Bishopstrow House

I have just returned from what should have been a lovely dinner for our anniversary and I am so disappointed I can hardly describe it. We live near Bishopstrow and had been meaning to go for dinner for a long time, having been told that it was a lovely place for a special meal…oh, how wrong that was. We were shown to the library for drinks and given the menus to peruse. It was 40 minutes before anyone bothered to take our order. When we were finally shown to our table my husband's choice of wine had been forgotten and we had to remind the waiter. My main course arrived- but they got my husband's order wrong-so that was taken away but I was left with mine- I didn't want to start mine without my husband so I waited…and waited..eventually a waiter turned up and apologised and my food was taken away too. When the food returned, my husband's, to be fair, was good. Mine was terrrible- it was as though the chef couldn't be bothered to provide a second plate of food. It also tasted pretty poor so I couldn't eat it. Puddings? well my husband chose a cheese platter, so you can't go too far wrong with that- my choice of parfait was like eating a block of ice. It was really very disappointing- and they charged 15% gratuity which we refused to pay. It was an astonishingly large bill for a really poor meal and service and it was only when I complained to the duty manager again that they reduced the bill. It's not about the money- it's about the overall evening, which was meant to be a special occasion and it was so disappointing…I will never go there again.