork. Both meats just melted & the flavour was incredible! Stunning roast potatoes & a special shout out to the parsnips with a little magic twist. The stuffing, the crackling, the veg… it’s the complete package.

If you’re in South Wales, this is the place to go for a Sunday roast. If you’re not in South Wales, go.

My only negative critique is on the dessert side of things: the base of the Lemon Meringue tart was disappointing. While the lemon meringue had that balance of sweet and tangy, the base was tough & somewhere between cardboard and plastic & sadly ruins a really nice dessert. However… the clotted fudge ice cream is a must!

The pub itself is light, fresh & inviting. The staff were lovely, friendly & very patient with my overly excited and indecisive partner. Though with a menu that is simply mouth watering, it’s hard to be decisive. We are really looking forward...

I've been a regular customer at the Plough for many years and when it comes to the food it is lovely, I cannot recommend it enough. However the quality of customer service, at least from a managerial perspective, is a whole different matter. The waitresses, waiters and bar staff have always been perfectly polite and helpful. My partner and I usually reserve a table for our anniversary every year at the Plough and did the same this year. We called up and a table was booked and there was no issue, or so we thought until we turned up on the day to be informed that - not only was there no record of our booking, they didn't even serve evening food on that day (Sunday). The worst thing of all was that the lady who received us was very rude and unapologetic. At first she implied that we must have not made the booking, to that we showed her the phone log as proof which is an outrageous thing to be induced into showing. She then replied "well it's standard that we don't serve the evening menu on Sundays" as if we were assumed to know that having never dined on a Sunday before. Perhaps more consideration should be given to informing the staff member who are taking bookings from customers. Regardless, even if the booking was mistakingly made on an inappropriate evening, then even a call in advance would've been appreciated and the error resolved. But whoever made the booking hadn't logged it at all, nor by name or mobile number, so we weren't told anything until we turned up. It was so disappointing, since we travelled all the way out to the restaurant, wasted our time and efforts and was handled in the most appaling manner. We would've been willing to overlook the whole situation had a genuine apology or rectification been offered. It's a sad loss of lovely food but I don't think we will...

I will not step into this pub again because it has a cold welcome from it's host

This is my second review of the place, I had to delete the first because it was read by the owner as something it's not.

They need to update their Google opening hours, the manager should have the courtesy to speak to clients when there is a query instead of hiding behind their staff to deliver negative information.

A simple "we're actually closed, I'm really sorry. We need to update our opening hours"

I must admit a measly sign was outside, but the online hours were incorrect therefore I went inside to investigate.

In terms of the host, if someone shies away from their responsibility to speak to a client, the client could, hypothetically, feel they didn't want to speak to them personally, especially if they were close enough to deliver the message themselves 🤷‍♂️

Their reason for not delivering the message could be anything, but instead of blatantly hiding, it would have been a normal human interaction if they delivered the message themselves to avoid the client feeling alienated.

The host concentrating their gaze at the books/computer as the client walked out also didn't feel super suspicious 🤔

It could be said the host just may need a little bit of training to handle difficult conversations, take accountability and change their online opening hours.

I am categorically not saying they may be perceived to be prejudice for avoiding a simple courtesy, by hiding behind a waitress to tell me they are not serving food and avoiding eye contact and focusing on the...