Booked for Mother's Day and told to pre order food . Table was 15 minutes late which wasn't an issue as we sat in the bar. Menus on the table which were different from the one we had pre ordered. Explained to the waitress and she took menus away. We were then told that 1 of the starters we'd pre ordered wasn't available, so why did we pre order??♂️. Food came and one was tomato soup and not pea. I asked to see the manager and I explained we had pre ordered and her reply "why did you? As if it was somehow our fault. I then explained about the soup being wrong and she said " did you enjoy it and the reply was well yes. "Well that's fine then, abruptly" and walked offWe were offered extra gravy that never came even after the secind time of asking. Food was ok but the Manger and her abrupt attitude put a dampener on the experience. It was a special occasion in such a lovely setting and it could have so easily have been a far better experience had the manger been apologetic and understanding. We used to eat here a lot but food deteriated so havn't tried it for several years. We won't be returning ?
Robert Nicol
Ruined Valentine Evening...Visiting Lincoln, my wife and I booked this restaurant looking for something special. Reviews and menu and interaction beforehand all pointed to a good choice. The sharing starter was not as expected nor as described on the menu. "Cheese sharing sharer with bread rolls celery and apple". It came with the celery and apple (which had gone brown) and Le Rustique camembert (<£3 from Tesco - still in its wooden box and cloth wrapper and Le Rustique sticker). Bread rolls were four Jacobs Cream Crackers... (?). Not a bread roll in sight. We had to remind staff to bring our ordered bottle of wine, after it had been sitting on the bar for about 20 mins. (It seems staff weren't assigned to tables - so you were always dealing with different staff and also having to attract their attention to get anything). Things went exceptionally south when the main course arrived. Rack lamb for me; at best it was far from being cooked (my description of "uncooked" was not an exaggeration, and not challenged by the manager). It was tepid, the edge fat was un-rendered, and the meat was fully pink/red in the middle - some very slight colour around the edge. This was NOT rare or cooked "to the point", it was uncooked. Chicken and lobster pappardelle for my wife; the pasta was seriously overcooked and we had to hunt for any lobster (one rubbery piece was found). The only saving grace was that there was no argument from the manager that the service was unacceptable. We agreed to pay for our drinks and left (but even then - the final bill was far from being understandable in terms of the amounts and the way the deposit was refunded).It was clear that others in the restaurant that night were having the same issues - with a least two other couples leaving early with the manager again apologizing.One can only hope that there were staffing problems in the kitchen, and I do understand that Valentine's evening is kind of "off-season", but this is as far as I can remember, the worst dining experience I have had. Service staff, the last port of call to the customer, should never have been asked to serve what was served - perhaps inexperience could be at play, but nonetheless - this seems to be a hotel restaurant which "knows what it is doing" going by past reviews.I hope that they manage to work through these issues and get back to the level of service that previous reviews have indicated. For my part from our experience - I cannot, in any way, recommend this restaurant.
Patrick Markham
Lovely place to eat. Great service. The steak wasn't as good as previous visits.
Jojoski31
We stayed at the castle hotel for 4 nights. We visit the restaurant once during are stay . The food we had was amazing, I had the Chicken Supreme and my husband had the Blade of Beef. Unfortunately this was the second choice for both of us as are first choice was not available. This was the same situation with the starter. Although the food was amazing I probably wouldn’t eat her again as the restaurant was cold which made it uncomfortable and the amount of food on the menu that was not available is a disappointment , it is such a shame as the restaurant is lovely and the staff amazing, it is just a few things that let it down.
lfaithlessfanatic
We attended here for our extended family Christmas lunch.. To summarise our experience, it was dreadful, the worst food most of us had ever been served in our lives and we don’t say this lightly.. The soup was cold and most unpleasant to taste, the main courses were unbelievably microwaved food reconstituted turkey two soggy carrots and no “pigs in blankets” and so it went on and on with the serving staff havin to keep being apologetic.. The reform had our orders 2 months in advance and yet they didn’t have items of our order to serve us.. It was a disaster and ruined what would otherwise have been a very special occasion… It appears to me that on our visit there was no one on duty who could cook food or anyone with the ability to manage a restaurant..
kcg150
We are fairly new to Lincoln and like to try all the different restaurants. When we first arrived The Reform restaurant was recommended to us. Our experience was fantastic. The place was buzzing, the staff were friendly and enthusiastic and the food was absolutely awesome. Our second visit a few months later was the same. It’s about a year since our last visit and we’re relieved to get a table as everywhere was heaving with pre Christmas excitement, and we hadn’t been able to get a table anywhere else at such short notice. During our hour and a bit there, we were one of 3 tables occupied. It was early so maybe this changed. Angel, the server was excellent, attentive, enthusiastic and efficient. Our meals were very disappointing. My soup was flavoursome, but lukewarm. We both had the ‘Christmas dinner’ which, again, was barely warm. The portion was very generous. Lots of very tender turkey, HEAPS of cabbage piled onto many (now soggy) potatoes, and a small pig in blanket. Why was the cabbage in a heap in the middle on top of what one assumes to have previously been, crispy roast potatoes? Why so much cabbage? We love Christmas dinner and this was our first of this year, it was, sadly, tasteless. Very bland, and verging on COLD!! Also, even though the situation didn’t affect us, our neighbouring table were aghast to discover that the deep fat fryer had broken so no chips, crispy onion rings or Wantons could be served. These things happen and it can take a while to remedy the problem but surely something temporary could have been arranged?
