A Place to Eat with a Difference!! (The Spotgate Inn)

Member Name: blondgem

Product:	The Spotgate Inn
Date:	22/06/09 (39 review reads)
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The Spotgate Inn, is a restaurant located near Stone in Staffordshire, and is a pub with a little bit of a difference and a great, unique dining experience.

I had heard of this pub and always wanted to go for a while as it not only has its own restaurant, it has two trains at the back of the pub, which they have refurbished and made into part of the restaurant, and where you can dine and they will serve you in the carriages.

The Spotgate is reknown for it's excellent home cooked food, which is hard to find in some places, as a lot of areas seem to be dominated by Hungry Horse type places, which I call hangover food when you are not that particular about what you eat.

When we arrived at the Spotgate the carpark was extremely busy and we hadn't booked so my first instinct was that we were going to get turned away as it was very busy. The hostess who was in the dining room was very pleasant and accomodative and led us up the stairs into one of the carriages, both of the carriages are side by side and are slightly different however there is ample room in them and the seats are so comfortable, I didn't want to get out of my chair. The decor in these carriages was fantastic and if they had been restored in any way, they had been restored to their original condition as the history of these coaches dates back to the late 1920's and they accommodate over 100 people between them, which must be great for business for the Spotgate.

Although it is pub food, its a lot better than most pubs that I have been and they have an extensive menu, with some very tasty dishes on them:

Sample Menu - Starters

- Chef's Home-Made Soup of the Day
- Smoked Salmon
- Thai Prawns
- Garlic Mushrooms
- Ham Hock Terrine
- Pineapple & Kiwi Cocktail

As I aren't a big eater we didn't have starter's or a dessert as a main course fills me up anyway.

Main Course Sample Menu

- Tuna Steak
- Fillet of Salmon
- Peppered Pork Loin
- 10oz Sirloin
- 12oz Mexican Ribeye
- Mexican Beef Tortilla
- Gammon Steak
- STeak and Ale Pie
- Cajun Chicken

plus a lot more to choose from. When we walked into the restaurant we saw a waitress coming out of the kitchen with 2 Steak and Ale pies and just looking at it had made both our minds up as to what we were going to eat without even looking at the menu.

It didn't take long for the waitress to serve, first she took a drinks order and was back within minutes with our drinks and to take our food order. Once we placed our order we were waiting around 25 minutes for the food to arrive, however the seats were so comfortable the wait didn't seem to matter. The plate itself was covered in braising steak in a rich ale gravy with a puff pastry lid on it. After she bought a large bowl of chips and mixed veg including broccolli, cauliflower, carrots and green beans, all of which was piping hot and you had to wait a while to let it cool a little, which is what I like when I eat to know that a meal has just been freshly prepared and is hot.

The meat and gravy in the pie was really rich in flavour and the steak was really tender and melted in my mouth, there was no grissle or fat on it at all, and was a pleasure to eat. The pastry lid was very flaky and not too overcooked or undercooked it was just right. It wasn't that flaky that it went everywhere when you put you knife and fork in it. The chips were proper chips and not frozen chips like these Hungru Horse places and there is nothing I like more than real chips. The vegetables were cooked to perfection and how I like them. A lot of places that you go to the veg seems barely cooked and crunchy however these were soft and didn't break your teeth when you bit into them.

Our meal here cost around £30 for twomain courses and a couple of drinks each which I think is quite reasonable specially when the food is as nice as this. A starter costs in and around the region of £5 and the main courses were i between £9 - £20 depending on what you ate.

I would defintely recommend the Spotacre Inn to anyone that fancies taking a look, I noticed there were quite a few people with accents there aswell so it must definitely have a good reputation for people to travel from further down in the midlands just to sit in their PUllman Coaches. A great eating experience!!!

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