Guest User
December 26, 2023
Myself and my family visited the Blue Boar on Christmas Day, and upon arrival were told by the manager (presumably) that there would be a 12.5% service charge on top of the £95 a head price of the meal, which turned out to be over £100. As it was Christmas, we thought this was included in the price as this wasn’t advertised when we booked the meal. Of course, we understand that a service charge is applied, especially on Christmas Day, but the lack of communication regarding this from management was a bit shoddy! We pre-ordered our meal and our starters came out really rapidly which was great! But the starters themselves were slightly lacklustre. Myself and 4 others had a mushroom parfait with a slice of toast which was pleasant but not mind blowing, and the rest of the table had prawn cocktail. The food server didn’t know which portions were kids and which were adults, but it turns out the children had more prawns than the adults in their meals? The main course came out shortly afterwards, and disappointed is an understatement. Four people at our table were vegetarian and chose the option of ‘sage and onion stuffed cauliflower’ with various vegetables. The cauliflower was burnt (not charred) and had NO FLAVOUR, no reminence of sage and onion at all. The vegetables were cold and we couldn’t believe how small the portions were for the £95 a head price! My brother was also told that they ran out of the roasted cauliflower so they replaced it with boiled cauliflower. So he essentially had a plate of boiled veg. It was awful and nothing comparable to a Christmas dinner, like many other places offer for vegetarians. In comparison, the meat option that the other family members had was described as ‘mediocre’. The only saving grace was the dessert option of Sticky Toffee Apple Pudding which was beautiful, but again, tiny portions for the price. At the end of the meal, included in the set menu were coffees and truffles. After waiting for 20 minutes, we asked if we were still having coffee and truffles and the server was very helpful and got our coffees out very quickly. She was called Emma, and was friendly, professional and was whizzing about the place, clearing tables and looking after guests the whole time. We are very disappointed at how the meal turned out on Christmas Day and wouldn’t recommend any vegetarians/vegans to eat there next year during Christmas time, as there was a lack of effort put into the veggie option.