Grapes Hotel

Lovely little pub we popped in for a drink and something to eat whilst the cricket was on. Warm welcome and great atmosphere. We both thought the choice of meals sounded delicious however when served it all fell a little short of the expectations and price asked. Glutenfree menu would help as my meal came without the rum & cola glaze on the gammon which wasn't mentioned pre arriving at the table. The replacement jacket potatoe instead of chips wasn't cooked well. The pub carpark was full with a wedding next door. We had to park down the road. We sat across the road on the green and watched the cricket after for a nice relax.

Attended on a Friday early evening, decent selections on the menu.
Had a lovely Korean chicken strips starter & a mixed grill however I asked for my steak medium rare & it arrived as medium to say the least & no peppcorn sauce available so I had to make do with a garlic & mushroom sauce which had no mushrooms in at all & be also in a very small pot for £2.00 so a little disappointed.
My partner had a garlic mushroom starter, served on a crumpet, unusual but tasty she said but it def needed more of the sauce to cover it.
I would attend again but they do need be a bit more generous with the sauce portions which are an extra for the price being charged !!

There are signs as you walk in the pub telling you to ‘download the app’… but when I tried to use the app I was told by the staff that the app doesn’t work, so why haven’t you taken down the signs then? The phone signal here is very poor, so I asked if they had WiFi as there were no signs saying they did. They did, and the WiFi works great. We went to the bar to order food, and were told they were out of one of the items, maybe a sign telling people what you’re out of would save some time for both parties. So signs telling you to use what doesn’t work, but no helpful signs telling you what does. I would have left 1 star except for Wendy the barmaid was amazing, and still made our visit pleasant even with the frustrations.

Welcoming staff, lovely atmosphere, dog friendly but I’m afraid a 2 for food at best. Sharing platter of calamari & chicken was a over cooked. Hummus on platter was lovely, but the two slices of toasted French stick were hard, and rocket salad wilted and beyond its best so overall the sharing platter not great value. No such complaints with pate starter which was delicious. We sat with starter plates in front of us for a long time despite them not appearing busy. When mains eventually came they looked absolutely amazing but failed to deliver on taste. Steak & ale pie tasted overwhelmingly of red wine, not ale. Cajun chicken wasn’t Cajun chicken but rather they served me the same tough, overcooked, crispy chicken used for the kids burger. Both chicken dishes were well and truly overcooked/dry and if a staff member had checked how our food was or if I hadn’t been so hungry after skipping lunch, then I would have sent it back. A very disappointing first/last impression. Would make a lovely local for a drink though!

Horrendous organisation and service

Went into the pub as it is local and has been subject to a refurbishment recently, On entering today - a Sunday afternoon 3:40pm , it was quiet. Stood at the bar for 3 minutes an no staff appeared, on finally appeared from the cellar. My husband ordered drinks and selected some nibbles from the menu (which was out in each table) whilst getting the drinks poured, to then be told unless we had booked we could not order food and that the next free table was 6:30pm. Questioned could we not order bar snacks even? No!

Couple sat near us told the same and they walked out. Sadly we had ordered beers by this point they had not - otherwise we would have left too. The reason we couldn’t order food apparently was due to kitchen demand, on counting there were approximately 11 people spread through a restaurant with at least 40 seats (Covers).

To add to the insult we had to clean our table of glasses and move the used plates, the adjacent table was still uncleared some 35 minutes later. As a local I won't be going back until either the management changes or more hopefully it is taken over by someone with a modicum of catering and hospitality sense. The only positive was the beer was good.

Friendly helpful staff. Had fish. The halibut was nice but in a lot of batter. My cod was nice but a touch too greasy for my very delicate tummy. However would definitely go again, nice atmosphere and decor.

I was so looking forward to returning here as my last visit was over 20 years ago. We had a family get together, some were over from Australia, so it was a special event for us. It is without doubt a great location in a beautiful village but that's where the positives stop. We were booked in at 2pm, and it wasn't particularly busy, but we were given a long list of what wasn't available on the menu. Our choices were extremely limited and service was then slow. Nearly all the meals were lukewarm and when asked by the waitress, who was pleasant, if we'd enjoyed it we politely explained our issues. Several in our party have run and managed pub/restaurants and know how difficult things can be but had any of us been informed of such dissatisfaction we would of either discounted the bill or offered a round of drinks. My family won't be spending over £500 in there again. These are only little things but they make such a big difference for a pleasant customer experience. A goodbye would have been nice when we left. We weren't as generous as normal with our tip as this reflected our disappointment. I am sorry that I have given such a poor review but I would love to see this pub back where it should be.

Lovely pub. Staff very attentive, drink issue resolved instantly, no questions asked. Meal was great (shared platter - which was not shared). Grandsons loved the kids burgers. We will be back.