The Riverford Field Kitchen

This has been one of my favourite places to eat for years, but my most recent trip left me disappointed and a bit embarrassed having built up the experience to the friends I was meeting there. It could have been an off day but the changes to the style of service and the structure of the meals leads me to conclude that cost cutting has ruined the experience. Or maybe they lost the staff who made it what it was. Dining here used to be special. This time was average and even austere by comparison. The portion sizes and number of dishes served have reduced considerably. We were served just a couple of starters, none of which were particularly good, on tiny plates. The food was forgettable and the dishes badly paired with no thought to texture. With the exception of one side dish served with the main, none lived up to the old standards. The vegetarian mains have ironically always been the let down here, I have never had a good one despite eating here more than 15 times. On this occasion it was truly bland and boring. The desserts are nothing like they once were: they used to be indulgent and special, with tons of custard or cream on offer and split portions available. The surprise at the end of the meal of being asked to go and choose your dessert was exciting and perhaps covid put an end to that, but for a while the desserts continued to be amazing and the sticky toffee pudding was famous. Now the desserts, while fine, are just very small portions of basic cake with very small garnishes of compote or the like. Eating here used to be indulgent and exciting, but this time it was average, rushed and forgettable, and hugely disappointing compared with the previous experiences. We ate all the food we were given and were all hungry again within 2 hours of leaving and I probably won't be coming back unless I hear that things have improved.

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The amazing team at Riverford know how to make the most unprepossessing vegetable a star. Subtle flavours, a feast for the eye, expert cooking and imaginative menu creation. We loved the casual-yet-professional vibe, the plentiful courses which just kept coming and the feeling of feasting without ever being over-full. As vegans, being able to eat through the whole menu, and still have a choice of desserts was very exciting. We would thoroughly recommend to anyone wanting a culinary feast.

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Great to see a restaurant full for the Christmas Lunch menu. Impressed by such a high quality of service, delivered by a friendly and efficient team the (organic) food, which was exceptional across each of the four courses. £34 pp was really good value. Highly recommended and will be back!

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First thing to mention is how lovely and attentive the staff were .. great atmosphere for Sunday lunch and the food was terrific .. great afternoon and nice that our dog was allowed .. thank you

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We went for Sunday lunch. The food was superb, couldn’t fault anything I cannot recommend this highly enough

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