The Original Ball Pub in Shropshire

This was not an experience I would want to repeat. Went for Sunday lunch with visiting family members. Surprisingly, at 1300hrs we were the only customers in the dining room, although other people did drift in at around 1400hrs. There was not a traditional Sunday lunch menu, consequently, we ordered three cod and chip meals and one gammon. The cod meals were diabolical ! The batter on the fish was like concrete (I suspect that it was probably left over food that had been reheated, although I was told it wasn't when I complained.) There was a minimum amount of fish with a lot of batter . It was also not very hot . The gammon meal was, reasonably OK. The surroundings were ( I was told, ) newly refurbished, and it was clean and bright. The waitress who took our orders was polite and friendly and seemed to take our complaint seriously, although we were not offered the opportunity to send our meals back to the kitchen. In the end, the three of us who ordered fish left a fair proportion of our meals. When we paid our meals, we were given £10 off the bill, because of our complaint. We will not be going back there!

Completely revamped. New owner. Special deals on certain days. Great food, loads of choice. Great service. Nice setting. Very pleasant staff

Food excellent great service great clean friendly pub clean and tidy a proper traditional village pub open fire very welcoming

We went for Sunday lunch awesome home cooked food would definitely recommend nothing was to much trouble staff were brilliant friendly and polite worth a visit

Went as a family of 7 and reading some reviews wasn't sure what to expect. As it turned out it was great, lovely food and a really good atmosphere. Would certainly go more often but unfortunately we live too far away. Absolutely fantastic chips, real not frozen

Just arrived home from taking the family here as I have done many times, food was nice but the the environment was unpleasant. With a young puppy you fully expect to sit in the bar but what you don’t expect is the high level industrial language and sexual references. Having to listen to this is one thing but the lady behind the bar defending it is another thing entirely, when I mentioned it she basically said you sat in the bar so what do you expect, to me her reaction was worse than having to listen to the regulars. If your looking to take the family for a nice meal in a nice pleasant environment this isn’t the place for you.

We have been to this restaurant about six or seven times this year. It is situated no more than half a mile from our home. New management took it over last year and they have completely renovated the whole building, inside and out, to a high standard. We have heard that recently it has been taken over again. The last time we were there, was the previous Saturday for my 70th birthday. This time, we had had a large party (about 45 guests) at our house the night before, with a marquee set up in our rear garden. We invited four of our closest friends from that party, to join us for lunch at the restaurant for the carvery. They had travelled across from Norfolk and Essex, so we felt it would be nice to spend a bit more time together. We had, apart from my 70th, always gone there on the Sunday for the carvery, which had always been excellent. In fact, I had enthused about The Original Ball to my closest friend and his wife, as on the two previous occasions they had visited us, we had experienced two very poor meals at two separate locations. I assured them that this would be a totally better experience. Boy oh boy, did I get that wrong. We arrived bang on two o clock. The time the table was booked. We were informed by the very pleasant waitress, that our table wasn't ready yet, and she ushered us into the bar to have a drink, whilst she and the one other member of staff prepared our table. No real big deal here, if they only have so many tables and customers have not quite finished their meal. It happens. The only thing is, I noticed that there were three separate tables, none of which were occupied. I just would have thought as they knew we were coming, that they would have put three tables together, before we turned up, rather than after we turned up. A small point, but it did niggle us a bit. However, we were only waiting for five minutes. So, we were immediately handed the menus, and promptly told that the soup of the day and the pate' were not available. Now this did really annoy me, as their pate' is very good. My wife, my daughter, if she was with us, and I always had the Pate' as a starter. It's very popular amongst other customers. This may not have been so bad, but for the fact that only left two choices for starters. Neither of which I liked. So, my friends chose the baked Brie or Haloumi fries. I chose to wait, and get to the carvery as soon as they had finished. As I said this to them, the waitress told us, that the carvery was not available, and that they were only serving, 'plated meals'!!! Even on the menu, the first thing printed on the mains, was something along the lines of take a trip up to our carvery and choose your meat and choice of vegetables. Which is exactly what we had always done before. And it has always been very well prepared and cooked. Now hearing this news, I was starting to get rather annoyed. Especially, when she told us, 'You can only have beef or pork'. We ordered three porks and two beefs. Anyway, we sat there chatting away, waiting for the starters. We waited and waited. Nothing after an hour. My wife approached the waitress at the bar, telling her that one of our guests had a taxi arriving at 3.30. So, forget her starter and just serve her the vegetarian risotto she'd ordered for the main course. The waitress gave us a bottle of wine on the house by way of an apology for the long wait. The risotto turned up at 3.10pm. No sign of the starters we had ordered at 2.10pm. Sally's taxi turned up and she left. At this time, the waitress turned up with three beef meals. We'd only ordered two. And we still hadn't had the starters. Now, let me tell you about those beef meals. On the plate, was two thin slices of beef. On top of which, was a square block of stuffing. One carrot sliced in half, and one roast potato. Plus a bit of gravy. That was it. At this point, with sheer exasparation, my wife got up and went into the kitchen, to ask where our meals were. We had been there for an hour and forty five minutes and not eaten a thing. . The chef, a woman, immediately shouted at her, 'Get out of my kitchen'. My wife returned to our table to let us know, that she had received no explanation as to why we had not received any food, except Sally's risotto and two dreadful roasts, having sent the third unordered one back. as we had ordered only two. At this point, I said, 'Right, we're leaving. And we are not paying a penny. We walked out. Told the waitress what we were doing. She was charming and clearly upset,. She said, 'I don't blame you'. My friends and my wife drove back to our house. I drove off to the Burger King, only five minutes away, and brought back a load of Double Whammy Whopper burgers. We were all extremely hungry. And frankly, quite stunned by what had taken place at The Original Ball. My Wife, Friends and I all agreed that was the most unique experience we have ever had when visiting a restaurant. And we are all very well travelled. Now, this place is a rural, typically British pub come restaurant. We were not expecting it to be Mossiman's, Quaglino' or The Ivy, but seriously. This was diabolical, by any standard.

