Appleby Inn - North West Leicestershire

There were only 4 of us for lunch, but they still got the main course order wrong. I didn't want to lead to an upswing, even if the waitress offered to change it, I accepted the wrong court, especially as she said that she would. but when the bill came, it wasn't ours. when the next bill was presented, it had been corrected for our table, but not for the wrong main course. for the third time luck came with a weak apology and two extra mint chocolate! although eating was good, a certain training in customer relations is clearly necessary. fortunately, this visit was with friends, God forbids when it was about business.

We were very helpful for a night, and we were able to leave early in our room for which we were so grateful. the room was large, comfortable and had everything we would expect in a 4* hotel room. the breakfast was plentiful, hot and tasty. total excellent value for the money. thank you.

A small jewel found halfway through our journey from york to wales. Eating and drinks were excellent both for lunch and dinner and good value for money. breakfast next morning included in the price. will recommend

They must have had a bad night that my friend asked for well done steak and it was ****. I had a broccoli baker and the cut kartoffels were hard..and my pet hate we were asked what drinks we wanted, even before we had taken off our weights.

So, a group of friends and I went to The Appleby. We arrived at 6.30pm and had drinks, we ordered our food at 7.05pm. First thing I need to say, when our food arrived, it bore no relation to the photos on the website! Second...thing I need to say, this venue is going for as many people as possible through its doors. I understand that, hospitality has taken a beating with the epidemic but there were tables and diners everywhere!! It was like a school dining hall noisy, totally lacking any atmosphere, and the decor is just bland. Anyway, we ordered two mixed grills at £19.50 each, a fillet steak at £24 (with sauce), two gammon at £12.95 each, two sirloin steaks at £19.25 each (with sauce) so, let's be honest, this is not cheap pub grub. Therefore the expectation is high. After various requests to find out where the food was, we finally received an answer, your food will be slow because we are busy .. Forgive me, but you being busy is not my concern. If your infrastructure cannot cope with the number of diners you are bringing through the door then reduce your aspirations rather than penalise the diner!! The food arrived at 8.25pm, so 80 minutes after we had ordered it. The mixed grills are just a massive undertaking piled onto a plate which is too small so you cannot eat them without sending food across the table. The sirloins steaks were ordered as rare and medium they both arrived rare. The gammon steaks were two ends of the spectrum. One was well presented and delicious. The other was tossed onto a plate and a sizeable proportion of the steak was inedible fat. The fillet steak was ordered medium and delivered as very rare which upset my guest. It was sent back to the kitchen where it was returned some ten minutes later in exactly the same cooked state except for a fresh smothering of sauce and a fresh onion ring. Table staff were informed of the situation and they advised on 3 separate occasions that a manager would attend the table. A manager never did attend the table and the table attendant took it upon themselves to remove the steak from the final bill. Let's talk desserts. We ordered a lemon tart, three brownies, a fudge cake and bread butter pudding. The lemon tart was ok. The brownies were all cold despite being advertised as served warm'. The fudge cake was either still frozen or going stale at the outer edge as it was biscuit hard. The bread butter pudding was a claim waiting to happen!! When the dish was placed in front of my guest, the custard was visibly bubbling as it was so hot. Whether it had been microwaved and forgotten or left on a hob, goodness knows BUT had a child been represented with that dish, a serious scalding of the mouth could have occurred. It was an incredibly irresponsible act verging on stupidity. Once all the desserts had been attempted and ten minutes had passed, the custard was still piping hot. This meal with drinks (which were predominantly soft drinks as everyone was driving) cost £197 without the fillet steak. That is a lot of money to pay for something which was, at best, mediocre pub grub. I did tip the table guy because that table team were working incredibly hard all night and none of the fault lay with him. I had not been to The Appleby for probably 3 or 4 years as I was of the opinion that the food and venue was bland. I gave it another shot and left with the opinion that the venue is still bland and the food is very overpriced, mediocre pub grub. Maybe the kitchen team could deliver a higher quality if there were not being asked to feed so many diners. Having said that, I have eaten in venues with 200+ covers and the food was consistently excellent. Thankfully, my guests were very understanding and the evening was not ruined by the choice of venue.