We've been to The Frogmill in Andoversford (just outside Cheltenham) a few times, for a friend's and with little one for a Sunday Roast, when we saw their Instagram advertising a Chateaux Briand & bottle of red for £50 I decided it was a great opportunity for a date night during our week off during October half term...
We dropped the kids home around 6 on the Thursday and drove straight back to Cheltenham, a quick top up of make up and change of clothes in Cheltenham and we arrived at 7:50pm for our 8pm reservation - pretty good timing to be honest! We were starving, gaging for a drink and expecting good things!
When we walked in we were met with smiles and 'I'll be with you shortly', our name was taken and we were sat tucked away in the bar, on a table with a reserved stand - having check this was okay, we took a look at the drinks menu.
I have to say compared to other venues their gin selection (my go to tipple) wasn't brilliant and nothing really caught my eye.
We sat and people watched for a while, witnessing two other tables being sat around us - I suspected we had been forgotten and tried to catch the eye of a very busy looking waitress. She again took my name and disappeared into the restaurant.
Eventually at 20:17 having been sat with drinks menus for just under half an our we were conscious of the time given the 10pm rule, (and cooking time of the steak we were dreaming of) we tried to order at the bar - no luck, but the bar tender did send us a waitress. She came over, asked if we were just drinking, we explained we had a table booked, again she took our name, and by this point we were getting a bit frustrated! She also tried to tell us that table we were sat on was actually booked, even though we were told to sit there! I was not in the mood to argue, so ordered our drinks and watched the table to my right (who had arrived after us), receive their starters....!
A guy eventually came over with our cocktails, which I must admit looked absolutely delicious and I very much appreciated them making a 'off menu' cocktail for me! We asked the bartender if our table was ready - he again checked the name and then said we were on the correct table.... strange as minutes earlier I was told it wasn't ours! I explained we would rather sit in the restaurant, as booked and that I wanted to move from the un-atmospheric corner we were in! And also, could we see food menus (!)
After that we were quickly moved to restaurant (there was no offer to carry our drinks, I hadn't even had a chance to sip mine yet!) and then the waiter tried to take our order whilst I was taking off my coat off. We requested 5 minutes to get settled and actually read the menu.
At about 20 to 9 we ordered, of course, a Chateaux Briand (medium rare) to share, and a couple of little starters, some crispy squid and a bit of hummus and flatbread!
The food itself came quickly and the squid was delicious - and the flat bead was gone in a tic - we were that hungry!
At just gone 20 past 9 our beloved Chateaux arrived, and despite the journey to get it, it was incredibly good. The meat was cooked to perfection, the triple cooked chips were a dream and the only fault was the mushrooms had no truffle flavour and my béarnaise could have been hollandaise - very buttery & not much tarragon flavour. Mal said his peppercorn was seasoned very nicely and we wolfed it down!
Half way through the meal we were offered a complimentary round of drinks by way of apology for the rough start, which we appreciated.
We left fed and happy but for a £100 mid week dinner I would have expected better, especially having been before and knowing the service that they can provide.
Things like we were asked if we wanted "just tap" water, when a restaurant like that should be offering still, sparkling, or tap. The little details really do go a long way, and I do appreciate not everyone looks for these finer details but we were also served our starters but hadn't received cutlery yet, and even then she gave us normal knives not steak ones. I might seem picky, but I automatically notice these things, years of working as a waitress myself and I cant un-see a badly polished knife or a un-used glass … We gave them plenty of opportunity to correct these things and nothing was so major that we needed to complain. It was just a bit messy. It was a shame, because on a previous visit, I remember commending the member of staff serving us because she handled a situation with a customer on a next door table, very eloquently. I think its a beautiful establishment and they are pushing out some great food - I'm hoping we just caught them on a 'bad night' - its certainly not a write off but this visit was only a 3/5 star.
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