Nicholas Kyriakou
The worse dinner I had in Lincoln. I asked for a rocket salad with feta cheese and they gave me a salad with out rocket and feta. And when I told them they just said sorry and they charged me for it, totally disgrace. The service was really slow, we asked for drinks and they make more than 10 minutes to bring them to us. And for the food we waited more than 45 minutes. Totally disappointed. I'm chef myself and when I read the reviews I thought that is a good restaurant but it was the worse I had been to Lincoln. The table was old and the chairs uncomfortable.
Tripper1032
Really disappointed, food wasnt great and one main came out with a long hair in it. Having had that replaced they said they would remove it from the bill but didnt, when questioned we were told that the waitress shouldnt have told us that. Had to get up and get drinks from the bar even though we were told they only did table service as the staff all vanished. Would suggest booking somewhere else at those prices there are better options,
Scenic14785077035
Having had a lovely meal from the bar menu a couple of months ago, we were looking forward to a nice family Sunday lunch in the reform restaurant, oh my goodness what a disappointment ! To start with you CANNOT just order one course, Sunday lunch is set menu of either 2 or 3 courses. Our starters on the whole were ok, nothing to write home about but passable …. The mains ???? Only a choice of 4 items and only one of these being a roast …. Topside of beef …. Which I opted for, the beef was chewy and inedible , veg ok, Yorkshire pudding was so overdone it just all crumbled it was so overcooked, best part were the roasties but again nothing fantastic. For dessert I opted for lemon posset which was served in a glass with some ice cream and fruit, the ‘Possett’ was liquid and literary could be drank through a straw, I said to the waitress it should be more mousse like and she replied ‘ oh yes it should be it’s gone like that cos it’s been made too long ‘ needless to say I sent it back. A very disappointing visit , not cheap , no ambience , will not return.
John Copsey
Had an excellent light lunch sat outside. Fair prices. Would recommend
Nice quiet place to have a lovely meal, I would recommend
R2052ZZhelent
Absolutely the best restaurant currently in Lincoln. Why anyone would choose the marcco p restaurant over this one I do not know. We had 3 courses and every one was a fabulous immediate taste sensation. Please use this restaurant in the cathedral area. We don't want to loose a restaurant like this that changes their menu often, and appeals to all tastes. And the value is fantastic. The teriyaki chicken wings starter are the best I've had. The miso/sushi rice option was out of this world. The poached apricot and almond cake dessert was simply divine. My friend had different options bar the miso/sushi rice option and again blown away. This is not pub food but its not pretentious non impressive food either. Get booked!!
wendy_harvey100
The table was booked in advance to celebrate my hubby’s daughter’s early retirement. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly on arrival. We were early so we sat and had a drink first and a catch up etc. Then Jimmy very kindly took us all to our table. A great choice on the menu, there was absolutely nothing I wouldn’t have eaten, it all sounded delicious! Hubby and I chose the fresh fish of the day which was Tuna, with crab and linguine with lemon etc we were absolutely blown away with the quality and flavours, we would definitely eat that again! Also, I forgot to mention the real ale (on draught) Black Sheep was really smooth and tasty. The service was great, we had Katy and Jimmy who were first class! The desserts were to ‘die for!’ We all had a very very excellent evening. Thank you to all the staff involved on this evening xxx
Toni May S
This isn't somewhere I would typically choose to eat out, as a vegan, and it being predominantly a grill based restaurant. However, the rest of the family are meat eaters, and this place was chosen. It is disappointing in 2023 to see so few options and accommodations for vegan and vegetarianism. There were two dishes, one catering to each diet. The sides are all cooked in the same fat as meat, so if you're a vegan who avoids cross contamination, you will struggle to build your meal here, too. The cauliflower steak we had (my partner is also vegan) was well done and enjoyable, but also on the expensive side for what it is and to be a bit brutal, unoriginal. As a stand-out restaurant in Lincoln, I was expecting more. My only other comments are, the beer on draft is incredibly limited and the ale is served so cold, and the restaurant staff had to continually go to the kitchen to ask for details about the menu, which showed inexperience. Besides those things, I imagine this experience is spot on if you enjoy a steak, and two of our party did enjoy it for that reason.
