The Ugly Duckling

Bed and Breakfast

Went to this pub today with my husband. We were Going to have a meal, pub had some costumers but also some tables and sits empty. The staff at the bar bluntly said they wouldn’t serve us. It was 16:00 and the justification given was that they were booked and busy for later tonight. I was told I could sat at the bar drinking if I want, which I found inappropriate as I am 39’weeks pregnant and we went to the pub for a meal. Before arriving at the pub, we did check website and no mentions that a booking was required or that there is a timing to serve meals. Also, at any point the staff on the bar went to check if kitchen staff could prepare a meal at all. This pub sits quite remotely of town. We then had to go a find another pub to eat which by the time all the places in Wellington have stopped serving by then. We were keen to support our local pub, however it is now the second time this has happened to us. There is no point to go to this place ever again and being treated like this. We don’t recommend this pub, staff and poor attitude.

Another visit and more lovely meals — friendly service who looked after us very nicely, thank you.

What a fab Saturday evening we had at The Ugly Duckling, a table for 10 and all 10 meals were exceptional. Good service and great vibe! Well done guys!

Unfortunately, my family and I shall not be returning. For a few reasons: 1) long wait for freshly cooked food to arrive barely warm. 2) website price is £18 but charged £20.3) lots of staff hanging around, yet we were not asked if we required anything, we had to approach a staff member and ask when we wanted drink and desserts. 4) called to query about website costing, to be told price change was jan and website gets updated monthly, when this was questioned, then phone was hung up on us. Extremely disappointed.

Visited yesterday for the first time and also the first time of experiencing Bottomless Brunch. It was great from start to finish — Ellie who was serving us was very attentive and made sure we always had a drink on the go. Service was quick and efficient, giving myself and friend much needed time to catch up. I had the veggie breakfast which was lovely — great portion and everything that you'd want from a veggie breakfast. The cocktails looked professional and we managed to taste many of them on the extensive menu. A really really good few hours at what I thought was a more than reasonable price for the service, food and drinks we enjoyed. Highly recommend and def be back — thank you!

Fabulous food and very stylish decor. Not overly expensive, and great value bottomless brunch. Staff are very friendly and welcoming.

Absolutely fantastic services! Extremely happy and would 100 % recommend It was a birthday treat & couldn’t do enough for us … Lovely and staff.

Lovely menu with a nice range of food. Not your normal vegetarian options, some nice variety. It makes a change not to have curry or risotto.

Lovely food, polite staff and the food is a sight and taste to behold. Very well priced for the quality.

Lovely Sunday Roast, good portion sizes and lots of vegetables all cooked to perfection and tasted beautiful. Very reasonably priced and service was excellent. We will definitely be back. Thank you x.

Fabulous food, desserts were amazing staff were very friendly. Would definitely recommend a visit and I will most definitely go back.

Fantastic food and friendly staff! Will definitely go back. The chicken and waffles was delicious.

We have been here twice now. The food is so nice. Recommend the lamb!
The humous starter is also very nice!

My review obviously didn't post
had bottomless brunch here yesterday! cannot speak highly enough of this place.
restaurant was very busy but the waitress couldn't have been more attentive! steak and eggs was AMAZING! cocktails beautiful!
coming back very soon! thankyou for an amazing few hours xx.

Excellent. The staff were lovely, friendly and helpful.
The pub is gorgeous, the food was fabulous, the rooms gorgeous and spotless.
Really enjoyed our stay.

We came for the bottomless brunch which was amazing! The food was delicious as were the cocktails. Great choice on the menu and the staff were super friendly and attentive! Looking forward to returning soon.

Lovely food, beautifully presented, and great tasting.
Kids fish was fantastic, full of meat and clearly fresh.
Staff were lovely and created a lovely calm atmosphere even with a slightly crazy 3 year old…
Highly recommended.

Fabulous night celebrating my birthday. Great service, friendly staff and amazing service and excellent food.

Excellent food, well presented and very tasty. The staff were very warm and attentive, looking forward to visiting again sometime.

First time we have eaten here, have to say it was superb, from the haddock fish cakes to the pork belly and baked salmon, all dishes could not be faulted. Will definitely eat there again.

Just been to the Ugly Duckling. Great food and customer service. So impressed with their commitment to Covid safety. Will continue to visit you.

Lovely atmosphere, staff were brilliant. Husband had the lamb which he said was amazing, I'm veggie and had the vegan burger, which was cooked and presented beautifully, however the burger itself was bland, everything with it was perfect. Had the crumble and custard for dessert and apart from it not being as hot as I'd like it, it was lovely. Overall lovely evening.

