Bumpkin

Start with the positives - like the atmosphere - casual, homey, rustic. Friendly Service. Great mac & cheese. But on mains - big let downs and I have tried the restaurant twice. A fish pie which was bland and had bones in it. tried a fish fillet special another night and the portion was tiny, and again they did not debone at all, so was stuck with this small fillet riddled with bones which was overcooked. Swing and miss guys.
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3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, January 13, 2010

My boyfriend and I went for the special set menu on New Year's Eve (70 quid pp). We had eaten here before and had a very good meal. However, this time around the service ruined our experience. It took 45 minutes before our first food arrived - despite being a set menu. The waiter was very nice but unreliable. We had to ask for more water three times and the gaps between courses were inexplicably long. Our meal took three hours in total! It was not just our table, we saw several other tables complaining and having to chase down staff as well. As for the food, the starters and sides were good, but the main (roast beef) was undercooked. We asked for medium rare, but what we got was very rare and fatty. To cap off a disappointing evening, immediately after the clock struck midnight, the speakers started blaring some unknown hip hop, which may have been cool in a club, but totally inappropriate at an expensive restaurant. Overall, very shambolic and a letdown.
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SummerD - View all reviews by this user
5 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Friday, January 01, 2010

Went to the place ages ago when it first opened and was disappointed. However heard good things with a new management do thought we would give it another go and try the sunday lunch. all of us ordered the roast beef , which they said came with all the trimmings with the cauliflower cheese on the side. turned up with no yorkshire pudding - when i asked they said they had run out !? so how difficult is it to make yorkshire pud - not very, it takes 15 minutes flour eggs and milk - so no excuse . they also said they had run out of all other veg advertised on the menu. the kitchen is open plan and the 2 chefs seem to be doing very little. in fact i get the impression this is one of those "kitchen nightmare places " where the chefs are actually running the place with arrogant complacency. the cauliflower cheese was a disgrace - boiled undercooked cauliflower in a bowl with a gluey thick sauce on top . the roast potatoes were 3 small new potatoes that looked like they may have been shallow fried. for gods sake who difficult is it to get this right?? do these people just not care or have they never tasted a decent roast dinner?.

in summary a culinary disaster that was ludicrously overpriced.
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3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Monday, November 30, 2009

Having read so many good press reviews, I was really looking forward to treating my wife to a nice Sunday lunch. We were disappointed on many levels. The lady who initially greeted us downstairs (perhaps the manager?) was very nice, welcoming and friendly but when we went upstairs it seemed like we'd entered a different place. The service was aloof and a bit haphazard (eg had to ask for more cutlery, sauces for meats, jug of gravy that was on the menu but didn't arrive). I had the lamb which was quite nice but not great. My wife's beef was superb by comparison. Everything was warm but not that hot. The veg was nice but we were only given a few tiny potatoes. The puddings were very nice but, again small portions. I thought for what we had - and compared to other restaurants and good gastropubs - it was not good value. We had a bottle of very nice Montepulciano but the mark up on this wine was too high. None of this would have mattered if the food and service met the price because it would have seemed good value. No-one asked how our meal was, no-one said goodbye to us and when we left there was no-one downstairs so we didn't have the chance to tell anyone. We booked a table at 14:30 as there were only 2 sittings available, the other being 12:00 - maybe there's message there about the risks of booking a late lunch.
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Terry Coyne - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Monday, November 09, 2009

After reading the reviews below I had to ask myself...are they talking about the same restaurant I went to today? I only have 2 words for this place: MAJORLY OVERRATED and A MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT! Ok, so that was 6 words, but THAT’S how terrible I thought it was. First off, there was no ala carte menu available and I had no choice but to eat from the Sunday Roast menu. And at £ 23.50 a head (for 2 courses), I was expecting nothing short of spectacular on my plate.

What I got instead were two ridiculously miniscule slices of beef (which was mostly fat), an overly cooked Yorkshire pudding and a side of very mediocre roasted veg. When I thought it couldn’t get any worse, we got presented with our ‘dessert’- ‘cheese smorgasbord’. It may as well have been made for a 2 year old. It LITERALLY was a plate with 2 slices of cheese (mild camembert and cheddar) the size of my pinkie and 4 pieces of crackers, each the size of my toenail. I mean SERIOUSLY!?

My friends and I were so hungry after our ‘meal’ that we ended up stuffing our face with some delicious duck rice and REAL cheese (I’m talking Roquefort, Gorgonzola and Blue) from elsewhere.

Conclusion: I am, by no means a cheapskate, but I don’t believe in paying more than what the food deserved. This place is highly overpriced and completely not worth it.
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Fatty Cat
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Sunday, November 08, 2009

I've eaten at Bumpkin several times all of which have been exceptional. The food is excellent and good value. However, I dined there this evening and it took over two hours to finish our meal as the food took an incredibly long time to arrive despite several complaints to our waitress. When we addressed our concerns to the manager at the conclusion of our meal (as this was obviously not our waitresses fault), the manager had the temerity to argue with us about how long it took for the food to come out. Needless to say, we were less than impressed with this sort of nonchalant brush off. Perhaps it takes three hours to dine at a top restaurant where you have 8-10 courses, but 2 hours for two starters, four mains and one dessert is ridiculous. I'll go back, but I hope to God that the good manager is there.
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Brad
6 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Friday, August 21, 2009