Quick Facts About The Mary Beale Restaurant
The Mary Beale Restaurant has received a mix of positive and negative comments from customers. In order to analyze the strengths and weaknesses, we will examine each comment individually.
From the first comment, it is evident that the strengths of the restaurant lie in its friendly staff and special ambiance. The outdoor seating area with umbrellas and heaters is also a positive attribute. Customers also mention that the food looks amazing and tastes great, which is an important strength for any restaurant. The restaurant is recommended for a special occasion, indicating that it provides a memorable experience. Additionally, the staff is commended for providing an unexpected birthday dessert.
However, the comment also reveals a weakness in the form of inconsistent food temperature. The customer mentions that the lamb meals were served just about warm at best, suggesting that the food may have been left waiting before being served. This can negatively affect the dining experience and needs to be improved upon.
In the second comment, the customer expresses disappointment with the restaurant compared to previous visits. They describe the menus as pretentious and confusing, with descriptive terms that are difficult to understand. This indicates a weakness in menu design and presentation. The billing process is also mentioned as a weakness, with the staff having challenges in charging for set menu costs separately. This resulted in an overcharge and created embarrassment for the customer.
On the positive side, the service is described as reasonably attentive and the restaurant provides a quiet atmosphere for conversation. However, the menu is criticized for being limited and the food presentation and quality are deemed average. This suggests a potential weakness in variety and culinary execution.
The third comment praises the beautiful area of the restaurant, the talented pianist, and the attentive manager. This highlights the strengths of the restaurant in terms of its ambiance and customer service. The food receives mixed reviews with the arancini lacking the expected flavor of crab, but the roast beef and dessert being enjoyable. Overall, the customer had an amazing afternoon and praises the staff for a special birthday dessert.
In the fourth comment, the customer expresses dissatisfaction with their afternoon tea experience. They mention issues with the bar person not being knowledgeable about mocktails and the tea being undrinkable due to its strength. The presence of a hair on the tablecloth and one of the scones is a major weakness that is emphasized. Additionally, the lack of responsiveness from the staff when the tea needed to be changed is mentioned as a negative attribute. The piano player's choice of music is also criticized, suggesting a disconnection with modern preferences.
The fifth comment provides a positive review of the afternoon tea, describing it as fresh and delicious. This highlights the strength of the restaurant in terms of its food quality and selection.
The sixth comment praises the enjoyable dinner experience with family. The food is described as unpretentious, wholesome, and well-cooked, indicating a strength in terms of culinary execution. The restaurant's location in a parkland is also mentioned as a positive attribute. However, the service is criticized for being slightly slow, which can be seen as a weakness.
The final comment briefly mentions positive aspects such as polite and positive staff, a wide choice of food, and fresh coffee.
In conclusion, The Mary Beale Restaurant has several strengths, including friendly staff, a special ambiance, and good food. However, there are areas that need improvement, such as inconsistent food temperature, confusing menus, billing issues, and slow service. The presence of hair in the food is a significant weakness that needs to be addressed. Despite these weaknesses, the restaurant has received positive comments in terms of its location, music, and overall dining experience.
Best TL Reviews
We have been several times before, staff are friendly and the ambience makes the night always feel that little bit special. They have a lovely big outdoor seating area with Umbrella and heaters outside. We attended for my husbands belated Birthday with friends and whilst the food looked amazing and tasted great the 2 Lamb meals were served just about warm at best ...so had obviously been left waiting somewhere before we got it, we did let staff know so hopefully this can be avoided in future. We would most definitely recommend this place for a special occasion ???? and thank you for unexpected little birthday dessert my hubby loved it!!
It is some time since my previous visit and sad to say the restaurant food leaves me cold compared with the past. There was a set lunch menu as well as the full menu to choose from but in both cases the six of us felt that the menus were pretentious, with descriptive terms that not many would understand, thereby creating a false impression of superior cuisine aimed at the aficionados of quality dining.
Needless to say, some of us chose from the set menu and some from the main menu which so complicated the billing because the staff had no means of charging the set price menu costs without charging for each element. Needless to say the bill was wrong and some embarrassment was created by having to call the attention of the manager to a substantial overcharge.
Nevertheless the service was reasonably attentive and with sound absorbing carpet on the floor, conversation was possible without having to raise voices which I personally treasure these days when eating out.
We felt that the menu was somewhat limited and the food presentation and quality was alright although not up to expectation bearing in mind the content of the menus as mentioned above.
The area we sat in was beautiful, the pianist played beautifully. The staff were a little bit disorganised but the gentlemen I believed to be the manager was very attentive and very helpful and professional. The arancini were meant to be crab, nice but didn't taste any crab. The roast beef was nice and so was my desert.
But we had an absolutely amazing afternoon, sat there for over 5hrs and really enjoyed our afternoon . Everyone of our party 15 had a lovely time. So a really big thank you .
And thank you to the staff for the special birthday desert with a candle for my brother.
Hair in scone!
Was really looking forward to coming to West Lodge Park Hotel for an afternoon tea as we hadn't been in over a decade.
Knew from the off that it wouldn't be perfect when we asked the bar person to make a mocktail. Only 2 choices avail and even then he had to look at the ingredients online to make it!
Got seated and when my wife's Earl Grey tea came, it was way too strong and undrinkable. Fortunately the replacement green mint tea was much better.
What really cheesed me off was initially finding a hair on the white table cloth, but this was compounded but seeing a hair on one of the scones (see photo).
When my wife asked one of the male workers to change the tea, he never came back again, so we had to ask our initial server to do this. Luckily she was good at her job unlike a couple of the others we noticed who were shirking.
I must not forget to mention the piano tuner. Although the hotel will call him the resident piano player, the tunes he played were mainly Elton John & Queen tracks and on occasion he would try and sing a chorus from each tune. Piano person and muzak, both out of time and not comforting to hear in the 21st century. Don't get me wrong, I'm over 50 but I'd prefer to hear something from this millennium.
Will I come back here, not for a long time, and trying to forget about the hairs will take some time.
Amazing afternoon tea. Everything was fresh and delicious.
Very enjoyable dinner with family. Food is unpretentious but wholesome and well cooked. Lovely location at hotel in it's own parkland. Only thing stopping a 5? Service a tiny bit slow.
Wane the soux chef surpassed himself
It was a fantastic experience. Polite positive members stuff. Approaching you straight, big choice off food. Fresh coffee.
Place Pictures
The Mary Beale Restaurant Info
Amenities
Service options
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Outdoor seating
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Dine-in
Health and safety
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Staff required to disinfect surfaces between visits
Highlights
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Great tea selection
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Live music
Accessibility
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Wheelchair-accessible car park
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Wheelchair-accessible entrance
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Wheelchair-accessible toilet
Offerings
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Alcohol
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Beer
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Cocktails
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Coffee
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Healthy options
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Spirits
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Vegetarian options
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Wine
Dining options
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Breakfast
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Lunch
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Dinner
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Dessert
Amenities
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Bar on site
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High chairs
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Toilets
Atmosphere
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Cosy
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Romantic
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Upmarket
Crowd
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Family friendly
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Groups
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LGBTQ+ friendly
Planning
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Accepts reservations
Payments
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Debit cards
Today
Opening Hours
| Monday | 08:00 AM - 11:00 PM |
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| Tuesday | 08:00 AM - 11:00 PM |
| Wednesday | 08:00 AM - 11:00 PM |
| Thursday | 08:00 AM - 11:00 PM |
| Friday | 08:00 AM - 11:00 PM |
| Saturday | 08:00 AM - 11:00 PM |
| Sunday | 08:00 AM - 11:00 PM |
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Location
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