Service and food is always a 5 star. Staff can't been enough attentive. Always smiling and very helpful.
Good quality good.
We love it there.

Went for a meal last Saturday evening. First class service and food. Cocktails lovely and great value. All staff worked extremely hard and adhered to the all COVID precautions in place. They were all very polite and friendly. This includes the Manager (I think her name is Julie).

Lovely service from the waitresses.

We always have such lovely meals here, today was no exception, and thank you to the lovely manager for being so accommodating. We will definitely be back soon.

Fantastic Sunday Lunch — squeezed us in last minute (we are disorganised! ) lovely meal, as usual awesome service. Best place in Shropshire! And decent value too.

Fantastic food and a great atmosphere — highly recommended!

Food was amazing fairplay to the chef & staff were very friendly too.

Lovely staff very welcoming and good food.

We love it here, the food is always perfect, the cocktails are gorgeous and the staff are really friendly. My daughter is gluten free, but she didn't like the gf menu, so we ordered something else for her. The waiter then got us to sign a disclaimer, which I was happy to do and her food arrived. Turned out the chef had made a gf batter just for my daughter's kids meal so she could eat what she ordered but in gf. Little details like that make this place so enjoyable and keep you coming back.

Stopped for some lunch, food was fantastic, really friendly staff, a really warm and welcoming pub will definitely be back.

Incredible service from all waiting staff. Friendly and welcoming surroundings. Excellent bar manager (Jack) and brilliant restaurant manager (Julie). Nothing could be improved upon. HIGHLY recommend. Lovely rooms to stay overnight. Thank you very much xxx.

Bad service Luke warm food
Booked but had to wait. No sauces or drinks offered. Food was good but barely warm. No one asked if we needed anything even though restaurant was quiet. No bill came even though we asked for it.
This was for Sunday lunch.

Lovely food and atmosphere. Highly recommended.

Went here tonight for our wedding anniversary and it was lovely meal great price and a lovely area recommend to family and friends. Staff was great too big thumbs up from us hope to see you again soon.

Lovely place for adults food is great but not good for children though children's menu is not great would benefit with better choices and maybe colouring sheets to keep them entertained while waiting.

Beautiful comfortable place, nice space inbetween tables. Food amazing and reasonable prices. Friendly staff, and Eccellent Service. Will be going back.

As always, fabulous food, well cooked and well presented. Staff are always upbeat and helpful.

Just had afternoon lunch and it was excellent. Very relaxed atmosphere and all in all a lovely lunch.

We went to the Ugly Duckling last night for a Christmas evening / baby shower. We have had a really lovely time. Food was excellent, staff very friendly and great atmosphere. I will definitely recommend the Ugly Duckling to friends and family, such a lovely place! Thank you.

Lovely room, great meal and fabulous staff. Here to celebrate our Ruby wedding anniversary and have just been given a bottle of fizz in our room with the hotel's congratulations. Highly recommend.

I have been here quite a few times and normally food and service is of a good level, however today I went for lunch, the soup starter was fantastic but tandoori halloumi salad was awful, I didn't eat it and I let waitress know fusion Asian with cheese was not a good taste, she didn't offer discount we still paid for meal but I felt quite disappointed with the experience. I have taken colleagues from France there and normally satisfied but today very poor outcome, not sure I would now go back.

We don't live close to the Ugly Duckling but it is always worth the drive, the menu is excellent with a wide choice of starters and puddings. The staff are excellent, really helpful and ensure excellent service. The pricing is not cheap but with a few caveats great value. Try the fish and chips it is superb and you will not regret your decision.

It's an attractively decorated pub/restaurant with a good selection of beer. I had a really good steak but the rest of the food was a little bland and disappointing. It's nearly a great place to eat but it just falls a little short.

Wasn't impressed with the quality of the food for the price. I had dirt on my side salad still and sent back my side mac and cheese because it was watery and tastless. My drink order came wrong aswell. The staff were very friendly and happy to correct the mistakes and helpful with the food when I told them I wasn't happy. This was my first visit and I wouldn't recommend it for food.

Beautiful restaurant, clean and inviting. Friendly and accommodating staff and reasonable prices. The food is exceptional!

The Ugly Duckling has become our main restaurant after moving to this lovely area 17 months ago! The food is delicious and the atmosphere in the bar area is nice too if your just looking to have a drink or a nice cocktail
on the patio!, I can recommend the tempura cod as a starter or if your into steaks, my fillet steak last night was cooked to perfection! Unfortunately I had no room for dessert! … The service was good too!

