Shoulder of Mutton

What a disappointment. Waited ages for our order to be taken and when the food arrived the green vegetables on the Sunday roast were overcooked, the plates were cold and the food not hot. Nobody came to ask if everything was satisfactory as they did not seem to have enough staff to cope with the customers they had booked in. Also the waiting staff were all very young and did not seem to have had any training or understanding on how to give an efficient service. Will not be returning.

Having made a booking for Friday evening, I unfortunately had to cancel due to my wife falling ill. I phoned them up in good time, they were very understanding and advised they would refund my £20 deposit immediately. I chased up the refund a few days later as it hadn’t arrived, to be told that they had decided not to refund the deposit. Of course if I knew this was the case, I would have taken a friend - or gone solo if I had to, £20 is a lot of money! All a bit shady, reading other review looks like they are struggling at the moment - but be careful with your deposits!!

We took our friends here on Saturday evening. We sat down for a drink and the waiter approached us straight away asking for a food order. He was obviously inexperienced and lacked training as he was very nervous. We eventually ordered our food choosing 2 of there sharing boards between 4 of us. They were ok not exceptional but ok. 2 of our party had the pies I ordered the sea trout (fish of the day) and my partner ordered the duo of cod. My dish was not sea trout it was salmon and was served with the wrong side dishes so had to be sent back. The cod was so salty my partner couldn’t eat it. The owner sent it back and another one came out which was unfortunately just as salty so was not eaten. When we talked it through with the owner he defended everything we said and didn’t appear to be upset by our experience. He did offer us all a drink on the house which we declined and removed the cod dish from our bill. Very disappointed with the customer service and quality of the food served. Will never go back.

Went for an evening meal with friends when we booked they didn’t tell us it was pies only on Wednesday, which meant no starters and a very limited menu.The service was very slow and not very attentive empty glass take away and not asked would you like another drink it then took 5 minutes to get someone’s attention to order a drink a very disappointing evening will not be returning.

First impression was poor due to the very tatty state of the rear garden next to the car park.. should have been warning enough. Service was slow and essential questions missing like 'how would you like your steak?' while others like, how many glasses would you like (there were 3 of us) were asked twice. The food was terrible, broccoli was raw, yorkshires were like cardboard and rock hard despite their impressive size initally even gravy could not soften them. My steak was about 2mm thin, the peppercorn sauce had no peppercorns in it and was like grey water. Finally, when we were not asked at the end how our meal was, we volunteered some feedback to the chef which the waitress just looked annoyed about, another one returned from the kitchen and bluntly said we would get 20% off the total cost as if it was a favour, which in fact turned out to be 10% off as the 40GBP deposit had already been subtracted before the discount, so even basic mathematics fail. When we left, the young staff turned their backs towards us.

Went to the Shoulder for an evening meal with friends last night - the food was outstanding. My cod dish could easily be described as fine dining. The staff were friendly and helpful. We will definitely be frequenting the pub on a regular basis. A bit of a wait for the food but to be expected when meals are freshly prepared.

I don’t normally write reviews but after reading a few not so positive recent ones for the Shoulder of Mutton, I decided I need to write about our amazing experience First and foremost the staff were incredible. They couldn’t have done more to ensure my friends 60th birthday celebration, was special & memorable First class chef, the food was delicious. I really loved some of his creative food ideas and so well presented. My particular favourite was my Scallop & Pork starter (photo included) A perfect evening, thank you

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE! From start to finish, the entire experience was an utter mess. I booked for Mother's Day lunch and I arrived to greet my elderly mother looking rather stressed at the bar, the staff had "greeted" her with the time they expected the table back, the table that wasn't even ready for us even though I was running a little late (with 2 young children in tow). The service was appalling, the staff were extremely rude, particularly one lady who kept coming to our table to rush us along, I asked for a portion of chips, to which she said she had to ask the kitchen and I was told they would "make an acception" for us! Eternally grateful. We had 6 different members of staff at different points attempt to serve us- took 4 people to get us a very small ketchup... no one had any idea what they were doing. The cutlery and glassware was filthy, we had to ask for clean ones. The menu was not explained prior to the booking or during our visit (I would've preferred to have known it was going to be a fixed price set menu as it was so limited), instead we were thrown a crumpled bit of dirty A4 paper with the "choices" on. We did not want to stay for course 2 but were rudely told they would not adjust the price if we didn't. I'll hazard a guess to say that they had booked too many covers over the day, and I appreciate Mother's Day can get busy (and we expected less choices on the menu) but I am unsure why it was so painful as the restaurant was not full. The food was also average, which is a shame as we'd heard good things. I thought as we were ushered out of the door (couldn't wait to leave) that they had partly redeemed themselves as we were handed a very small bunch of daffodils each, but quickly realised they were dead... just like the atmosphere. I can confidently say that we will never be going back.

Our first visit since The Brothers took over and wow! Wonderful food, atmosphere, service and a beautifully refurbished interior. Now our favourite place to eat in the whole of Milton Keynes. Can't wait to return. Such an asset to our beautiful village.