The Horse Shoe in Powys

We had booked the Horseshoe Inn for our company Christmas Dinner and when we arrived we were kindly shown to our table, which looked neat, clean and tidy as one would expect from a professional catering operation. We were all in a positive frame of mind and were comfortable enough enjoying each others’ company. Sadly, I have nothing good to say about the food from the Christmas menu, an opinion that was shared by a fair number of my colleagues. MAINS: The meat dishes featured generously sized slabs of overcooked, tough meat smothered in bland packet-style gravy to disguise the crimes committed in the course of its preparation. Also the salmon was very dry and the sauce appeared to be a left-over prawn cocktail from the starter menu that was tipped over the top - a bizarre combination of flavours and unfortunate for the customer who already had the prawn cocktail as a starter! The vegetarian Wellington suffered from a pastry that was rather soggy and the filling was all in all a hard to define characterless mush. The vegetables were unimaginatively boiled in water and distinctly lacking in taste. PUDDINGS: The puddings appeared to have been bought in cheaply and were not even reaching the quality of a supermarket dessert. I restrain myself here and will only comment on the sticky toffee pudding. Cooking time was an issue yet again, a stodgy sugary mass instead of a melt-in-the-mouth experience. We did not say anything, as it did not seem to make sense and would have felt unkind to complain about a cook who was obviously not very practiced in catering for groups, let alone understood how to prepare a tasty meal in the first place. I would suggest hiring a different chef and focussing on creating a small but tasty menu! On a positive note: We enjoyed each others’ company and had a nice evening in a comfortable setting. The front of house staff were friendly!

Having been told The Horseshoe was good for food, Sunday lunch especially, so we decided to go for the Christmas menu, the first course was good however the main course of Traditional roast turkey left a lot to be desired, Turkey was plentiful and warm, the pigs in blankets were burnt to a cinder, as was the roar parsnip, the roast potatoes skin on, looked lovely, it looks they had been pre cooked and warmed up? Which was a shame as they were fluffy inside. Each meal was served with a Yorkshire pudding they were so overcooked and burnt they disintegrated when cutting, stuffing was rolled into balls, again not cooked but clearly had been warmed up. Sprouts had just been showed the water Dessert of Christmas pudding came with ice cream which tasted like banana and a brandy sauce, perhaps put some brandy in next time. It was a shame as we had received a lovely welcome and were really looking forward to our meal at the Horseshoes this was our first visit, we will give the benefit of the doubt hoping although there were few people in, that this was just a bad one off based on other reviews and comments. Please staff look at plates before sending out to paying customers.

We stayed for two nights at Smithy Cottage, adjacent to the pub, to celebrate my birthday and our wedding anniversary. Apart from the weather, everything was perfect from the moment we arrived. We booked in both nights for an evening meal - the food was lovely but it was the staff that made everything extra special. Darren, Tom and the rest of the team certainly went the extra mile to make us feel welcome and valued. Thank you for a lovely weekend!

My wife and I were staying in a B&B in Berriew which didn’t cook evening meals on a Sunday, so we decided to try this inn for our dinner. We arrived without reservations, but were quickly shown to a table by a very pleasant member of staff who immediately took our drinks order. The drinks arrived and we ordered our food soon after. It didn’t take long for the food to arrive, and it looked very well presented. My wife had lasagne, which she told me was hot and tasty, however my steak and ale pie with chips was not quite so. Again, my meal was hot, but the meat in the pie was very grisly, which was a shame as the pastry was excellent. The chips and beans with my meal were first class, so absolutely no problems with them. As we ate our meal the chef came out and asked if everything was okay with the food. I told him about the meat in the pie, to which he laughed and then walked away. Now, what’s the point in asking me about my meal if you are not going to take action when you receive such a comment? Anyway, we finished the meal and went up to the bar to pay, at which time we were asked again if all was okay. I told the member of staff at the bar about the meat and this time it had a totally different outcome, in that someone, whom I took to be the manager, became involved, and she showed concern about the fact that my meal had not been perfect. She also told me that she would be having words with the supplier about said pie. We ended the conversation coming to an amicable agreement of a goodwill gesture, so I’m more than happy with the outcome. If it had not have been for the issue with the pie then this meal would have been almost perfect, in that the staff were lovely, the restaurant was clean and in a good state of decoration, and the service was first rate. My only other comment would be that the prices were a tad dearer than around my home city of Leicester, but not unusual for a country inn.

Better signage for where to let your dog have a wee are needed . Big sign saying not allowed to wee on grass outside pub but no alternative on the sign. My dog devastatingly got knocked over on the busy road as very nervous and slipped her harness. Obviously we told the deputy manager who was totally unsympathetic which we found very hurtful and rude. She just said we should have gone to the canal but not being local we were not aware of the canal. Contacted the manager who just replied with a load of waffle basically saying it’s our fault for not asking. The pub opened at 12 and we got there at 1150 so no one to ask . However the main issue is if you have a sign to say dogs not allowed on the grass you could amend the sign and just explain where to go instead. I can see why the assistant manager is so uncaring with the response i got from the manager. Don’t promote yourself as dog friendly if you can’t even give signage for an alternative for dog owners to use. You are on a busy road with much passing trade like us and it’s not obvious what the alternative is . Your assistant manager clearly needs some customer service training . She was uncaring and unsympathetic. If she had shown some compassion I wouldn’t be writing this .

Went to The Horseshoes Inn as we haven’t been for a while noticed the 1 star rating but thought we would give it a go.

we called on the off chance they were still serving sunday lunch which we were informed they were. we saw the sign by the door that dogs were welcome but weren’t too bothered because we have always had dogs ourselves but when we went to find a table we soon walked out , at one table they had 2 dogs both sat on the seats and one with its front legs on the table being fed by their lady owner with food off her plate to us that was totally unacceptable. where is the hygiene in that. It’s ok to allow well behaved dogs to sit on the floor but to allow them on the table is just not in my opinion acceptable at all. The staff were wandering about and obviously ok with it but i’m afraid we weren’t and made a hasty exit . we won’t be trying this place again.

Really disappointing, me and my few mates come here for a quick meal! Ordered 2 sirloins and two roasts! Took ages to come out, plates cold and the food! I asked for a rare steak which was well done and my mate asked for a medium which was also well done! Garlic sauce was bland! Beer was poor and also staff weren’t the politest! Not coming BACK

We have just recently moved to the area and have visited here before when searching for property. We both had the Welsh Beef lasagna and must say it was the best meal we have had in a long time.

We arrived at The Horseshoes during a very busy bank holiday and have heard a lot of negative reviews recently regarding the chef walking out etc. When we turned up the young girl behind the bar Sarah sat us down and explained there would be a wait as it was busy. We were ok with this as it was the bank holiday weekend and was in no rush. Menus were given to us and we had our order taken by Callum who said he had been working with them for 2 days and very pleasant he was. We ordered the Gammon Steak and the Angus beef burger and what a delight it was to have an enjoyable meal. Prices are very reasonable for a country pub. We enjoyed this so much that we had to have the chocolate brownie sundae to finish the meal off. We then asked for the manager to come over to give feedback only to find that he was also the Head Chef. He came and had a chat with us and said that he had just moved to the area about 3 weeks ago. We wish him all the best in his new venture and we will be coming back very soon as we only live in Welshpool.