Old Bridge Hotel

Amber and Tate gave excellent service and were a credit to the restaurant. The cocktails were lovely, and the food was OK, though there’s room for improvement. We let them know at the time, and couldn’t have asked for a better response. Thanks, as always, for the hospitality. It’s a shame the restaurant has switched to self-service, since that loses the personal touch and the chance to chat with staff. I didn’t stay at the hotel, but had to select an option to post this.

The Compo's Lager was bright and crisp, served in a clean glass. I’d give the drink quality 2/5. At 15:50 on a Monday, there were 12 customers at four tables, with used glasses left at the bar and on three empty tables. I waited two minutes to be served at the bar. One staff member had their back to me and didn’t acknowledge me; a second appeared just under two minutes later. Twelve months after my last visit, nothing has improved apart from the decor. If you’re not local, you’ll probably spend money here even though there are much better places to go.

The Sunday roasts took an hour and 15 minutes to arrive, and the food was awful when it did. We’d ordered three vegetarian roasts and a kids’ meal. The veggie loaf was cremated; we got one piece each of carrot and parsnip, the roast potatoes were rock hard as if they’d been left out or reused, the Yorkshire puddings had no taste and the gravy was like water. We all gave up halfway through. The kids’ meal was OK. Tables weren’t cleared, and we had to ask twice for the kids’ pudding. We also heard other people complaining. After the refurb, I don’t know why the quality and service changed so much. Booking was difficult: the website page didn’t work, and nobody called back after I left a message. I finally booked using Safari instead of Chrome, but when we arrived there was no table reserved, despite my confirmation. They moved another couple to the bar to make room. The place seemed badly understaffed, and the few front-of-house staff looked stressed. We spent £93, which wasn’t worth the food or experience, especially at almost £15 per roast. The one saving grace was the overworked man behind the bar, who refunded everything without us asking. I hope they sort things out and bring in more staff to ease the pressure on those already there. Sadly, we won’t be back for a while.

The pub looks lovely, but this first visit left a poor impression, and I doubt we’ll return. We didn’t book, and to be fair, it was busy, but they kindly found a table for four. We ordered by QR code. Our scampi starter, the only starter in the order, arrived within a minute or two. It seemed odd, and I wondered if it was another customer’s mis-order or if they were all ready to go. It wasn’t good quality: a very thick coating, chewy, and poor value at £8.95. Then we waited 45 minutes for mains. When we asked, a staff member said the computer system had gone down and she’d check with the kitchen. If they knew it was down, they could have let us know. We were then told the order was only 15 minutes old, which clearly wasn’t true. The food eventually arrived about 20 minutes later. My chicken pie was dry, mostly thick crust with very little filling, and the rest of the food looked as if it had been thrown onto the plates from a distance. My wife’s duck poke bowl arrived without the duck, apparently due to a “chef error”. When it came back with duck, she said it was like leather and left half the meal. Our friends’ burgers were OK but nothing special. Nobody gave us a real apology for the delay or checked whether the food was all right. There didn’t seem to be anyone around to speak to as we were leaving. Given what happened, I’d have expected a manager or senior staff member to come over and apologise. We spent £93, but the food and experience weren’t worth that. With ordering and payment done before eating, it seems there’s little incentive to provide good food or service once they have your money.