John's Reviews

We ate here a couple of times when it first opened and thought it was a pretty decent gastropub makeover of an old Suffolk pub in all the latest tasteful Farrow and Ball colours with good Food , albeit not cheap. Reading the owner's blog and the various promotional blurbs on menus Etc, we got the strong impression that they really cared about ingredients and cooking standards.

Today (mid May 2011) we went back for a quick lunch. We were very disappointed.

With service, starters and main courses for two including a modest bottle of Beaujolais – the bill came to £92 – Pretty toppy prices for a quick lunch in a rural Suffolk pub, even near Woodbridge…

Not only that, while prices appear to gone on an upward trajectory, other standards appear to have gone downhill.

We both had smoked seafood as starter .. The Smoked Mackerel Pate was good, the smoked salmon was just about passable, the smoked prawns were iffy, the sourdough bread wasn't fresh and had a chewy crust. Portions were small

My main course of Pork Belly was poor .. Pork Belly needs long slow cooking to render and soften the fat .. This pork belly appeared to have been pan fried briefly like a pork chop, the result was horrible. The accompanying broccoli had been over cooked. My wife's shoulder of lamb was OK, nothing great, nothing bad.

Like many restaurants today, we had a number of routine enquiries as to ‘is everything OK?’ 'are you enjoying your food' Etc. Twice to two different waiters in response, I answered in a pleasant non confrontational way that the cooking of the pork belly wasn't to my liking .. No apology/comments/follow-up… Why do waiters ask these questions if they don't care?

Our conclusion is that next time we're in the Woodbridge area, we'll eat at The Crown in town. While the parking isn't so convenient, everything else was far superior on our last fairly recent visit.(and it was decent value…)

A Five Star Country Hotel with a lauded 2 Michelin Restaurant for a luxury break – What could possibly go wrong? – Well plenty if it’s The Vineyard at Stockcross near Newbury, Berks.
We knew when we booked that it wasn’t an Olde Worlde gem like Le Manoir, but were still a bit surprised that the interior looks like a slightly tired Essex Conference Centre built in the heyday of TV series Dallas .. Very low ambience
The Room (‘suite’) and bathroom was of a decent size, only spoilt at first entry by a grubby spotty carpet and glass rings on a side console. However, a more lengthy experience revealed an air conditioning system that only pumped out hot or very warm air. On a great Spring evening this resulted in a sleepless sweaty night (being on the ground floor with patio doors, opening a window wasn’t an option. The plumbing in the bathroom was dysfunctional and badly maintained
Service was poor, the housekeeper who turned down the bed while we were at Dinner left the upturned empty freebie champagne bottle in the cooler and the two used glasses. The advertised room WiFi didn’t work. The TV was not tuned properly .. Many stations like C4 were unviewable, everything else had a distorted picture.
The service at Dinner in the low atmosphere high ceilinged restaurant was similarly poor, we had to ask for bread and water after we’d been sitting in the restaurant for over 10 minutes, and then had to subsequently request water top ups. The amuse-bouche of a worm of piped soft cheese/herbs in a narrow glass with beetroot spaghetti required the skill of a keyhole surgeon to extract and eat without decorating everything in purple. The food (apart from the small portions) I can only describe as sub the average gastro pub in taste, and looked a lot better than they tasted.. Overpriced and lacking taste. There was only one dish (venison) out of the six we had between us that could be described as of One Michelin Star quality, let alone up to the standards of proper Two Star establishments… More

After booking, I found out that the Roux Parliament's well reviewed Chef Daniel Cox had jumped ship after 10 short weeks after the opening and was therefore a bit worried about the food.

Despite this we thought the Set Lunch menu was excellent quality food and pretty good value @ £29.50, albeit it is portion controlled to within a millimetre… Ideal for Ladies Who Lunch (which we weren't.). The Brixham Crab Tortellini (3 miniatures), Mixed Sea Vegetables, Light Crab Broth starter was extremely tasty and well seasoned but more like an amuse-bouche in size than a proper course.

The areas that did let the the experience down a bit were:

# The difficulty in booking, with the phone reverting to voicemail and then nobody returning the call
# The serious lack of ambience in what are potentially very handsome rooms .. The Bar in particular seems to be aping a crematorium waiting room in a 1950s Eastern European suburb with what looks like (but probably isn't, ex MFI plastic imitation leather retro 60s chairs. The Dining Room has the air of a northern seaside 2 star hotel in the off season
# The staff are slightly over anxious to please, forever trying to clear glasses and plates while we were still happily drinking and eating .. Really odd

On balance I still think that it's got a lot of potential .. A bit of effective onsite management, some redecoration/refurnishing and a sharpened up customer focussed operation and they'd have a success on their hands