Had high expectations of this place from what I had been told, but it was a bit of a disappointment on the day! My food was not great and they forgot my coffee order, with no apology or alternative offered. It's a long way out of town so needs to pull up it's socks if it wants to stay competitive.

Good meal overall and second time to visit this place. I can see why many would recommend here and certainly enjoyed some dishes tonight.
One steak we ordered as medium came out well done, we sent it back immediately but it came back out with comment "we checked with chef and it's a medium". This is not a kind of service or attitude you should provide to your customers irrespective of regular or non-regular customer.
Re-training on how to cook steak required and difference between medium and well done need to be understood.

Called in on Monday 2 October 2017 — found the place quiet but having a positive and modern feel. After disappointing quality of service on that occasion we risked going back in 2018. We have been far happier with the quality of service and enjoyed the food and the atmosphere of the restaurant. The three recent visits have been impressive and we have been with friends at Easter who were also impressed. Visited for our wedding anniversary and enjoyed some lovely food and interesting puddings — Chocolate Fondant with Kirsch Cherries (very alcoholic tasting! ) and a huge crunchy apple and plum crumble. Nice to see that the range of real ales included a dark Titanic Porter when we visited.

I had a lovely experience here. The staff were excellent, couldn't do enough for us. We had a late night snack which was created for us as we couldn't decide what to eat. Great tasting food, very well presented. You can tell that the staff enjoy working here. Plan to go back and sample some more food.

Lovely ambience. Quirky feel about it. Love the pink flamingo wallpaper in the ladies. Not cheap but worth it for the big comfy chairs. Helpful staff. Food is good but overpriced on special occasions such as Valentines day.

Staff very helpful, room good size same with the bathroom very clean room and comfy bed but he green emergency lighting in the room was overpowering to the extent that it was difficult to sleep. The size of the room did not warrant such a light it could have been just as effective in the outside corridor, I loved the fact that they had baths sheets not towels and that the cups provided for in the room tea and coffee where a decent size. On arrival was asked what time we would be down for breakfast, then service at breakfast far too slow Not the best breakfast I have had Smoked streaky Bacon by the time I cut the fat off not much left, poached egg was covered in black pepper, did not send back as did not want to wait any longer, asked for toast 3 pieces for 2 of us asked for more again took forever to arrive, Breakfast was our only let down.

Encouraged by the mainly positive reviews, I visited yesterday evening together with my wife and daughter. I'm sorry to say that the experience was poor. First impression was to wonder why the staff seemed nervous and unable to smile at customers. Off day for everyone or normal? On the whole the food was fine, not special in any way, simply fine considering the price point. The exception from this last night was my choice of the Ox cheek & chocolate stout pie. The pie had an overcooked crust, leaving it hard and dry. What lay beneath was a generous filling of very well flavoured ox cheek however it was inedible due to to it's extreme dryness.
As the waiting staff seemed oblivious to our presence, despite the restaurant being only around 25% occupied, we were unable to easily bring this to attention.
This led to me leaving the pie and eating the well prepared and tasty vegetable accompaniment. When a waiter, finally, came to our table to clear the main course I explained that the pie was inedible. Shortly after, the restaurant manager came to ask what was wrong with the pie. I explained that it was exceptionally dry and had the appearance of being left under a heat lamp for a day. Following some discussion she offered a free desert to make up for it. Any decent restaurant would offer to take the offending item off the bill and after suggesting this, I'm glad to say that she did.

Top notch Sunday lunch. Nice touch to get to extra (small) jugs of gravy with the vegetables. Pudding was also excellent. Bar is dog friendly, so will certainly be back.

Excellent food, friendly efficient staff. A thoroughly enjoyable experience. Best Valentine meal for years.

We had a lovely meal here today. A big family group of us with kids and two awkward vegans! But they catered to all of us with no issues. We emailed ahead and the chef came up with a gorgeous vegan menu for us. The food was absolutely delicious. The place is kitted out really well… the staff were all lovely and very professional we will defiantly be back!

Just had a lovely Christmas new. Great service and food. Would highly recommend this place. Been a few times now and the food and welcome is always excellent.

Went here for Xmas work meal. Got to say best work meal ever. The food was amazing. Staff very friendly food was nice and hot. The decor was nice been renovated very well. Can't wait to go again. Definitely worth going.

Always wanted to pop in having past regularly… not disappointed at all… really friendly staff. Lovely environment. The food was fresh hot and tasty. Just what we needed on the way to the hospital for the birth of our little girl.

