The Salusbury

As a local, I have eaten at the Salusbury numerous times over the years, and would usually consider it quite dependable. However my most recent meal there was really dreadful. The lemon sole I was served was on the verge of being very off. My dining companion and I couldn't get the horrible taste of it out of our mouths, it was so ‘fishy’ and unpleasant. We didn't want to cause a fuss, but when we tried to politely ask the manageress to replace it, she took the fish, and returned to say that she and the kitchen both though the fish was fine, which it patently was not. I will not bore everyone with the details of how poor the resolution of the issue was. Suffice to say, I am not every going back, which is a shame, because it has a been a dependable neighbourhood restaurant until now.

I have been here dozens of times, as it is local, and taken numerous overseas visitors over the years. They all loved it, and so do I. The love comes from the quality of the food, which over the years has been consistently excellent. It has an Italian theme, and an Italian I know who has been there a lot with me, thinks they do it well. This is largely due to their appropriate use of ingredients according to the season – so Autumn sees pumpkin and sage ravioli, summer brings tomatoes and burrata and so on. Their seafood linguine is superb – big langoustines, clams and all in a good reduced fish stock sauce.

In good spirits at the start of our Easter break I booked a table for two at the Salusbury restaurant. My wife and I have been there on numerous occasions and whilst we dislike the new (and faintly ridiculous) decor the food has always been decent albeit over-priced. We ordered from the friendly waitress. And then waited, And waited. We asked where out starter courses were and the embarrassed waitress explained that she had forgotton to add our order to the chef. People make mistakes so we didn't get upset and to be fair the waitress offered as a desert on the house. My main course of Lamb Shank was delicious as was the fried courgette. My wife's pasta was decent too. I ordered the gorgonzola cheese for my desert and what was put in front of me was a plate with three measly cheese biscuits with, what looked like anyway, cast off bits of cheese including, I think, cheddar and parsmeasan. It was awful, truly awful. It was clearly flung together in the kitchen with no explanation as to the absence of gorgonzola cheese! I then ordered an expresso and was presented with a black coffee. So to summarise terrible service to the extent we left thinking that they simply didn't know what they were doing, Utterly clueless. I don't think we will be going back.

I have a completely different experience to the other reviewer – though perhaps this was due to the dishes i ordered which were very simple! Ive been to the Salusbury a few times now, both for drinks and food. Im a simple soul so ive tended to have the rib eye steak when ive been before. Yes, its extremely expensive in my opinion, around £17 for a medium sized steak with salad – you are looking at almost £25 for one course if you add on the sides. Queens Park seems to have become a lot more gentrified so maybe the price now reflects the areas. My steaks have always been extremely good and ive always felt well fed post my meal. They dont have the biggest or most exciting selection of desserts but id say people here are enjoying more of the savouries, of which there is a lot (mushroom risotto, chicken livers with crostini etc etc) The atmosphere is ok – half the pub is the restaurant and the other half is normal pub tables but where you can eat. the crowd is mixed, more middle aged locals or familes – it doesnt have the young vibe that you have in somewhere like the Alice House opposite, though the food here is 100 times better. Additionally, the toilets arent huge and could be kept better, get a mirror in the ladies guys!!! It is an expensive yet tasty night out here but a trusty food haunt for me and a reasonably good pub to hang out with friends. i would suggest if you are cutting the costs, have some drinks here but pop over to Sundaban (the long running popular indian opposite) for a curry in between drinks. Thats what i often do when i cant stomach Salusbury prices but certainly, this is definitely one of the good pubs to go to.

Sadly, walked into this pub for a nice Sunday meal. Saw friends in the bar area and got a table without having to book. Served by waitress who was sadly not intelligible. On the menu was an old favourite of mine, Leek and Potato Soup. My partner had the tuna starter. What a disaster! Two simple dishes totally ruined. The leek and potato soup was dish water and had a hint or slight trace of leek with water strained through a boiled spud. It was just someone trying to make a poor soup go round by chucking in galleon of water for more servings. The tuna was no better as it had no taste, a dressing that was bland and the whole presentation pretentious and failed to inspire once tasted. These were sent back uneaten as disappointed and the mains arrived. Mine was veal drenched in slops of heavy gravy from the roast with diced carrots and a ‘risotto’ that was as oily as a triumph bonneville's engine. An awful taste as the meat was hidden under this disgusting slop of gravy from a tin and had no flavour you could enjoy and the rice was plopped onto the plate as if it were a lump of lard and quite hard to tell if it wasn't just cooked in lard and then doused in cheap oil. My partner ordered the safe bet, Chicken. Served on a bed of over cooked spinach and cold potatoes (not that there were meant to be served cold) and everything tasted of salt. So much salt that we decided the place must be trying to push drink sales with the food. This too was sent back uneaten. We did state that the food was not at all decent and truth is I would not feel fit to serve to anyone I would call a friend and our waitress grimaced as if to say, “ Oh dear” as she took the plates away. She did however return with our bill for £51 something that included a service charge. I, being a true Brit paid and vowed to myself never to go again unless I wanted to be really ill or hated myself so much that failing contracting syphilis, eating here would be the next best thing. Why does this pub feel they are gastro-enteritis pub serving complicated dishes that they do not understand, that they had tasted in a decent restaurant that had served them the food and they loved it, does not mean they can steal their menu ideas and recreate. Beware all those looking for a square meal at this pub as if like us the chef is having a day off and the local bike mechanic is standing in, you will get what we got and hopefully you will only allow yourself to be ripped off once too.