We went to this restaurant for an anniversary dinner. It has a reputation for being one of durham's better restaurants, however, I had been told by a colleague that they had been and found it overrated.
We arrived on a beautiful summer's evening to the restaurant which is situated on a country lane which leads to woodland. The location is quite idyllic. As we entered the restaurant we were greeted and shown to a waiting area where we ordered drinks and waited to be shown to our table. When we went in to the dining area we saw that there was only one other party in there and were curious as to why we had had to wait (we had made a reservation).
The starters were fine, very pleasant, although nothing spectacular. For our main course I had ordered the steak with Jenga fries and my wife had a dish called three ways with pork. My steak arrived as a mound of quivering meat, and whilst I am a confirmed carnivore I found it quite offputting. It was quite fatty and definitely not the best steak I had ever had. The jenga fries were too thick and hadn't been cooked through properly. It was a bit like eating warm raw potato. The pork dish looked a lot better, nicely presented. However, for a dish named three ways with pork, they all tasted remarkably similar, and the taste was quite bland and uninspiring. The meal was saved by a delicious desert, some chocolate confection, but the atmosphere of the place was not particularly welcoming. Throughout the evening, contemporary jazz was piped in at a level too high to ignore. If you weren't a contemporary jazz fan, then it spoilt the evening. It may have been beacause it was a Monday but the staff gave me the feeling that they'd like us to finish quickly so they could lock up. Yes, it was obviously a slow evening, but that was hardly our fault. In all, I found the pumphouse to be overrated and over priced, which is a shame as it's location deserves better. read more
