The Star Inn - Treoes — Restaurant in Wales

If the food fails then all fails. So this is a country pub tucked away in a small rural village. I’ve eaten here many times in the distant past. Decided to try again after a number of years. The interior has been updated and is fresh and welcoming. The staff were very pleasant. My biggest condemnation is of myself for not speaking up at the time and for answering the obligatory question “Is everything alright with your meal” in a false affirmative. If you’re really serious about getting feedback about your food then you are asking the wrong question. The question should be the “Name one thing that could be better” and take it from there. The chips were exceptional and then it stops there for me. I had cod and chips with mushy peas. The peas were minted which on first sampling was ok, but the mint was overpowering and I soon realised very sharp. There was therefore no real taste of mushy peas and I abandoned them. The fish was way over cooked, the batter was hard and mostly inedible. The cod (hard to tell what white fish it was) was dry and hard and was down there with the worst I’ve ever experienced. The portion was also quite meagre. For a £14 price tag I felt completely ripped off. I did point this out to the waitress as she cleared the half eaten fish away but she made no comment and neither did the chef come out to comment. I thought my wife’s choice of grilled chicken with leek and cheese sauce was ok. She commented favourably on the sauce, the vegetables she thought were good. She likes them, al dente, but they were very underdone for my taste. She finished with a plate half full and only ate a bit of the chicken which was dry and tasteless. The stuffing was ok but overpowered with I think tarragon. I tried her meal so I’m also reporting form a personal space. The sauce was good so really we paid £15 for sauce and chips. Now back to my opening sentence, our main purpose was to go out for a nice meal and this place failed abysmally on that point. I cannot recommend based on this visit and personally I will not visit again. There are plenty of places to eat that are immensely superior, food wise, and within a very short distance. My wife is an excellent chef and to be presented with a meal like she got, is...

Visited for a Birthday Meal on Saturday. Overall, very disappointed on two fronts.

Firstly:

Service. Majority of staff we came into contact with were very young, and/or inexperienced. From having to prompt for glasses to accompany the jug of water, to messing up our drinks order, to dropping a dirty knife on my partners knee - to name a few problems.

Secondly:

Food. For a starter, my partner ordered the Rustic Prawn Cocktail, that claimed to come with 'Malted Bloomer' bread. It came with a slice of what I'd assume was Hovis Medium Sliced White Load. Really made what looked like a great dish, a bit disappointing. Other than that, the Prawn Starter and my Chicken Liver Pate were fine.

Onto the main - we both ordered the 'Leg of Welsh Lamb'. This looked disappointing from the outset, however I will be honest and say that we had misunderstood. The Menu does clearly state that the lamb is 'Boned and Rolled' however, for £18 it was hugely disappointing. We've had Leg of Lamb elsewhere recently, for the exact same price and it was a world apart. Not only was the cut disappointing, but it didn't taste nice either and was arguably overcooked (was barely pink at all). Would have been better suited in a Carvery rather than a Main Dish at £18. The Roasted Potatoes and Seasonal Vegetables were also underdone and quite hard - not the end of the world, and had the lamb been nice I would have happily overlooked.

All in all, we paid just over £50 for the food (excluding drinks) and it felt like such a colossal disappointment for what should have been a nice birthday meal in what is actually a very nice looking, Covid secure venue. Have heard lots of good things about this place, so I'm assuming that we were unlucky. Attaching a photo (albeit a bad one) of the main meal (vegetables in the bag) and...

Booked a table for my partners birthday. The booking was in the wrong name and to be honest when I call I feel like I’m not being listened to like they really don’t want to take the call. However when you arrive and and are sat at the table it’s a totally different experience. The staff are really friendly and helpful. The food is outstanding and really good value. I’ve eaten in some places that think they are better than they are. Here it’s proper great food and can’t fault it one bit. The steak we had both cooked to perfection, his ruined (well done) he really enjoyed his, in fact he was full and normally we’d ask for extra chips but they managed to fill him on a large serving of their fab chips! My steak blue mmm mmm and they were both really succulent and a good quality steak. The chips are really chunky and triple cooked. Good garnishes and real attention to detail. There are lots of places around that could take a leaf out of the their book. There was no great wait between ordering and service. Probably as long as the well done steak took to cook. If you are looking for a place to eat then you won’t be disappointed. I think you’d definitely have to book to avoid disappointment. But if you are looking to treat the family you’d be really happy leaving. Well done...