Booked for Mother's Day and told to pre order food . Table was 15 minutes late which wasn't an issue as we sat in the bar. Menus on the table which were different from the one we had pre ordered. Explained to the waitress and she took menus away. We were then told that 1 of the starters we'd pre ordered wasn't available, so why did we pre order??♂️. Food came and one was tomato soup and not pea. I asked to see the manager and I explained we had pre ordered and her reply "why did you? As if it was somehow our fault. I then explained about the soup being wrong and she said " did you enjoy it and the reply was well yes. "Well that's fine then, abruptly" and walked offWe were offered extra gravy that never came even after the secind time of asking. Food was ok but the Manger and her abrupt attitude put a dampener on the experience. It was a special occasion in such a lovely setting and it could have so easily have been a far better experience had the manger been apologetic and understanding. We used to eat here a lot but food deteriated so havn't tried it for several years. We won't be returning ?
Ruined Valentine Evening...Visiting Lincoln, my wife and I booked this restaurant looking for something special. Reviews and menu and interaction beforehand all pointed to a good choice. The sharing starter was not as expected nor as described on the menu. "Cheese sharing sharer with bread rolls celery and apple". It came with the celery and apple (which had gone brown) and Le Rustique camembert (<£3 from Tesco - still in its wooden box and cloth wrapper and Le Rustique sticker). Bread rolls were four Jacobs Cream Crackers... (?). Not a bread roll in sight. We had to remind staff to bring our ordered bottle of wine, after it had been sitting on the bar for about 20 mins. (It seems staff weren't assigned to tables - so you were always dealing with different staff and also having to attract their attention to get anything). Things went exceptionally south when the main course arrived. Rack lamb for me; at best it was far from being cooked (my description of "uncooked" was not an exaggeration, and not challenged by the manager). It was tepid, the edge fat was un-rendered, and the meat was fully pink/red in the middle - some very slight colour around the edge. This was NOT rare or cooked "to the point", it was uncooked. Chicken and lobster pappardelle for my wife; the pasta was seriously overcooked and we had to hunt for any lobster (one rubbery piece was found). The only saving grace was that there was no argument from the manager that the service was unacceptable. We agreed to pay for our drinks and left (but even then - the final bill was far from being understandable in terms of the amounts and the way the deposit was refunded).It was clear that others in the restaurant that night were having the same issues - with a least two other couples leaving early with the manager again apologizing.One can only hope that there were staffing problems in the kitchen, and I do understand that Valentine's evening is kind of "off-season", but this is as far as I can remember, the worst dining experience I have had. Service staff, the last port of call to the customer, should never have been asked to serve what was served - perhaps inexperience could be at play, but nonetheless - this seems to be a hotel restaurant which "knows what it is doing" going by past reviews.I hope that they manage to work through these issues and get back to the level of service that previous reviews have indicated. For my part from our experience - I cannot, in any way, recommend this restaurant.
Lovely place to eat. Great service. The steak wasn't as good as previous visits.
We stayed at the castle hotel for 4 nights. We visit the restaurant once during are stay . The food we had was amazing, I had the Chicken Supreme and my husband had the Blade of Beef. Unfortunately this was the second choice for both of us as are first choice was not available. This was the same situation with the starter. Although the food was amazing I probably wouldn’t eat her again as the restaurant was cold which made it uncomfortable and the amount of food on the menu that was not available is a disappointment , it is such a shame as the restaurant is lovely and the staff amazing, it is just a few things that let it down.
We attended here for our extended family Christmas lunch.. To summarise our experience, it was dreadful, the worst food most of us had ever been served in our lives and we don’t say this lightly.. The soup was cold and most unpleasant to taste, the main courses were unbelievably microwaved food reconstituted turkey two soggy carrots and no “pigs in blankets” and so it went on and on with the serving staff havin to keep being apologetic.. The reform had our orders 2 months in advance and yet they didn’t have items of our order to serve us.. It was a disaster and ruined what would otherwise have been a very special occasion… It appears to me that on our visit there was no one on duty who could cook food or anyone with the ability to manage a restaurant..
