The Oaklands Hotel, Gorstage (From Northwich Guardian)

The Oaklands Hotel, Gorstage

12:30pm Wednesday 19th September 2007 in Leisure By Vivien Kandel

I OFTEN wondered what would happen if I had arranged to review a restaurant and it all went wrong.

I was going to the Amoré Restaurant at the Oaklands Hotel in Gorstage on Saturday night, so it never crossed my mind that this would be such an occasion.

But it was.

It was important to give the restaurant ample opportunity to put things right and see how it responded to the situation which is why my companions and I decided not to immediately walk out.

And in the end, when I had to call the manager, he did indeed put things right in a most exemplary manner.

It had all started so well, the ambience was wonderful, we were all relaxed and the service was friendly.

Now in my opinion when this kind of thing happens a certain formula should be followed and it doesn't include the chef coming out and arguing that the meat is okay — just cooked in another way.

The starters did take a while to arrive but when they did we weren't disappointed.

They were delicious.

I had goats cheese with tomato and basil salad while my companion had chicken Caesar salad which, although it wasn't a Caesar salad in the strictest sense of the word, was extremely tasty.

My companion and I then ordered beef medallions in a red wine sauce.

We couldn't eat it because in our opinion the meat had an unpleasant off' smell and taste.

Now in my opinion when this kind of thing happens a certain formula should be followed and it doesn't include the chef coming out and arguing that the meat is okay - just cooked in another way.

My formula includes an immediate apology, which wasn't forthcoming from the chef until he came out for a second time with freshly cooked meals.

What a shame the meat couldn't have tasted like that the first time - it was exceptional.

The chef then told us he would take the price of the desserts off our bill, which was fine although it did put us under pressure to have a dessert when we might have chosen not too.

Having then chosen our desserts we were told they had run out of one of them - so only two were taken off the bill.

At this point I thought enough was enough and called the manager.

He disappeared into the kitchen, came out and not only took the price of all the desserts off but also our bottle of wine.

For the record my trio of chocolate desserts were mouth wateringly scrumptious.

I want to end by saying that I had been to the Amoré Restaurant for a private function a few months earlier and found the food to be more than excellent.

But you have to take each visit on its merits and this wasn't good enough.

The Guardian approached the Amoré restaurant for a comment but they were quite happy not to offer one.

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