The Lygon Arms, Oliver Cromwell Room

Sadly very disappointed ! Met by a lovely young man called Oliver who was very pleasant and professional ! Sadly it deteriorated after that ! We had arrived 20 minutes early and asked staff if we could sit in the corner and to my surprise, she the table is not laid for afternoon tea madam ! I said, I didn’t mind waiting a few minutes so she did clean and prepare the corner table swiftly! I didn’t want to sit by the draughty door when there were so many other empty tables.This was an early Christmas treat for two dear nursing colleagues! The restaurant was far from busy , therefore I can’t quite understand why the service was so poor! We were made wait till after our allotted time before anybody came to ask us what choice of tea we wanted! We were offered Prosecco as we were initially shown to our table and we said no this would be a non-alcoholic afternoon tea! So, beggars belief why we were made to wait so long for a pot of tea to come! I am a well travelled customers of several establishments for afternoon tea and this has been by far the most disappointing! We were given a pot of tea between two, which allowed one cup each and when we asked for a second pot, she appeared amazed ! Hilarious - if I had chosen a different tea to my friend we would have been given to a pot each anyway, but because we both chose breakfast tea they gave us one individual pot between two ! The sandwiches were underwhelming The only thing that was lovely was the freshness of the bread ! I had put the allergies on the website when I made the booking and yet I had to remind them ! I asked just for a simple ham sandwich instead of Coronation chicken for my pal -surprise surprise - I was refused! With an establishment like The. Lygon Arms , surely there would be some ham or even plain chicken in the kitchen??? We had to keep reminding the staff for our refills /extra pot of tea ! I don’t believe we were only dissatisfied customers in the restaurant as two tables within our earshot also had to ask the waitress “where was their coffee and glass of sparkling water ?” and the other table asked for more tea! I remained quiet throughout the afternoon tea and I did not voice my dissatisfaction , as the other members of the party were my guests I didn’t want to embarrass them!

We visited Broadway for a weekend away with friends and decided to eat at the grill (by James Martin) we were really looking forward to his style of food/menu. We arrived and were seated promptly but service at the table seemed quite lengthy, we ordered our drinks and food (starters and mains) and the starters were very nice, especially the game terrine. 3 of the party ordered sirloin steaks that came with onion and “James’s chunky chips” as described in the menu, with a couple of sides (brassicas and leeks) we were very disappointed to find the chips that arrived with the meal were skin on frozen chips from a wholesaler??? The side also arrived cold?? Again I don’t know if there was not enough staff to serve as the food is prepared, but there is something amiss. We came here as a treat only to feel it was very poor food. Either supply what you say on the menu and with the food hot, or tell the customer the truth. If James Martin approves of this then shame on him, I will not be returning. A shame as after following him for many years feel let down by this experience. Much better fare was had the previous evening in the Swan further along the road.

Sadly I had a disappointing experience. I went to the Lygon Arms as a late birthday meal with many friends. 3 of the party including myself decided to have the muscles. The muscles were dry and tough, and the sauce was almost curdled at the bottom. We sent all 3 back, and a kind waiter came out apologised and told us that the chefs agreed that these dishes should have never gone out. Those words are incredibly alarming. Is food not checked? These were obviously not fresh muscles, which really upsets me as I thought this restaurant was quite prestigious. The waiter spoke to his manager and took all 3 dishes off the menu. For the next week all 3 of us had food poisoning, it was the most awful experience we have ever had. Nobody else from the party had the muscles and were fine, but all 3 of us were really poorly, we hadn’t eaten anything else that day. I work full time and had to take time off to recover from this experience, it was honestly horrible. Whilst the meals were taken off the bill, the party, there were 8 of us, and a lot of money was spent, so to receive food poisoning completely ruined my birthday celebrations.