Ounce At The Dolphin — Restaurant in Wychavon

I'd like to say some of my visit here deserved 5 stars, sadly let down by a few things that really should be easily rectified. My Mum and partner took me here for an early 50th birthday celebration. The manager who greeted us was extremely welcoming with a gentle sense of humour and explained our table was nearly ready and served us drinks at the bar. That was the beginning of very good service throughout the night so definitely no complaints in that department. Then the food. Me and my Mum's partner had chateaubriand as it was Thursday so it was £30 rather than usual £72 on other nights. This was the star of the show. The chef had cooked it to perfection. A glorious medium rare. Absolutely bursting with beef flavour and melt in the mouth texture. A newborn baby with no teeth would have no problems eating this. Sadly all the chefs skill stopped whilst they made a bearnaise sauce. What I recieved resembled and tasted like an unseasoned tarragon butter. I'm an ex-chef so know what a bearnaise should look and taste like. I'm not sure how he managed to get that texture. The lack of seasoning was quite a disappointment considering how well the steak was done. The biggest disappointment of the night was my mother's salmon dish. For two reason. It was the fish option and my Mum has been 3 times and says it's always been a salmon as fish option. Does the chef not know how to cook other fish. My suggestion would be tuna or swordfish steaks to fit in with Ounces love of all things steak. The salmon on that night was cooked nicely but came with so many new potatoes and broccoli stem you could barely see it. The pesto was an underwhelming brown concoction not bright green as a fresh pesto sauce should be. Again poor sauce implementation ruining a dish. She left most of it and I would have done the same. Her £10 prawn starter also dissatisfied her as it was one really nice shell on king prawn and then 4 translucent under cooked peeled prawns drowned in some bland oil. I advised her to squeeze all the lime on and put lots of salt and pepper to the oil which helped a little. For £10 starter I'd expect much more than that. My pigeon starter was actually very tasty albeit I needed a microscope to see the actual pigeon breast. Again £9 I'd expect slightly more generous portions. Overall I would go again but only on the nights they offer special offers. I wouldn't want to pay full price. The chef needs to learn sauce cookery and how to season. Also ounce should offer a more varied fish and vegetarian options. I get the whole beef vibe but in this day and age in every group and often couples now not everyone is a massive carnivore. Cater for everyone not just for beef. Tuna and swordfish also can be measured in...

Went for a meal on a Saturday night. Booked ahead, but it wasn't too busy, so it may be possible to get a table without booking. The service was pretty good; as we were early we decided to have a drink by the bar before going to sit at the table. Once we were seated we were left for maybe a little too long with the menu, but we were in no hurry. Once we had ordered everything went very smoothly. We opted for just one bread and jus for starters which was a delicious precursor to the main meal, the bread toasted nicely on the outside and airy enough to soak up the delicious jus superbly. The steaks were fantastic: Dexter Sirloin was large and tender and cooked perfectly (medium rare as requested) and the fillet likewise - the latter a bargain compared to usual restaurant fillet prices and the 14oz larger than most I've seen. The sides were a little underwhelming; the chips soft and oily, although the truffle and parmesan version were tasty nonetheless, and the tenderstem broccoli could have done with another minute, and maybe a bit less parmesan melted over it (in fact, maybe a dry parmesan/breadcrumb mix would be better on both this and the chips, it was a bit melted cheese overload), but they were OK accompaniments to the main stars, the steaks. The steaks really are fantastic. Not being a mushroom fan, I left the flat mushrooms that come as standard, but I had some of the tasty tarragon oil from the top of them which makes me think I need to try the Bernaise sauce next time. There is a small but varied - and reasonably priced - wine list to choose from, plus all the usual bar drinks (again, decently priced). Nice espresso martinis! I'll happily go and eat there again. In fact, I will! (I might try and leave room for a starter and/or dessert, too). A tiny bit more care on the sides and this would be the...

If I could give zero stars I would. We went with 2 friends last night and the table (for 4) had been booked 4 weeks in advance for 7.30pm. We arrived at 7.30pm, our friends were already there sat in the bar area after being told there was a delay with the table. From what we gathered another group of people had bought more people with them and other tables (including ours) had been moved to accommodate their now larger group. We asked if they could advise how long we could be waiting and were told they didn't know. By 8.30pm (an hour over our booking time) no member of staff had approached us to keep us updated or even apologise. We had to enquire twice how long the wait would be and again the word sorry was never heard. Just after 8.30pm we were told that they were going to push two tables together and it may be a tight squeeze if we don't mind. By this point we were all hungry and rather fed up so followed the staff to two mismatched tables which were completely different heights and squashed in front of the bar. We all ordered a steak and various sides and an upgrade of chips. When the food eventually came out around 9pm the wrong chips were brought out and my steak was cold. I always say you should make them aware of problems with the food but quite frankly at 9pm after waiting to be seated since 7.30pm I couldn't be bothered to send the cold food back as god knows when I would be eating! I will never return to this establishment and will certainly not recommend it to anyone. No apology was given at the end of the evening either and not once were we checked on to see if everything was ok with the meal, i presume they didn't want to hear what we would have said. Though they did not charge us for the drink we had whilst waiting to be seated an apology would have...