We've been to Ascough's a couple of times as part of a group of six. The first time we had a very enjoyable meal, the food was tasty and soo we returned for a family birthday celebration.
The difference was, sadly, huge:
The menu didn't seem as well thought out or as appetising as our first visit, but there was still a good selection available.
The staff seemed somewhat aloof from the start, but nothing to worry about compared to what followed.
For some unknown reason, even if you're ordering their (very tasty) steak, you're not allowed to have it with chips, unless you buy their (again very tasty) 'twice cooked chips'. The menu states that mains come with 'potato dish' which when asking for chips with my steak, we were informed that the potato dish was new potatoes. Asking to change to chips, I was told that I could only have chips AND new potatoes, not chips instead. So, a little miffed, I ordered chips AND new potatoes, which I was eventually quite happy about, as you'll see later.
For the start I had ordered the Parma ham, caramelised roots, pickles and truffle focaccia (for an additional £1 on the set menu price).
What arrived was some, albiet quite tasty ham, I'm pretty sure was not Parma ham. But the focaccia was nothing like what you would expect. It was a slither of toasted bread - along the lines of a melba toast!
A few of us had this option, and whilst there was nothing wrong with it as a dish (ham, some salad leaves, two slithers of beetroot and a slice of melba toast) it fell a long way short of the, quite appetising, menu description.
The waiter did ask if it was OK, but not wishing to spoil the celebration I let this slide, but sadly things did not improve.
When the main course arrived, the person who's birthday it was had ordered the Pork Loin, Cauliflower Puree, Vanilla Apples & Light Jus. She was quite upset as the meat had really no flavour at all. We all tried a little bit and agreed it was just bland pork, if very tender (and a bit pink too).
The waiter did come over and he made an excuse about it being local free-range pork, so it was very tasty - which it clearly wasn't.
She asked if she could have the steak dish instead - as there was nothing else on the menu that she fancied.
The steak was extremely tasty, and it came with kind scallops, however they cut the scallops in half (presumably to make them go further) so you only got one and a half scallops on the dish, which seemed a little stingy to me.
The new potatoes that we all had to have, were tiny new potatoes, all peeled and had a hint of garlic and herbs. They were also slightly mushy, and given their size and that they were peeled I would hazard a guess as to say that they were out of a tin.
They weren't terrible, but they were not great either, so I was glad I had paid by extra £2 for the very nice twice cooked chips.
Just as we were all finishing our mains, the birthday girl's replacement main course arrived which took them approx 20 minutes to cook, so they clearly didn't pull out any favours for us there.
The desert was pleasant and tasty and there was a good selection - no complaints there.
However the additional time they took to bring the replacement main course out had clearly thrown their timings out as when they presented us with the bill the waiter said they needed the table in five minutes!!
On inspecting the bill, they had charged the various supplements; £1.00 for each of the melba toast starters, £1.50 for each of the Assiette deserts and £5.00 for each of the steak dishes - including the one that came out instead of the flavourless pork.
I asked the waiter to remove that supplement and he refused, saying that he had checked it with chef, who is also the owner and that the supplement was being charged.
I don't personally feel that is appropriate; we were not asking for the whole price to be removed, just the supplement, so suggested that we should like to discuss the matter with 'chef'.
Chef did indeed show up about fifteen minutes later, and said they replaced the meal so they would not remove the £5.00 supplement and went to walk away!
This was and is extremely disappointing;
Firstly, it's hard enough to find a decent dining experience around here anyway, so we were looking forward to visiting Ascough's on a regular basis - which I will now absolutely not do as a matter of principle.
Second, as the owner of (a hopefully more customer focussed) business, I am staggered that in this economic downturn that any business owner can be so arrogant as to wholly ignore the customer feedback and to resolve any issues before they become serious problemswhich this now is to me.
Sadly, over the principle of a five Pound supplement (out of a £150 bill), we will not be returning to Ascough's Bistro in Market Harborough. read more