The Strafford Arms

At the end of October, four of us went to the Strafford Arms for the first time for their Viva Mexico themed night where we were promised Mexican Small Plates, Mexican Cocktails and live music with a mixture of English & Spanish songs. The food was exceptional with decent portion sizes (small plates definitely weren’t small! – just how we like them lol), the drinks were lovely (and flowing easily), the live music was heavily English biased but was still nice to have (although a little loud for some). We enjoyed; PULLED LIME & TEQUILA CHICKEN (GF) £9 – this was our favourite dish in terms of flavour, could have eaten another plate of this! FULLY LOADED NACHO FRIES (GF) £10 – another fave of ours, wow what a bowlful! Really enjoyed how much was on this plate, definitely filled us up. Didn’t spot the chips underneath all the nachos and toppings at first haha. SHREDDED LAMB SHOULDER EMPANADA, CHILLI SALSA £12 – a nice portion and spicy salsa was good, would have liked a little more filling? CHORIZO, BLACK BEAN & CORN SALSA £8 – a nice, refreshing dish Traditional Margaritas – strong & salty 😄 It was great to see many gluten free options. The service was really good, staff were friendly and food service was speedy. A lovely evening. had by all It was the first time we’d been to this cosy, country pub and I would return to try more of their food.

Lovely looking pub with plenty of outdoor seating and large car park, very close to Wentworth Castle Gardens. Interior, though of very smart and modern decor, I found to be dark and slightly depressing as it is all 'greige'. Some staff were polite and pleasant. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options available. The chunky chips were reet grand, most enjoyable, but I found the 'Panzanella salad' very overpriced at £10.95 for what was basically a green salad. It looked nicely presented but £11..... There was a wait for my order to be taken, a wait for the food to arrive and, as seems a common occurrence from other reviews, no one bothered to come and ask if everything was ok, while bar staff were chatting and laughing together. I was sat in a corner and felt a bit forgotten about. I had been told by the chap at the 'pulpit lectern' at the entrance that my table was needed by 6pm. So I found it somewhat rich to be chivvied along and told my table was needed. I stated strongly that the only reason I was still sat where I was, was because of the long waits between service. If anyone had bothered to come and check, then they would have been informed of both the chipped platter and the waiting. The affable young barman (with quality tattoos and nice smile) did proffer, unprompted, to knock the price of the dessert off my bill, so that was handled satisfactorily. It's nice to give bouquets not just cricket bats in reviews, I like to be fair. What I found really unacceptable was the large white chip in the black bowl that the salad was served in, and it wasn't the edible kind of chip. It was a good centimetre long, was glaringly obvious and no way could it be missed by either the chef arranging the salad, nor by the shruggy waitress who served it. It seemed like a case of, that'll do, she won't notice. Wrong, it does not do, nor is it right, at any price, (never mind the pricey end) to serve food in chipped broken crockery. I felt the bowl would just be going back into the system, back into the washing up. Some staff need to be more attentive and need to change their shruggy response, paying a cold, unsmiling, mechanical, lip service apology which came across as arsey and insincere. I ate the hot chips first and then tipped the complete salad into the chip bowl as I was not eating out of a badly chipped bowl. Though the dessert I had was a miniscule portion with fresh berrieS (plural), it came with one raspberry and one strawberry cut in half (for £7.95!) but hats off, it was absolutely delicious. I could taste it the whole one hour drive home, totally yummy lemon and blueberry cheesecake. And, it has to be remembered that though overpriced for the size, I was given the dessert free of charge due to the waiting times. The chips and the dessert were pretty amazing, just a shame about the other issues, little things that need to be tweaked, but I still rate it 4 star. And the barman with the tattoos was a lovely, polite young chap. Get rid of the broken crockery and never assume that it will do or be ok, that's just lazy, serving a customer with that - even charity shops through away chipped, broken crockery.