The best restaurants in Ampthill Central Bedfordshire East of England

Delious food and excellent service 👌

Great selection of milkshakes and smoothies. Also a selection of desserts highly recommend the Ambassador

To start with, despite my rating I do want to say that the food was absolutely faultless. I would go so far as to say it was the best taster menu I've ever had. Perhaps the best meal I've ever had if I'm honest! Every dish was so expertly put together and each one hit all the right flavour notes. You could tell that Steve has worked hard to ensure everything is perfectly balanced. The dish presentation was elegant and didn't feel pretentious, unlike some other taster menus I've had (costing far more) which seemed more about visual wow factor than actually tasting delicious and leaving you wanting more. The service was also excellent and there was a good atmosphere. The waiter was upbeat and there was a bit of well-judged banter too. Each dish was presented with a brief intro to the ingredients, and a nice touch was that Steve also presented a couple of the dishes himself. If this is all that matters to you, you can stop reading my review now because the rest is nitpicking, but for a premium experience I feel a few tweaks would have made for a knockout evening. The points below are far from dealbreakers, so please do take that into account - they absolutely shouldn't stop you going. - No prices on the drinks menu and no beer on offer. I think the wine list may have had pricing, but we don't drink wine so we were looking at what else was on offer. I assume that people will generally go to Eileen's with a healthy budget, and perhaps not really care what they're going to add on top of the taster menu price (which, for what it is, is very good value). However, it felt really awkward to be asking the waiter for the cost of a G+T - and he didn't come back with an answer so we just ordered anyway, not knowing what we would be billed. We also felt that the drinks menu presentation was poor - it was a set of laminated A4 sheets of paper, which just didn't feel premium. There weren't any beers on the drinks menu either - but given that the sheets were all separate, I just wonder if one was missing as we thought this was odd. - Decor. We were in the downstairs area, and it feels like there's a disparity between the food proposition and the environment. There are some uplighters dotted around which feel quite dated, but the thing that felt very non-premium were the cheap LED rechargeable table lamps. When we were seated, the waiter turned it on and within a few minutes it started flickering which was really distracting so I turned it off, which kind of killed the ambience. I asked for a replacement and that one ran out of power within a couple of minutes. The waiter did spot this, calling them the bane of his life, and replaced with a simple candle which was so much more appropriate anyway. They should honestly throw them all away and stick with candles - keep it simple! I would say that the upstairs area, where the bar is, had a bit more appeal. - Music. While the music choice was absolutely fine (rather upbeat for premium dining, but it worked) the music service was a free one - meaning that every few songs an advert came on, like we were listening to a local radio station. This really cheapened the whole thing, and although it probably went unnoticed by people in deep conversation, once I noticed it once, each time an advert came on it really jarred with me. Like I said, the food was absolutely sensational, the service was great and the things above wouldn't stop us returning. I've only docked a point because at this price point you have certain expectations, and there were a few things about the environment that fell a little short - but so easily fixed.

I remember coming here when it was the Arena Indian and it is unrecognisable! Great service and atmosphere, and the food was amazing. Even the bread was delicious. Definitely recommend trying.

great food shit service shit atmosphere i’ve been waiting 30 minutes for 1 burger

Visited 31/10/24 for the first time. All aspects of the visit were exceptional. Would thoroughly recommend and will definitely be returning. In addition, excellent value for money.

Came on the off chance that they could fit us in, which we did. I had the pan fried bream and it was the best fish I had ever eaten. The staff were really nice and professional. The portions were an OK size and they were a decent price. The seating was nice and inviting and the decor was really nice. We visited twice and as I was visiting, the bream will be forever in my dreams.

If you didn't know the restaurant was there, you would walk right past it. The food was really really good. Staff were very friendly and helpful.

Only place in Bedfordshire worth going to watch live sport. I live in Bedford and travel over every weekend to watch the football in the engine - that's how good it is.

Were not allowed to sit down inside because "we can push tables closer". There were more free tables than taken.

Haven’t been to the George for a while Thought we’d try it for lunch today as new proprietors Pretty good Friendly service The salmon mousse and whitebait starters we very nice Emma’s pizza was a fraction under baked for us but tasty My burger was fine - like the idea of the black pudding in it but needed a slab of tomato in there for me Enjoyed it

Took a friend for afternoon tea for her birthday, lovely little tea shop, excellent afternoon tea, would highly recommend

I went to the duchess tea rooms with my sister, niece and my daughter. Right from the helpful lady on the gate we were greeted by smiling helpful staff. The manager of the shop directed us to the tearooms. Our waitress Megan was helpful and...

This is the second time I have been here. It's a lovely place for a celebration. Personally I wouldn't go if you want a romantic dinner especially when there is a singer or DJ. My husband and I couldn't have a conversation as it was too loud. The acoustics are awful. Recently I attended a birthday celebration. The food was fantastic and was very well organised. However the service for the bottomless brunch for the non alcoholic package was dreadful. We waited 1/2 hr for our second drink and they didn't get the order right which was highly frustrating. The group that had the alcohol package were well looked after and had several drinks lined up. Just because I don't drink alcohol doesn't mean I want to wait a very long time for my drinks. And there was a lovely selection of non alcoholic mocktails that I wanted to try. All be it it was a lovely afternoon and a good time was had by all.