The Ollerod

We did the dinner, bed and breakfast deal which is exceptional value. There really aren’t many things to fault. The food was of excellent quality- truly delicious and I actually found it difficult to choose each course as everything sounded so good. It also lived up to the promise of the description on the menu. The restaurant and bar are very stylish and the lovely bartender really knew her cocktails, taking a lot of care over them ( the Old Fashioned in particular). The younger staff serving in the restaurant were efficient, knowledgeable and clearly well-trained. Our room was luxurious, comfortable and v clean. We really enjoyed the homemade shortbread. I’m also impressed when conditioner and body lotion are provided… also very big soft towels and lovely bedsheets. Breakfast was good quality with fruits, yoghurt , homemade granola and a good choice of hot food. We went for the buttery, lemony kippers which arrived with a pile of toast. A great experience- highly recommended!

We had Sunday lunch there but it was a disappointing experience. The Beef Wellington at £38 was overpriced. The sauce was over seasoned and the beef was not tender. The waitress kindly changed that to the roast beef for us. The beef with gristle was cut too thick for our liking. The food was piled up high on a rather small plate which made for a rather unpleasant experience. The Yorkshire pudding was lovely and hugh. The ambience of the restaurant is very nice. There are many other restaurants serving better quality food/ cooking with better prices so we will not return.

The food was superb, staff lovely, I was disappointed to see a 12.5% service charge I work very hard supporting families in my job. My husband works on a farm as a farm worker we are not high earners, and no one gives us a tip and we would not expect one. Also does the restaurant not make enough? the food we had was a set menu but mostly we chose dishes that included extra charges so our bill I believe was enough without an additional service charge that no one pointed out. Yes I will definitely go back BUT I will ask for the service charge to be removed. I believe service charges/tipping is a ridiculously outdated concept and I’ve yet to see a decent argument as to why this needs to exist. I feel there's simply no justification for it. If the restaurant isn’t making enough money they should increase their prices rather than attempting to be sneaky with it. This is ignoring that service charges shouldn’t be going to the owners anyway, they should be shared among staff although as I said most other service workers do not get tips.