I don't understand a lot of the negative reviews here. On a rainy stormy night we drove about 1/2…read morehour from Kent to visit this place that I had heard so much about, and the food did not disappoint. They have mint juleps at the bar, very nice! We split a caesar salad for an app, plenty for both of us, and perfectly dressed and crisp (despite some other reviewer whining about it being "bland").
For entrees, I'm not normally a meat loaf lover, but was intrigued by the inclusion of black truffle oil and marsala sauce and so ordered it. It was rather outrageously good, the accompanying summer veggies very flavorful. Partner had the seafood pot pie, very yummy except for the inclusion of fennel, which I personally do not care for. He loved it although the broth/gravy was a little thin for his taste. He plans to thicken it up a bit when he tackles the leftovers. My Cotes du Rhone wine with meal was delicious, but came in a smallish glass; could have benefited from a larger pour and a larger glass to expand the aroma.
For dessert, which we don't always order, we had some sort of perfectly decadent chocolate lava type cake with just the right amount of ice cream. Way better than any lava cake I ever had! The accompanying coffee, even my decaf, was stellar.
We sat in the room opposite the bar, at the windows next to the tumbling brook outside. Very nice atmosphere. The only mistep I would say was that when we called at 7.30 to make reso's, the gal on the phone stressed that the "kitchen closes at 8:00" and that we would have to order right away. We said okay no problem but were a tad worried about being rushed. She hung up before I could give my name and number in party. When we arrived, about 10 minutes to 8, the hostess who had answered the phone seemed confused and asked us if we were the ones who had called to see "if they were open". I said, well, we called for reservations, but you hung up before I could give my name. Despite this initial unwelcome-vibe weirdness, our waitress, Fiona, made us feel perfectly welcome and not rushed. Although she too did come to tell us, about 15 minutes in, that "the kitchen was closing" but we had already ordered and desserts weren't an issue. Something must have happened with a customer to make them gun-shy about this. In a nutshell, don't show up inside of an hour of the posted closing time if you want to be sure about getting served. And BTW the closing times on Google are incorrect; they are only open until 10 on Fridays and Saturdays, not every day.
Although it's a long drive from where we actually live, we definitely plan to come back in winter to sit next to the cozy fireplace and sample the famous chicken pot pie and shepherd's pie croquettes. My partner absolutely loved this place, and he's quite picky.