Rating ** Picture the scene. The sun is setting sedately over the western fringe of the Ironbridge Gorge on what turns out to be a relatively balmy summer evening. Tourists from all over the globe have been coming and going for hours, paying homage to the famous iron structure during a bustling late August day.The kids are still off school, many factories are on shutdown, and parents are looking for things to do, and places to go.
You would imagine, against a backdrop such as this, that eating out in the Ironbridge area would be a lively, atmospheric affair.
Not necessarily.
After doing my three-hour surveillance stint on the bridge as part of our Shropshire Star special investigation earlier this week, I felt I’d earned a spot of pub grub.
Not wanting anything too posh or fancy, I remembered meals from bygone days at The Meadow, half a mile or so from the famous bridge, heading towards the shadow of the huge Ironbridge power station cooling towers.
I seem to recall, in fact, that it won some kind of best pub grub award a few years back. And in my experience, certainly when it came to hearty steaks, it deserved it.
So imagine our astonishment when, shortly before 7.30pm, my wife Rachel and I stepped through the doors to be greeted by almost total silence. We were the only customers in the labyrinthine building.
I’m not sure who was most surprised - us, or the staff. They certainly didn’t seem particularly prepared for the arrival of a couple of eager, hungry, paying punters.
The marketing of the pub grub offerings looked good, though. We could have eaten off the “two courses for two people for £20″ menu had we wished.
It included starters such as prawn cocktail, soup, melon or portobello mushrooms, and mains including beef strips in French mustard cream, fillet of salmon in tarragon sauce, or beer-battered haddock.
But since I wasn’t particularly enthralled by the main course offerings, we both went for something off the alternative menu titled “a little more substantial”.
My starter was chicken and cranberry paté, served with toasted bread (£4.25). The paté was tangy and tasty, while the bread was a sawn-off piece of baked French loaf. Strangely, no butter, though.
Rachel ordered galia melon with strawberries and citrus dressing (£4.95), and it was exactly that. No frills. Three thick slices of melon drizzled with dressing - not exactly imaginative.
On to the main course, and I certainly couldn’t grumble at the size of my pork and leek sausages portion, with onion mash and thyme gravy (£6.95).
While the sausages didn’t have the strongest of tangs, the mash was creamy and the gravy rich, and I have to admit I couldn’t quite empty my plate.
Rachel ordered salmon fillet served with new potatoes and tarragon cream sauce (£9.95) to be told: “We’ve got no salmon. Sorry.” Second choice was the tried-and-tested wholetail scampi with chips and garden peas (£7.50).
Washed down with two large Diet Pepsis (we were both driving), the total bill came to £27.20. By the time we left, shortly before 8.45pm, only two other people had come in.
The food at The Meadow was not bad by any means. But it wasn’t special either, and compared with previous visits from years gone by, was frankly a bit of a disappointment. The staff were rather po-faced, and the rock music coming from the music system seemed somewhat at odds with its olde-world interior.
There was a general feeling of disorganisation throughout. When Rachel asked for tartare sauce with her scampi, she was told they didn’t have any. And after being offered no alternative, she requested a second-best choice of mayonnaise, and the waitress disappeared on a five-minute witch hunt before eventually finding some.
Scampi without tartare sauce is like an Ironbridge pub in peak season without people - unimaginable. You’d better believe it!
ADDRESS
The Meadow, Buildwas Road, Ironbridge
Tel 01952 433193
MENU SAMPLE
Starters
Tiger prawns with chilli dressing (£4.95), Soup of the day with warm crusty bread (£3.25)
Main courses
Mixed grill with chips, mushroom, tomato and fried egg (£12.95), Cod loin wrapped in Parma ham with Parmentier potatoes and saffron cream sauce (£9.95)
Desserts
Changing range of desserts on the daily specials board, priced around £3.95
ATMOSPHERE
Non-existent. Were it not for the soft rock music, you could have heard a pin drop
SERVICE
Forgettable
DISABLED FACILITIES
Steps to many parts of the building
SMOKING POLICY
No smoking in the bar dining area
By Carl Jones
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