The Anvil Inn is recommended in many good food guides. What a letdown. Not everything was tragic, starting with the positives, the place is in a pleasant village, quaint building, the restaurant has a nice atmosphere, staffed by friendly, if not efficient staff, and comfortable.
On the day, the food was poor, service in reality appalling. Agreed it was Sunday, and probably not the best day to try. But, Sunday lunch is a favourite of ours and we thought would try. It claims to use Shorthorn beef served medium rare, which sounded good. Neither starter ignited the taste buds, a courgette soup which lacked punch, but acceptable, and a cold herring dish, nicely presented, but similar to many before. The real problem was served with the main course. The beef was grossly over cooked, and tasted as if it was pre prepared or re heated. The gunky gravy poured all over the dish failed to disguise its dryness. There was plenty of it, mostly inedible. The vegetables were probably nice once, before being kept warm for too long. Having said that, the red cabbage was good. If eating in this restaurant was an Olympic sport, we would have won gold, the entire meal, including a brief aperitif at the bar, and paying the bill took less than 45 minutes, hardly a relaxing lunch.
On this performance, no good food served is an appropriate sign.
I am afraid it received a big thumbs down