Sycamore Inn

hayfielddiner

Poor Food, pretentious environment, arrogant owner 26th December 2007

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Christmas Lunch 2007 at the Sycamore - £75 per head and very dissappointing

Our party of 5 arrived at the sycamore on Christmas Day and ordered champagne whilst we selected from the menu. The menu was not very creative and offered a limited selection to start followed by a choice of Turkey, beef or Salmon. When selecting from the wine list, we ordered Chablis and enquired on the year of the ??? which was listed as 2001/2004 - which was it? We were shown to our table which had been set with the minimum of care, there was bottled water but no glasses and no red wine glasses. The glasses on the table were dirty and had to be replaced three times before a clean glass appeared. The red wine that we enquired about had already been opened and placed on the table, with no confirmation on the year, or that we even wanted it! It was poured, tasted and returned - it was thin, no body and no taste. The starters arrived and a selection of smoked fish was placed in front of my Husband. The fish cake and smoked mackerel pate was shop bought and fairly tasteless. Bread/toast was not offered.

The starters were removed and replaced by what was billed on the menu as a sweet corn and basil cappuccino. This was actually a tinned sweet corn soup with a bit of froth topped with nutmeg. It hadn't been strained and was full of the bits of skin. Where would you get the idea that tinned sweet corn and basil would actually taste good together in the first place?

On to main course. Turkey arrived, two slices, stuffing, chipolata sausage, gravey and burnt roast potatoes. The beef had been ordered rare. It was the thinnest sliced beef I have ever seen, looked like shoe leather, was served with a microwaved Yorkshire pudding (which would have bounced well) and the best bit.... turkey gravy - yes, overcooked roast sirloin with turkey gravy. No member of staff took the care to check with our table and I had to pick up the plate of beef and turkey gravy and take it across to the owner to let her know that it wasn’t acceptable.

Christmas dinner vegetables - would you expect something a bit creative? This Christmas day lunch was served with steamed vegetables. No parsnips, red cabbage or anything else seasonal - just steamed vegetables.

The dessert was more than disappointing - a miniature microwaved Christmas pudding, a miniature trifle and chocolate brownies.

Sitting in the lounge afterwards, we were presented with cheese and biscuits – again you might expect some local British cheeses but only Brie, cheddar and stilton. No port offered to accompany the cheese.

Coffee and shop bought mince pies followed. Brandy was ordered - a single measure of Hennessy XO - £17 per measure.

I don’t think I have ever experienced a lunch – special occasion or not – where a restaurant over promised and under delivered on such a spectacular scale. The food was more of a standard expected for school dinners than £75 per head Christmas day lunch. The service was shambolic and the staff clearly inexperienced.

The bill was examined and I had to ask to have the beef dish removed from the bill. I was surprised that they would actually expect us to pay for such rubbish.

When my husband gave feedback to the owner the response was “everyone else enjoyed it”. The fact that most people had pre-paid might have something to do with the level of complaints received. Thankfully, we hadn’t pre-paid. We told the owner that we wouldn’t be returning – this received the response “glad to hear it sir” - outstanding!

I understand that the New Year’s eve menu is £105 per head – If you have booked, think carefully – it’s a high price to pay for disappointing food, served in a pretentious environment, by inexperienced staff and arrogant owners.