Telephone: 01959 563 136
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Cost for 3 course Sunday carvery – £25.00
Cost for child’s 3 course Sunday carvery – £8.00
Cost for a glass of Prosecco – £5.00
Cost for a pint of Fosters – £3.80
Cost for espresso – £2.00
We had found The Grasshopper Inn in Westerham a few months ago, we really enjoyed our meal and time there. When deciding somewhere for Mother’s Day, I thought the Grasshopper Inn would be a good choice.
Reservations
As Mother’s Day is normally a busy lunch time, I called 3-4 weeks in advance to book a table. I was told that the person dealing with Mother’s Day bookings would give me a call back. A week before the main event, I still hadn’t heard anything. I called again, to be told the lady will call me back the next day. This didn’t happen and, in the end, I finally heard back on the Tuesday before the main event – my concern was that if they didn’t have space, then we had no other options being so close to Mother’s Day. Thankfully, they did have space and we were booked in. Not a good sign though.
Venue
The Grasshopper Inn was a vast, old building (circa 1270) based on the main road into Westerham. A very large car park was outside, and they had a small pond area too. We entered through the Tudor Suite and was brought through the amazing area into the main pub. A bit anticlimactic as the main restaurant area was dark and not anywhere near as plush as the suite – perhaps because we had a baby with us we had to eat in this area? We were met at the restaurant entrance, and shown to our table.
Starters
As this was a special day, we had to order a starter and dessert along with the main course. An excessive amount of food, but I appreciate they need to maximise their covers. Claire ordered the sweet potato, chilli and coriander soup, I asked for the ham hock terrine. JW was on a gluten and dairy free diet for a while – the best choice for him was the ham, cheese and tomato, minus the cheese. It took a while to come out. Claire wasn’t happy with the soup, the croutons were very soft, which meant it had been sitting there for a while (along with being cold, this completely spoilt it for her). My terrine was ok, the bread was good and I liked the pease pudding sauce. JW was happy enough with the ham and tomato. The people behind Claire were not happy with the delay in getting served (ie very slow).
Sunday lunch carvery!
There was a huge queue for the carvery, Claire joined it when the queue had died down – I then found out that in fact, we were supposed to wait until called… A lot of choice available – roast pork, turkey, beef and lamb! I chose lamb, Claire went for the turkey. The yorkshire pudding was MASSIVE! I also had brussels sprouts, green beans with chopped almonds, carrots, parsnips, roast potatoes, stuffing and sausage & bacon. There was also sweet potato and beetroot on offer. As you can see with my plate – so much food, and our plates were reasonably stacked compared to many others! We were both very happy with the carvery, the roast potatoes were so crispy.
Dessert
There wasn’t any gluten free desserts available, so unfortunately JW had to have 2 courses instead of 3 for the same money. It would have been good to have a fruit salad available – mind you, I did receive the menu beforehand, next time I’ll be mentioning as I book. Claire ordered the bailey’s cheesecake, I asked for the bitter chocolate tart with orange pieces. These took a while to come out, but we both enjoyed our choices.
Drinks
As it was a pub and restaurant, they had a good selection of lager and ales, as well as wine. The service was extremely slow though, I waited over half an hour for the espresso I ordered at the end of the meal.
Children facilities
I used a very clean and fresh smelling toilet with baby changing facilities. The high chair was clean. The children’s menu was a bit limited, as mentioned there wasn’t anything dairy / gluten free. Overall though, I would say that The Grasshopper Inn was very family friendly.
Conclusion
We were really looking forward to Sunday lunch at The Grasshopper Inn, but I was very disappointed with the organisational aspects, from the delay of 3 weeks for our booking on Mother’s Day, through to the very slow service throughout the meal. Claire’s soup was spoilt as it had been waiting to be brought out to us, hence the croutons being soft. We were told that we were going to have our desserts immediately after our main course because of the next sitting was waiting, and then I actually had to ask for the desserts as they took so long (this was a double muck-up in my opinion – we were annoyed they were going to come out so quickly, and then more annoyed when they didn’t arrive for a long time!). The espresso took half an hour to come after ordering, so pleased I ordered a quick drink ;-) The carvery was very enjoyable, especially the roast potatoes. It was good they had a lot of vegetables on offer, as well as 4 types of meat. The desserts were also enjoyable, I especially liked the bitter chocolate tart.
So, after all this, the food was nice for the most part, the venue was good but unfortunately the organisation / service let the experience down.
John
Rating: 
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