We are fairly new to Lincoln and like to try all the different restaurants. When we first arrived The Reform restaurant was recommended to us. Our experience was fantastic. The place was buzzing, the staff were friendly and enthusiastic and the food was absolutely awesome. Our second visit a few months later was the same. It’s about a year since our last visit and we’re relieved to get a table as everywhere was heaving with pre Christmas excitement, and we hadn’t been able to get a table anywhere else at such short notice. During our hour and a bit there, we were one of 3 tables occupied. It was early so maybe this changed. Angel, the server was excellent, attentive, enthusiastic and efficient. Our meals were very disappointing. My soup was flavoursome, but lukewarm. We both had the ‘Christmas dinner’ which, again, was barely warm. The portion was very generous. Lots of very tender turkey, HEAPS of cabbage piled onto many (now soggy) potatoes, and a small pig in blanket. Why was the cabbage in a heap in the middle on top of what one assumes to have previously been, crispy roast potatoes? Why so much cabbage? We love Christmas dinner and this was our first of this year, it was, sadly, tasteless. Very bland, and verging on COLD!! Also, even though the situation didn’t affect us, our neighbouring table were aghast to discover that the deep fat fryer had broken so no chips, crispy onion rings or Wantons could be served. These things happen and it can take a while to remedy the problem but surely something temporary could have been arranged?
The worse dinner I had in Lincoln. I asked for a rocket salad with feta cheese and they gave me a salad with out rocket and feta. And when I told them they just said sorry and they charged me for it, totally disgrace. The service was really slow, we asked for drinks and they make more than 10 minutes to bring them to us. And for the food we waited more than 45 minutes. Totally disappointed. I'm chef myself and when I read the reviews I thought that is a good restaurant but it was the worse I had been to Lincoln. The table was old and the chairs uncomfortable.
Really disappointed, food wasnt great and one main came out with a long hair in it. Having had that replaced they said they would remove it from the bill but didnt, when questioned we were told that the waitress shouldnt have told us that. Had to get up and get drinks from the bar even though we were told they only did table service as the staff all vanished. Would suggest booking somewhere else at those prices there are better options,
Having had a lovely meal from the bar menu a couple of months ago, we were looking forward to a nice family Sunday lunch in the reform restaurant, oh my goodness what a disappointment ! To start with you CANNOT just order one course, Sunday lunch is set menu of either 2 or 3 courses. Our starters on the whole were ok, nothing to write home about but passable …. The mains ???? Only a choice of 4 items and only one of these being a roast …. Topside of beef …. Which I opted for, the beef was chewy and inedible , veg ok, Yorkshire pudding was so overdone it just all crumbled it was so overcooked, best part were the roasties but again nothing fantastic. For dessert I opted for lemon posset which was served in a glass with some ice cream and fruit, the ‘Possett’ was liquid and literary could be drank through a straw, I said to the waitress it should be more mousse like and she replied ‘ oh yes it should be it’s gone like that cos it’s been made too long ‘ needless to say I sent it back. A very disappointing visit , not cheap , no ambience , will not return.
Had an excellent light lunch sat outside. Fair prices. Would recommend
Restaurantji Recommends
Very nice Sunday Lunch!!!
Nice quiet place to have a lovely meal, I would recommend
Absolutely the best restaurant currently in Lincoln. Why anyone would choose the marcco p restaurant over this one I do not know. We had 3 courses and every one was a fabulous immediate taste sensation. Please use this restaurant in the cathedral area. We don't want to loose a restaurant like this that changes their menu often, and appeals to all tastes. And the value is fantastic. The teriyaki chicken wings starter are the best I've had. The miso/sushi rice option was out of this world. The poached apricot and almond cake dessert was simply divine. My friend had different options bar the miso/sushi rice option and again blown away. This is not pub food but its not pretentious non impressive food either. Get booked!!
The table was booked in advance to celebrate my hubby’s daughter’s early retirement. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly on arrival. We were early so we sat and had a drink first and a catch up etc. Then Jimmy very kindly took us all to our table. A great choice on the menu, there was absolutely nothing I wouldn’t have eaten, it all sounded delicious! Hubby and I chose the fresh fish of the day which was Tuna, with crab and linguine with lemon etc we were absolutely blown away with the quality and flavours, we would definitely eat that again! Also, I forgot to mention the real ale (on draught) Black Sheep was really smooth and tasty. The service was great, we had Katy and Jimmy who were first class! The desserts were to ‘die for!’ We all had a very very excellent evening. Thank you to all the staff involved on this evening xxx
This isn't somewhere I would typically choose to eat out, as a vegan, and it being predominantly a grill based restaurant. However, the rest of the family are meat eaters, and this place was chosen. It is disappointing in 2023 to see so few options and accommodations for vegan and vegetarianism. There were two dishes, one catering to each diet. The sides are all cooked in the same fat as meat, so if you're a vegan who avoids cross contamination, you will struggle to build your meal here, too. The cauliflower steak we had (my partner is also vegan) was well done and enjoyable, but also on the expensive side for what it is and to be a bit brutal, unoriginal. As a stand-out restaurant in Lincoln, I was expecting more. My only other comments are, the beer on draft is incredibly limited and the ale is served so cold, and the restaurant staff had to continually go to the kitchen to ask for details about the menu, which showed inexperience. Besides those things, I imagine this experience is spot on if you enjoy a steak, and two of our party did enjoy it for that reason.