Vintage Inns have recently launched a Vegan menu. The menu itself looks very appetising and we were quite excited at the prospect of trying it. Sadly the food and the overall experience were disappointing.
The food:
For mains I ordered the spiced chickpea, aubergine & spinach burger and my partner ordered the roasted vegetable tart.
When they arrived I must admit that we were both shocked! The burger was absolutely tiny as was the bread it was served on. 90% of my plate was completely empty except for an artistic smear of dairy-free pesto. Likewise the roasted vegetable tart sat in the middle of the plate without any accompaniment whatsoever.
My burger was, at best, average. It was much like the sort of breadcrumbed frozen vegetable burger that you get at most supermarkets and the pesto and tomato dip, whilst quite tasty, did not do much to prevent my disappointment. The kale and cauliflower couscous salad that was served with it was also tiny, bland and if anything made the whole course even more dissatisfying.
The roasted vegetable tart was tasty but, to repeat, it came without any accompaniment! Imagine ordering a pie at a restaurant and it arriving, sat in the middle of the plate, without anything other than a few smears of pesto and tomato.
Both main courses were circa £11 each.
The dessert was more impressive and we both ordered the apple pie (our first choice desserts had not been available). We asked if they could swap the raspberry coulis that it was meant to come with for coconut milk sorbet which was reluctantly agreed to. As I say, this course was much more enjoyable and the portion size was acceptable.
Service:
When we arrived we ordered drinks at the bar before being shown to our seats. During the course of our meal we weren't asked whether we wanted to order any further drinks and the service generally was poor to average. Very young staff who seemed a little out of their depth.
Other Comments:
When we walked into The Cheshire Cat there was a stool to the right of the doorway with a laptop on it. Clearly this was used to show bookings for both the restaurant and the hotel. I know this as the screen was on full view and I could see the name of everybody staying at the hotel, eating in the restaurant, checking-out that day etc etc. Not very professional and probably in breach of data protection laws!
Prior to booking I noticed on the Vintage Inns website that 3 of their restaurants (2 in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and 1 in Northumberland) were showing under North WEST England rather than North EAST England. Obviously they could be missing out on customers because of this so I emailed them to make them aware of the errors. They have now updated their website but I have not had any correspondence thanking me. Kind of sums up their service overall!
Summary:
Laughable portion sizes and average food. Disinterested service.
Not recommended. read more
