The Olde Bell

Arriving for dinner with a colleague with no res, we were directed to a small table next to a draughty window in the far corner of the almost empty dining area on a cold night. No choice of tables offered.
The menu is a fairly robust sounding British gastro pub menu but with very upmarket prices (£17−20) for mains. The food had the potential to be satisfying and my pork was quite tasty but was served in such tiny portions that it firmly crossed the line to meh. Even the side dish of carrots and swede (£3.50) was tiny and bland — about 2 tablespoons and served almost cold.
For dessert I opted for the poached pear and gingerbread. A half pear that was sliced and arranged on the plate, and just reminded me of tinned pears in syrup, accompanied by a mini rectangular piece of brown but completely flavourless cake. The propped up and fanned out pear on the tiny finger of cake with 3 blobs of some sort of sauce was just silly and it was completely bland and uninteresting… Just give me some decent home made hot pudding with enough to leave a customer satisfied.
The overly arranged food with tiny portions doesn’t work for me and just seems at odds with the descriptions of the dishes on the menu which sound hearty and satisfying and ends up being just mean. Does small portions and arranged food alone equate to gourmet dining? I think not.
When we were ready to leave, we became invisible to the wait staff, stuck as we were in the corner. After several attempts we put our coats on and walked up to pay to finally get their attention.
Left hungry and irritated and just wanted to leave. So overall not a good dining experience, ham fisted service and high prices with relatively poor value quotient.

Came here last night. It’s an old-​style pub, very clean and appealingly fitted out with wooden tables and beams running across the ceiling. There are separate bar and dining areas. I rang to book, and was told I could have 6.30pm or 8.30pm; I went for the former. We were greeted upon arrival by a friendly restaurant staff, who told us that they were fully booked. However the room did not fill up when we were there. Service was brisk, and the wine very fairly priced. We started with the broccoli soup (boring), and the ham hock terrine (dry). We then ordered the sirloin, medium rare. It is no exaggeration to say that it was the worst bit of beef ever served to me. It was raw, and had clearly only just been ‘shown’ the pan, it was sinewy, and generally inedible. I spat out my first morsel because of the fat and gristle. We moaned about it; and to be fair to the staff, they immediately accepted the complaint and we ordered the chicken breast instead. They also spoke to the chef, and reported back that he agreed with everything we said, and he apparently was unhappy with his beef supplier, and had been thinking about changing them. Well, why have the beef on the menu then? The chicken was very very good; moist, well seasoned and flavoursome. The chips however, were overdone and oily. We finished with the chocolate and hazelnut fondant (couldn’t find the hazelnut but good nonetheless), and the sticky toffee pudding (just a sponge cake). So a rollercoaster of standards here, but based upon the excellent way that the staff dealt with the problem, I would definitely go back. Maybe I just won’t order the beef.

This Inn is a gem of a find, spent the afternoon soon after checking in with a cycle into marlow and back along the river. Later that evening we dined at the Olde Bell Inns award winning restaurant (our three course meal was included in our package). This was really something special. Had some brilliant rabbit sausage rolls to start, a lovely main of chicken breast with stewed lentils and wild mushrooms before finishing it all off with a valrhona chocolate tart served with salted caramel ice cream. Superb! The breakfast the following morning was also something to write home about. Try the banana bread, and home made muffins! Would thoroughly recommend!

England’s oldest inn has been serving fantastic food for hundreds of years. Although, it has been years since I have been there, I can’t imagine that they would let their standards down.

Spent more than two days at The Olde Bell Hotel for a team event.
The main part of the hotel was build in 1135 AD. Amazing and the place is rich with history including meetings between Churchill and Eisenhower.
As with any old buildings, it was a little cold… who am I kidding… a lot cold but charming.
Food is OK but they have Guiness on tap so… it’s OK. Service was great.
Probably would have been better if it wasn’t so cold.