Absolutely horrific! Do not go here. Table booked with plenty of notice for 16 people for Sunday lunch. Was like they were surprised and not prepared at all. Table booked for 1pm. They had run out of lots of menu items and drinks considering there were only 2 other people eating at the other side of the restaurant and it was very quiet. Ran out of risotto, sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, one type of beer, a couple of dessert options. Meat was incredibly dry, beef was grey, roast potatoes were like leather. They forgot 2 of our starters and most of our cutlery, we had to ask for knives and forks. Hardly any staff there at all. Food was cold and gravy was like water. Cauliflower cheese was overcooked cauliflower with cheese grated over the top, no cream and was totally dried out. Nice place to look at and very well done inside but food and service absolutely horrendous!! None of us will be returning at all.

Went in for Sunday lunch. Food was very poor. Meat was pre sliced on a plate behind counter and looked like it had just come out of a microwave. All completely over cooked and dry. Beef was so grey that it looked just like the pork. Vegetables were ok but nothing was warm enough. Meal was luke warm at best. Children’s meals were ok but came out a good 10 minutes after ours so we were halfway through our meal and our daughter still hadn’t received her meal. Will not be returning.

Proper country pub, great beer, friendly locals, plenty character. Old school pub that caters for real ale drinker but will also do food (chicken and chips) Friday Saturday and Sunday)

This was our local for the last 3 nights while staying in Maesbury very welcoming a great pint and lovely traditional surroundings

Had a mini family reunion there last week,the table was booked for 5 people, we all had something different off the menu and as the food was delivered to the table we all commented on how nice each others food looked. The star of the show was the 10 ounce rib eye but the chicken burger my mother had was way to big for her so she took half the chicken home on a doggy bag. A lovely country pubt, original low wooded beams, lovely fire. Will without doubt be visiting again soon. service was pleasant with a smile and the real ale a bonus.

Had a lovely meal here with friends. Walked in the fire was roaring making it so cosy to sit next to before and after the meal. The staff were all really friendly and food was gorgeous most of us had steak as it was steak night portion size were massive which is great as I went with a few big eaters. Will be back again soon

What a fantastic place with food to match, catering for 9 people including vegans & gluten free everything was perfect, the 20oz steak was incredible, great food and service thanks for a brilliant night !

Visited on a Friday evening. The pub was busy and the atmosphere was great. The landlord was rushed off his feet, but was nevertheless welcoming and attentive. We had to wait quite a long time for the food (to be fair, we were warned of this when we asked for a table) but it was well worth the wait. The food is traditional "pub grub" but done very well, and the portions were huge.

Arrived at 13:50 and was seated at a table. Serverer informed us that she couldn't find any menus but it was a choice of chicken or beef so ordered one of each at 13:55. At 14:40 we walked out as we still hadn't had our food even though two tables had been served who had come in after us. No one came to check on us or inform us of where the food was. No one on the floor to even approach to complain to in the pub. I work in a restaurant and it's completely unacceptable to wait this amount of time to receive no food and not even have someone in the pub to speak to. Won't be visiting again.