inglewood inn

hi today we went to the inn for a birthday lunch, beautiful setting had been there many times prior to covid.
i am aware the pandemic has made life difficult for venues.
i also dont normally complain. however today was disastrous, not enough staff, themealswere disappointing, one hard chicken inside soggy coating, awful steak sandwich cold soft not cooked bacon, another chicken schnitzel awful, boards very ordinary for the price we had 4, chips and wedges were the best foods on table of 12. run out of wine glasses, really. bar staff inadequate, slow.this 12 won't be back, but please address these points to not lose more customers, lived here all my life, the inn had been an icon for our north east area,
lyn

first time here, the last few times we had tried going they were packed out, so it’s always good to ring ahead and book a table. the pub is set on the side of a hill over looking paddocks and a creek. great view and nicely presented dinking room. we had slow-cooked pork belly and a steak. themealswere perfectly cooked. we had house beer and it was a standout brew! very enjoyable afternoon, the staff were great and very attentive. the pricing was reasonable considering the satisfaction levels we experienced! will definitely be returning!

living locally, i've been coming here for years. good, tasty quality pub style food. service has never been amazing but tonight was something else.

i forgot to add initially: we booked 45 mins earlier and were told it was fine to get us a table. on arrival, the hostess could not find our booking on the computer, was getting frustrated and was about to turn us away despite the abundance of spare tables in the restaurant.

the menu has changed dramatically. no more pizzas, onlymealsranging from $20-35. the menu reads very upper market butmealsmissed the mark. herb crumbed schnitzel had no herbs at all in the crumb that could be tasted. the signature burger came in a stale and untoasted turkish roll. $22 for a patty, some tomato and lettuce. the most ordinary, overpriced burger ever. not a single vegetarian main on the menu so i had to order a few sides. tasty enough, but the zucchini flowers were greasy and needed a sauce of some kind.

service was shocking. asked for a bottle of water upon being seated and had to remind the waitress twice before we received it. drinks were taken and forgotten and no apologies made. one at my table ordered a lager only to be told 'all the beers are lagers'- maybe educate your staff?
throughout our meal, waitresses were actually running through the restaurant. i cannot imagine anything less professional. we were actually asked to physically lift and move our table so waitresses could walk past when to our left was plenty of space to walk through. i just could not understand it.
the wait staff looked unkempt and were highly unprofessional. the increase in price and changes in menu are unsuited to the service and style the venue still has. we will not be returning.

we recently headed here for lunch on a weekend after a hills drive. we weren't particularly hungry so we had the sharing plate and a serve of the grilled haloumi between the two of us. the food was nice, i would have liked some crackers to go with the lovely piece of brie that was served on the shared platter. the haloumi was tasty, you can't really go wrong with grilled cheese! they did have frose which went down very well on the warm sunny day. good choice of local wines and ciders available. the wait staff did forget cutlery for us as well as another table who received theirmealsonly for the waiter to walk off. staff were polite and the location is lovely. go for a nice casual lunch when you have some time for a drive.

we arrived on a not-so-busy saturday night, staff were friendly and welcoming. and was really looking forward to the night. thats where it ended.mealsstarted to come out. raw dough in the garlic bread, raw chicken shnitzel, cold steak at a $40 price tag and when we spoke to the waitress about it it came back microwaved!!!
the beers were warm. not what us blokes wanted on a 38° day! the only positive i can give was the ribs were very well cooked and falling apart. and the staff were very helpfull and friendly other than that. would not return. chef needs a review. the pic is of the ribs they were nice but the cold kraft cream cheese sauce was terrible!

so much potential... wasted. i have eaten here maybe 3 times over the past 3-4 years. the pub setting is excellent and has some serious potential to be a great experience, but it is far far from it. everytime i have been i have walked away disappointed. either poor service, stuff ups with bookings, incorrectmealsor extremely slow service of meals. there is always something that pops up everytime. we ordered nuggets from the kids menu for 1 of the kids and was presented with fish and chips. good thing he doesnt have a fish allergy. the part i find the worst is they have the nerve to put a sign outside reading "10% additional surcharge on sundays" which is to cover the higher penalty rates for sunday trading (so they can still make a ridiculous amount of mark up from their over pricedmealsand beers). made my very average salt and pepper squid with about 12 chips and some boring salad $25+

3 strikes and you are out in my book

oh dear!. lovely renovated old pub... sadly that is the only positive about our dining experience.
as a lot of reviews state, the service is very slow. of our party of 5 we had one happy diner, 4 of us went home hungry, 2mealswere sent back due to being undercooked and 2 steaks were cooked well but of poor quality. the drinks waitress forgot our drinks, no big deal that can happen but overall it added up to a very disappointing experience.