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Disappointment at four-star inn
Saturday 22nd March 2008, 1:57AM GMT.
I moved to Telford six years ago from Wolverhampton. I have been in the catering trade for 25 years.
My wife and I, like most couples, work long hours so spend our free time with our three young children which is the most important thing outside work that we do.
We all enjoy eating out, so I buy the Shropshire Star on a Saturday for the dining reviews. I find that they are tailored round couples going out.
Now that the smoking ban is in full force and publicans are saying they are losing money I feel there is a great market for the family. I was away on Saturday and didn’t get the paper so looked on the internet yesterday morning and happened to see the Pheasant Inn at Admaston quote “Shropshire Star four star establishment”.
What Telford’s been waiting for. So we booked and ended up having the worst meal I and my family have ever experienced. Now it may be it was a one off. I will never know and am not emailing you labelling this particular establishment but it would be nice to see the odd review of family places to eat rather than Wacky Warehouses etc.
We would like to eat out more and I do not mind paying good money for good food but I feel that it’s becoming easier just to cook at home than having the hassle of eating out.
I hope you find time to consider this and once again thanks for taking the time to read this and hope it makes sense as this is the first time I have emailed a newspaper. But I feel as Telford is getting bigger and more people are moving here we need to improve our eating out image and I as a caterer feel very strongly about this.
Mark Harkin, Catering manager, New College, Telford
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Well, that’ll teach you to take any notice of the Star’s reviews, won’t it?
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Again as i have said before a member of the public has been to an establishment and said it was awfull in his opinion, being a catering manager makes his opinion KnoW better than any one elses but i would love to know were the kitchen staff trained at telford college or shrewsbury college ???
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Mark
If you are to point the finger of disappointment at a business, I think in fairness there has to be more detail than,
So we booked and ended up having the worst meal I and my family have ever experienced.
In general terms your right.
If public houses are to survive they need to move towards the family environment and supply good food. Which is not always the case
Don’t rely on reviews too much. One of the best indicators is the car park, full a good endorsement, empty…..why?
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car park full or empty ??? could have left the car at home as do not drink and drive?? lowering carbon foot print so used an arriva bus OK may be not that woul;d be a trip to hell an arriva bus or public transport in general.may be food is rubbish .
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‘Andrew’ are you saying that because the kitchen staff may have been trained at
a certain collage they would not be very good?
Telford Collage doesn’t do cattering courses!
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cattering?? i do not suppose it does , im just saying they have been trained some where and if the letter writer is a catering manager of the canteen well i have ate in many country wide and they are awfull all over .
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You dont say why the establishment served you with the ‘worst meal I and my family have ever experienced’? Have you compared it to somewhere like the ‘Wacky Warehouse’?
I have been to The Pheasant on a number of occasions and found the food and service to be at a standard that I am happy with but I dont know what conditions are set to attaining stars!
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So many pub/restaurants these days are subject to the greedy interference of the breweries. Many provide “ping” meals only – microwavable foods supplied frozen by Brake Bros, which can be quite tasty, but get my goat because they’re often advertized as “Home Cooked Food” which although technically correct, is very misleading in my view. Then, the proper restaurants can be very good or very bad, subject to varying conditions on any particular night and the personal whims and expectations of individual reviewers. It’s a great shame, but greedy breweries and Chancellors continue to contribute to the decline of the great British pub and traditional pub fayre.
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6 of us ate at the Pheasant on the 16thMarch.It was the best meal we have had out for a long time. The roast beef was cooked just as it should – pink in the middle.Roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudd super. Lovely imaginative menu for starters & dessert.
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So.
Collages do cattering courses?
What has that got to do with a food review?? ;-)
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My Mum, myself & my 2 nephews also ate at The Pheasant on the 16th. we too had a great meal the Childrens menu was a delightful change from nuggets and burgers both the children cleared there plates. the staff were helpful and obliging especially when they lost gas in the kitchen due to a power cut. It is not the first time we have been there and it certainly will not be the last. Did Mark complain at the time as I am sure they would have been very upset and done all they could to make things right as it seems to be that kind of place.
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I wouldnt agree with the comments about the Pheasant itself as I have eaten there in the past and the food has always been of a decent standard however I would agree that there needs to be some standards set within the review section of the Shropshire Star itself.
This old gem was raised with the issue about the Lamb at Edgemond and I think consumers get confused when they learn that the food is better in a wacky warehouse (micro-dingable food) than a family run place.
The take over of the ‘cavery’ restaurant has also had a big impact on the amount of decent food places in and around Telford.
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food is as many chefs will tell you a very odd subject people like certain types some are happy with wacky ware house type food some expect more for that you pay more a restaurant will charge you more and should give you a good dineing experiance compared with any pub other than a wacky who has added food to there service most public houses cant afford a well paid chef so you get a pub chef a big differance.
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I agree with Mark’s comments in general, and I don’t even have a family. Finding somewhere decent to eat in this area is difficult. Some places come close to acceptable on the combination of food quality and service, but not many. For a very good meal I would expect to have to travel outside of Telford now.
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Get to the Station at Ironbridge
Yum Yum
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Do you think these ‘Collages (that)do cattering courses’ also do spelling and grammar courses?
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Tim,
It seems not, sadly…
I must admit I’ve eaten at the Pheasant, and found the food to be good quality, sourced locally and well-cooked. I would be interested to know whether or not the author complained during the meal and gave the manager the opportunity to put things right.
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