First visit, definitely won't be the last! Food was top notch, Steak cooked to perfection. All of the staff are very friendly and attentive and the price is very reasonable for what you're getting. Also, a tip… Try the 'Aye up Duck' beer! It's their own brew and is V. Tasty!

Booked for me and my partner, it was a Speer of the moment thing as we had a couple of hours to spare with the daughter being at dance class. We weren’t disappointed excellent food, lovely place and really good service. Would definitely recommend and will 100% be back again.

Sunday lunch at 3pm — for me the food was poor. The 'Roast Pork' was clearly made in a sous vide — not roasted, as evidenced by the twist marks on the end of the meat that was served — and no evidence of a oven. The crackling was one small (circa 6 cm) strip of pork skin (a large pork scratching in reality) and clearly not taken from the meat served. The roast potatoes had of course been cooked, how roasted they were is up for discussion as there was nothing crispy or seemingly roasted about them. On the good side there was a nice serving of green cabbage and peas — but then the red cabbage and mashed potatoes tasted of just sugar with no seasoning. When you order roast pork with apple sauce you expect the only thing to be sweetened with the sides are the apple sauce. In all a meal that felt like a dessert with the amount of sugar, and very little or minimal of the roast aspect — disappointing.

The meal was so good. The fish was excellent and Alice our waitress was very attentive and looked after us very well. We will certainly spread the word and go again soon. U.

Called in on Monday 2 October 2017 — found the place quiet but having a positive and modern feel. We had a lunch which had several novel elements to it such as ' horseradish mashed potato'. Generally a good meal although found the service rather ' hit and miss' having to chase up after promises for the ' I will bring you the sweet menu' for example took nearly 15 minutes in a quiet lunchtime pub.

Excellent & innovative food from a regularly changing menu. Beef and horseradish cigars were a great example. Smart decor, friendly staff &a good selection of gins completes the picture.

Excellent pub, really nice food and excellent drinks selection. My colleague told me that the rooms are comfortable and breakfast superb.

This was our second visit for Sunday lunch and both visits were perfect. Lovely meal and attentive staff. Nothing too much trouble.

Good food and atmosphere with friendly staff and good customer service.

Stayed here for 2 nights. The staff were friendly and nothing was too much trouble. The room was beautifully designed and the bathroom was too. The room was not huge but had everything you needed for a short stay. The beds and pillows were supremely comfortable and the bed linen and towels were ultra white and soft. Breakfast was amazing, all local produce and well cooked, we didn't need lunch! A smart TV in the room too so we watched iPlayer. Would definitely recommend.

Great pub serving quality food. Staff very attentive and friendly. A little pricey but good for a special occasion.

Barman has unrefined customer service skills. Beer was very cloudy and served well short of the requisite measure. They don't sell peanuts. The decor is nice if you like furniture made from plumbers copper pipes. It's a Gin Palace.

Great atmosphere. Friendly staff, and lovely food. I recommend the fillet steak. Bon! Apetit.

Fantastic Food! Lovely atmosphere and beautiful decor. Can not fault at all.

Called here on a Saturday afternoon for a light lunch. Perfect! A great place to visit. Great food, very friendly staff. Will be back next time I'm in the area.

We visited for lunch, first impressions were great. Lovely greeting, nicely decorated, and a cheery atmosphere. Ordering was timely, and the food was really good. The steak is one of the best I've eaten. The only downside was the disorganised service; no drinks order was taken until our main course was served, and we did feel a little forgotten at times. If we'd visited for a special evening I'd have felt a little disappointed. The prices are for a restaurant, the food is certainly restaurant quality, but the feel of the place is definitely "pub". We'd certainly visit again, but the style of the service and venue needs a bit of fine tuning before this becomes a favourite place.

Not being local (we are from Essex), we were finding it difficult to find a decent steakhouse in the area. Then someone recommended 'The Ugly Duckling', saying that they had heard only good things about it. So, we booked our table for a Monday evening meal, which we were informed was advisable, however it really wasn't necessary as the restaurant was fairly quite, as most places are that night of the week. Apparently, the restaurant has only been opened about 10 weeks. It has a modern American style decor, bright and clean with a good amount of room around each table (I hate being crammed in). It has an upmarket feel, however, the prices were not too bad in my opinion. I had the rib eye steak (cooked medium), tomato, fries, salad & a large mushroom. My wife had the hake with salad, potatoes & veg. It was gorgeous! The meals, together with a large glass of red Merlot plus a lime & soda came to just over £51, which I was happy with. It's a shame we live so far away, because I'd be here on a regular basis.