The Swan Hotel, Stafford

"Unfortunately the food was truly terrible"

Booked a table for 7, a rare family get together with people travelling to meet together to celebrate several birthdays and a wedding anniversary. Booked in part due to the variety on the menu, reasonable prices and the setting. Had not experienced problems here before but it is some time since we had a meal here. Three of the meals were simply inedible. The risotto was completely tasteless and the wrong consistency, we would literally score it zero out of ten. The 2 x chicken and ham hock pies had to be returned as they were like a brick. The replaced versions were then like leather and undercooked. The pastry was just inedible, both were left. This also meant that family ate at different time. The rest of the meals ranged from an average Sunday roast (nice yorkshire pudding, tough pork, one pig in blanket and limited amount of vegetables, although cooked appropriately). The tofu was overcooked and bland. The salmon was nice.
The serving staff were pleasant and helpful and although our food was slow arriving they were responsive. We had a round table which was nice as we could all interact. The restaurant itself was cold and my elderly parents kept on their jackets. Parking was easy and free. The 'manager' did acknowledge our concerns and deducted the price of the meals from the bill as well as offering a further 25% off which was done without argument. We were informed that it was a new chef and she hoped we would return and see improvements. However, being new does not excuse the standard of the food and regretfully there were just too many issues for this to be a 'one off'. It was really disappointing. I hope that there will be changes to the menu and/or standard because the town needs some decent restaurants and The Swan has been considered a reliable option.

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