We went here on a recommendation but sadly were disappointed.
The bad:
1. Attitude of owner/manager. We had a dinner reservation but when we came in nobody was there to greet us. We went to the bar and dealt with owner/manager. Grumpy attitude (as if he was doing us a favour begrudgingly) and were shown to a table, the worst table, right in middle. Cozy? Forget it. Asked to be moved to an empty table near the wall but were told that table had been reserved and would be needed back fairly quickly. Actually, it's worth mentioning that at first he responded with "But someone is sitting there!" Pointing to a couple in the corner. I looked at him incredulously, "That one, the empty one". How would he assume that I was asking for a table occupied by someone else? That is just weird. We passed on his offer and stayed at the middle table.
2. I went for the steak as it was a special occasion. £27 so I was expecting it to be very good. My mistake. Small steak with a lot of fat. Only a few chips. About half the amount you get if you ask for chips on the side. I know, I saw someone order chips on the side and it was twice as many. Petty? Maybe but things were starting to aggregate. No way was it worth £27. £16 at best and that is being generous.
3. When we sat down we were offered two menus and one contained what appeared to be excellent deserts. When it came to ordering the desert - that menu was not brought to us again or offered. We had to ask again for it. We enquired as to what one of the items was and were told by the waiter that the menu was new and he had no clue what it was. Great waiter training! Hopeless. He went to the kitchen to check but came back with information that was not clear at all. We skipped that option.
4. When the deserts came they were also disappointing. Mine was supposed to be sticky toffee pudding and ice cream. Small portion and very tasteless. The scoop of ice cream was the smallest I have experienced.
5. The other patrons. And to be fair, this is not the fault of the pub but it is worth pointing out. Also, I accept this is the only time I have been to the Swan Inn so this may not happen all the time. Families with kids with no discipline. They were running around screaming, opening the door letting the cold air in, playing games and basically acting like brats. The parents had astoundingly completely abdicated responsibility not caring at all about how this was impacting the experience of other diners. Embarrassing. Next we had 'mobile phone lady'. She took multiple calls, phone ringer on as loud as possible. I thought maybe a doctor on call but no, I overheard it was a request from someone to buy cigarettes. Great.
The pros:
1. The pub itself looks good in terms of decor.
2. The pepper corn sauce that came with the steak was very good. Excellent in fact.
Conclusion: there is something not quite right about the Swan. Bad atmosphere, bad owner attitude, small and overpriced portions and if you want peace and quiet and other diners that have basic etiquette then give the Swan Inn a hard pass. read more
