The Plough Inn At Brackenfield

Met with family to enjoy a meal and a few drinks. Left disappointed and feeling cheated.A lot has changed in the last 12 months , it seems the Plough have increased costs and reduced portion sizes.Orders were incorrect, started off with the drinks order, rose wine instead of red, no ice for the cokes and a 3 4 filled glass of lemon and lime.Food order needed to be clarified a few times and then when it came, utter disbelief at the portion sizes.Unsure on why it is now acceptable to offer such small portions at such an increased cost. The homemade burger and chips for example, yes the burger itself was nice, but the chips..... They needed longer in the fryer, and then to only have 8 small chips, it was laughable, the whole tables worth of chips probably only amounted to 3 potatoes worth.The homemade coleslaw.... Well it was missing from all the meals that stated it should have been served with.£15 for a burger in a brioche bun, 8 chips and a small salad few pieces of lettuce, it was totally unacceptable.Then there is the pricing of the desserts, at £7 a portion it seemed way overpriced, needless to say, where normally all 6 of us would have had one if it had been £4.50 £5 a portion, we left without ordering. A missed trick there by the Plough, seems their greed of trying to maximise revenue has backfired as none of our party ordered, which could have been another £30 on the bill, plus another round of drinks. An expensive night at £130, I can't say I will be returning soon. Far better choices nearby, will probably explain why the car park and seating area at The Horse and Jockey was full when we passed on the way home. 2 stars at a push, that's only due to the nice pint and the burger itself

Have to say everything was just right for this visit on a damp cold day. The pods are a great idea with brilliant views. Lunchtime menu is not shown on website, but extensive. Service was friendly and efficient. Food was great and good value. Well Don to the whole team. We ll definitely be back

Food horrendous, steak came out blue when asked for medium rare. Was told whilst getting my food that one of the sides were not in stock and if I wanted another... should have sorted this prior to bringing our food. Service was so poor that we only managed two round of drinks in the space of 4 hours. In fact it took staff 40 minutes before they even came and greeted us.. told us food was an hour wait and yet there were only 4 other tables in the whole place? I came here with my partner and her sister thinking ‘ooo lovely looking pub in nice location’ but yet so disappointing... with the right ownership this place could be made amazing. Owners managers improvement is needed.

We’ve already give the new owners one try and we’re not impressed at all. Anyway after a tough 6 months for everyone we like everyone else realised that our local businesses need us locals more than ever so we decided to forget about last time and give the plough another try! Really wish we’d of given our trade to another local company! The menu is an absolute rip off I mean come on who can charge £18 for fish and chips?! £16 for a vegetarian dish, there’s a pub 30 seconds drive away where you can get a steak for that. My husband was a chef for 26 years when he saw the prices he shook his head said “they’re trying to recoup all their losses out of the poor customers”The food itself is to a very poor standard and sort of just thrown on the plate, we were thrown in a room with two other couples which I didn’t think was great when the rest of the pub was empty? When we finished we spoke to another table who said it was their first time and they wouldn’t be returning. None of us were asked if everything was okay with our food. All in all a really poor performance I really don’t see this pub lasting much longer, I have to drive past twice a day with work and it’s always empty. My advice spend your hard earned money somewhere where you get good value for money. This is certainly not the place.

We visited this pub on a Saturday night for a meal with friends. Overall we had a good experience but we found the food to be average quality and quite overpriced. Starters were edible but nothing special. Our mains were good size portions the lasagne was tasty but came with no garnish of salad or peas just garlic bread . Chips were at extra cost if you wanted them to add to an already expensive meal £16) we looked at the menu and all commented on the pricing eg £18 for fish and chips. Would recommend the burger as it looked lovely but again was expensive for what it was.I feel that if the food reflected the price I would be happy to pay this but more effort needs to go into presentation and quality.The pub itself felt covid safe but we noticed a large amount of flies in the bar and restaurant areas this has been mentioned on other reviews.Lovely location but think if we visit again it will only be for drinks