Review: The Ram Inn, Cliviger, Burnley

5:00pm Monday 27th October 2008

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I WAS so disappointed. Here we were at the Ram Inn at Cliviger supposedly to enjoy a Sunday roast and wishing we were back at home with, well, beans on toast would have been infinitely better!

It was one of those occasions after deciding to turn the oven off and treat ourselves to a meal out – we wished we’d never bothered.

Maybe it was too late in the day — we arrived to dine around 6pm — and the food had been hanging around too long, maybe the chef was jaded after too many hours in the kitchen or it was just what I consider to be an on off-day, but I have to say we were served a poor meal.

My dining companion and I both plumped for the roast turkey with all the trimmings — you imagine the dinner you serve at home on Christmas Day — but it wasn’t like that at all.

I’ve dined before at The Ram and it was fine. But on this occasion our first complaint was that our food was barely warm when served to our table.

We sent it back, but I don’t think the staff whizzed it in the microwave long enough, as it wasn’t much better when it returned.

Our Sunday dinner consisted of two thin slices of turkey, with minimum taste, accompanied by a ‘pig on horseback’ sausage with bacon, the size of a matchstick and a pat of stuffing, which could only have been bought in in bulk, I guess, rather than made fresh.

The vegetable side dish was unappealing — three small roast potatoes, which seemed to be made of air when you bit inside, some sorry looking broccoli and frozen peas — which I happen to think is a no-no from a restaurant — even I can open a pack of Bird’s Eye!

Dessert for me was a warm brownie with ice cream, but it was a heavy cake, not a light sponge, while the three scoop ice-cream sundae, chosen by my companion, had only the barest swirl of chocolate sauce.

With a glass of wine and an orange juice, our Sunday dinner cost more than £28. I’m sorry, but next time I think I’ll stay at home.

The verdict

Disappointing. I hope we caught them on a bad day.