The Mug House Inn & Restaurant — Restaurant in Wyre Forest

I derive no pleasure at all from leaving this review, having frequented The Mug House regularly over the years. Up until this evening, the visits have always been met with a warm and convivial greeting, followed by good food and attentive service.

The restaurant is currently operating under COVID guidelines. I cannot fault their approach to this, we all felt incredibly safe. However, a condition of their bookings is that all diners must have a main meal. This is an approach that the ownership has opted to take, and is out of line with government guidelines. I do of course appreciate the logic - the restaurant has limited outside dining space, so will want to maximise its revenue from bookings by insisting that a main meal is ordered. Our party also realised that this rule was in force.

We had a booking for six, but at the last minute, three of the party had to drop out. Instead of cancelling the booking, we managed to invite two others, who came along for drinks. Three of us placed our food orders, and the other two who had already eaten, ordered drinks with some sides of chips. Our order was taken, and at no point was any objection made about the order.

This is where the experience soured considerably. A gentleman - the owner, no less - came over to express his dissatisfaction in the fact that two of our party had not ordered substantial main meals. His approach was confrontational, and quite frankly, incredibly rude. He was palpably agitated, and made no attempt at all to engage with us bilaterally. Instead, we were made to feel very uncomfortable, despite immediately having offered to order two additional main meals. He proceeded to lecture us on the condition of the booking in an egregious manner. We were ‘allowed’ to stay, but quite frankly, had it not been so late, we would have left immediately. We were trying to support a local business, as we have done over many years, but were made to feel exceptionally unwelcome and unvalued as guests. The rest of the staff were pleasant and attentive, albeit for some delays in receiving our orders.

It’s a shame that such a confrontational and unwelcoming approach was adopted. I fear our party will not be returning, nor will we be so forthcoming in recommending The Mug House to family and friends...

What a great place to visit 🙂 - lovely pub on the waterfront, lots of beer 🍺 to choose from, the open fire 🔥 was a nice treat to! I had the pleasure of stopping the night here and dining in the restaurant. Accommodation (the name of the room escapes me but it was in the attic) it was lovely, clean and warm 🥵, very cozy as I walked in. It's a shame I had to meet up with work colleagues so early as I could have easily had a snooze! A nice big comfy bed 🛏️, that had to wait a few hours before it could enjoy my presence 😴 The room had a fridge, and it contained milk, and water for brew, coffee ☕ making. A couple of yummy biscuits accompanied the refreshments. The bathroom was rustic with a nice modern shower🚿 🛁 it worked well 👍 The views out of the windows were lovely to ❤️

Food and pub, 🍻 the beer (neck oil and HPA) we're spot on and the staff were great at refill checks. Very friendly also. We then had dinner 🍽️ I had the Hake, it was good and tasty. The table of 7 enjoyed their meals also. 1 required additional Garlic 🧄🧄🧄🧄 and when he says additional he means more garlic than bread 😂

Parking 🅿️ was available at the back of the pub in a paid car park. The hotel has a parking voucher scheme, so note this if your planning on stopping as it will save you a few pounds.

Pub access would be good for all abilities.

All in all a fantastic experience.

I hope this review helps you make a wise decision 😉 if it did, give it...

We came last evening, really looking forward to being out for our first post covid meal with friends. Covid system was good. We ordered drinks for men along with a bottle of wine for ladies. We had to ask twice more after ordering and it took 35 minutes for wine to arrive. Food- took a bit of while for starters, we were told and as we had lots of catching up this wasn't a real problem. Prawns were slightly frozen at worst and others really cold. We did mention this. 3 mains were enjoyable - sea bass was excellent, cod was also good (replacement for scallop special as run out). I had decided to treat myself to a fillet steak- quite pricey at over £25. When it arrived it was small and must have looked cold as I felt it with back of hand. I tried one side which was luke warm but then other side was cold. This was replaced with a new steak, obviously cooked quickly as it was almost char-grilled. I did enjoy it but ate alone after friends had finished theirs.They took a bottle of wine off bill. 2 courses took 2.75 hours to complete. Observations were lack of structure around service (various staff repeating requests, noone seemed in control). Having to ask for drinks orders 2 and 3 times. We were very...