Tonight the Nolan family went out for my Mum’s 24th birthday to the newly reopened Swan restaurant in the heart of Argleton Aughton. The Swan along with the West Tower and another place in Cheshire are part of Marco’s new northern franchises – owned locally but using MPW’s brand. No idea what his involvement is in the business but he didn’t serve our drinks!
With the Swan only opening on Monday evening I’d expected a few rough edges and there were some but nothing serious. The Somerset cider wasn’t on leaving Gaymers in its place and the beer selection was much reduced. Bottled ales available should’ve been Bombardier, Old Speckled Hen, Black Sheep and Hobgoblin but the latter two weren’t yet on. There was a decent looking selection of wines with a few available by the glass.
For our 7pm reservation a choice of menus was available. A La Carte gave enough choice to satisfy anyone, albeit at a price while the table menu (I forget the fancy French name for it) gave a choice of three starters, mains and deserts at a very good price.
I’m going to try to avoid sounding like a cheesy food critic from a local newspaper (“my dining partner chose the duck and it looked fabulous“) and stick to what I ate – they can add a comment about their own food. For starters I had carrot and mace soup. I was slightly disappointed mace in this case wasn’t a medaevil weapon or a spray police use for apprehending criminals – that certainly would’ve taken dinner in a different direction but it was very good.
For mains, while everyone else chose lamb (shit, I promised not to mention others’ food) I had to go for steak. It turned up cooked medium-rare to perfection served on an oversize plate with a slice of tomato and a stack of onion rings. When challenged, the waiter told me it didn’t come with chips but he must still be learning the menu as almost by magic some turned up neatly arranged on a side plate a minute later. Certainly quality over quantity when it comes to chunks of cow but I’d rate it in my top 15 steaks of all time.
People who’ve been out to dinner with me before will know that I have an unstoppable impulse to buy whatever desert looks closest to chocolate fudge cake provided it isn’t black forest gateaux. This time that happened to be chocolate truffle and it was very, very nice. Almost but not quite too rich it was served with rasberry coulée (thankfully seperate – why ruin a good chocolate desert with fruit?) and a dollop of something resembling warm vanilla ice cream.
Coffee – not part of the menu – and served with a “rose jelly” finished off the meal. In case you’re wondering, “rose jelly” looked quite a lot like Turkish Delight – the stuff dusted in icing sugar not the chocolate covered one made by Kraft.
I know it was a Tuesday night but I’d have thought it would be busier on it’s second night. I’ve not heard much about it though so perhaps they’re going for the soft launch. They’ve done a good job of sprucing the place up and while not radically different to the previous incarnation it feels more like a restaurant and a little less like a hotel lobby from an episode of Poirot.
So that leaves just one thing you’ve all been waiting for – cost! Three courses, coffee and a drink came to around £25 per head which I think is very good value. The a la carte menu looks like it could easily add up to double that and some numbers further down the wine menu made my eyes bleed but for a top class restaurant in Argleton, it can’t be matched.
I’ve got to ask… ’24th birthday’??
Maybe add 36 years to that
new expression “I am so hungry I could eat a desert” “waiter waiter can i have a desert sand-wich?”
when is your book on spelling and grammar due out Mike?
After looking forward to dining at Marco Pierre Whites Restaurant we were highly disgusted in both the service and food that was served!
On arriving we were seated to our table and 15minutes later we got asked if we would like any drinks. Once drinks ordered a second waitress came to the table and asked us for drinks, this also happened when we ordered desserts. The Staff did not know there left arm to right, no communication and a lot of snobby looks where involved.
We all received starters at different times, we all were impressed with the starters but then the failures came into place. After the waitress cleared our starter plates 20minutes after finishing, 3 waiters came to the table and was about to put the same starters on our table, after explaining that we have already eaten ours they moved along all the other tables until they found the right people (can they not count tables or know what food is going to which table number?)
Main Meal – 3 of the group received theirs first, 10 minutes later, 3 more received theirs, 10 minutes later the rest of the group received theirs, really bad management as all members of group are normally ment to receive their meals at the same time. One of our group ordered lamb and vegetables, this had to be sent back 2 times as the lamb and vegetables was cold, after speaking to the manager the group member decided to not have anything else and did not have a main course. The manager and staff did not see the problem in this as just snarled and walked away (customer service skills were not seen)
After ordering dessert (twice) the desserts came out at different times again. Member of our group ordered the raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake. Only to find 6 areas of MOULD on the side of the base. We shouted the manager over and he tried to explain that it was not mould and it was the raspberries. We then had to explain to him that raspberries are red and not Green! He stormed off with the dessert without an apology. A fresh cheesecake was brought out and the same manager tried to explain that it was not mould but was blueberries off another dessert. Again we had to explain that blueberries are blue and not green and there were no blueberries on the dessert menu at the time.
Overall a VERY BAD experience and would not go back and would not recommend anyone else to go there! The staff are very unhelpful and are more concerned about their hair, make up and self appearance to actually notice that bad food, bad service, and very unhappy customers.
Dress Code – on the door and website it clearly states “Smart/casual. Strictly no sportswear or trainers” however when seated we noticed 2 people next to us was wearing shorts, trainers and sports t-shirt, however these people seemed to know all the staff personally so am guessing it is ok for them to do this.
Really very disappointing overall!!!
I have been and to the Swan many times for lunch and dinner, the food and service has always been first class. I think the prices extremely reasonable. Had you made your strident comments known to the Manager he would have done all in his power to rectify them.