Old Swan Minster Mill

Our waitress, Natasha, gave us a warm welcome and took good care of us. The restaurant was quiet on a midweek evening, but the bar and dining area were a bit cold. We requested to move closer to the fire. The pies we ordered were a bit underwhelming and smaller than expected, considering they were a specialty. The vegetables were also served cold. The total bill, which came to nearly £70 for two mains, one dessert, and a glass of wine including service charge, felt rather pricey.

I visited The Swan pub, which used to be connected to the Minster Lovell hotel next door. I had dinner at the pub and was attended to by a young server who seemed new and inexperienced. Unfortunately, the pie I ordered on their Friday pie night was very disappointing and not up to par. The next night, I dined at the main hotel restaurant and found it to be completely empty and depressing. It felt like a place devoid of any atmosphere and not welcoming at all. I would not recommend it. My advice to the hotel owner would be to close during the Christmas period if they are not prepared to provide a positive experience for their customers.

I had high expectations for this restaurant, but after our work Christmas dinner there last night, I don't even know where to begin. The starters and desserts were okay, but the main course was terrible. Many people ordered the Roast turkey dinner and some plates had raw meat on them. I had to spit out my meal because it was so undercooked. When I informed the server about the raw turkey, she insisted that it was cooked correctly and juicy. However, the texture was off and it was clearly undercooked. The stuffing was all flour and the cabbage was rock hard. The only good thing on the plate was a roasted carrot. One person at our table didn't even receive their dinner, but they may have been lucky considering the quality of the food. The restaurant looked cozy and the tables were nicely set, but it was dark and cold inside. We had to use our phone torches to check our plates because the lighting was so poor. The radiators were barely working despite being on maximum, and the fireplace was the only source of heat in the room. The staff did not take care of it, so it kept going out constantly. The bartender did a great job and was patient with our group, but overall, the experience was a huge disappointment. We won't be returning for food.

We popped in here for lunch midweek and left feeling very disappointed. The building and surrounds are beautiful but that’s the only praise I can give. There were 3 staff behind the bar when we arrived and not one of them greeted us. They shuffled from side to side until one lady said to another member of staff “go on, you serve them”. We were told we could sit anywhere that there were “probably menus on the table”. We ordered and the food appeared very quickly but was underwhelming. My salmon and cream cheese sandwich was as basic as it gets. It was small, plonked on a huge white plate, with the merest smear of cream cheese. There wasn’t even a sprinkle of black pepper on the salmon or a twist of green pea shoot to break up the bleakness of white bread on a white plate. My husband’s Croque monsieur was similarly small and plain. We emailed our thoughts to them on our return home but almost 2 weeks later, have had no reply. We won’t be back.

Pre-booked a table for Sunday lunch, all 6 of us went for a roast beef dinner. The initial waitress to the table was asked what cut of Pork the alternative roast was, the ladies reply was “I don’t know”, she made no attempt to find out and come back to confirm. During dinner our glasses were not cleared from the table and it became a little cluttered, we also had to get up and ask for another jug of water and order more drinks from the bar. Other than the service issues I have mentioned, we found the food to be a really good standard and will return at some point.