The best restaurants serving British food in Towcester Brook South Northamptonshire East Midlands

Had the Sea Bass special this evening, at £24 I assumed it would be special, it wasn't. It lacked flavour and basic seasoning, no idea what the sauce was as there wasn't enough to get any flavour from it - perfectly edible once salt and pepper added but at that price I expected more given their website claims about the chef. Mostly a plate of crushed new potatoes and veg, with 2 small sea bass fillets on top which were slightly overcooked - nicely presented with some roasted vine tomatoes on top (they were the only thing that added flavour to the dish) - style over substance perhaps. The burger was more reasonably priced at £16, however again it was nothing special, generic oven chips, generic burger bun, bit of iceburg lettuce and some cheese, again perfectly edible but nothing you couldn't get for half the price at a local cafe. Very nice setting, lovely dining room, sadly they chose to put the 3 tables of diners together in one corner despite having the whole room available - this made what could have been a quiet mid-week meet up quite loud and difficult to have a conversation. Not sure we would go again, the food was too mediocre for the price. We didn't experience anything like the claims made on their website about 'exceptional, innovative cuisine' with our food choices - perhaps we should have ordered off the main menu instead of the specials board. I do notice that the owners appear to put quite defensive responses to customers who raise negative points - a review is to help potential customers. The meal was edible, not nice enough to make us want to return and not bad enough to make us want to complain to the waitress.

Booked a table 2 weeks ago as meeting friends, drove 60 miles as it's a halfway point for us all walk in say we've got a table booked only to be told they haven't had a chef for 3 weeks & not doing food !!!