Hurst Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B5 4TD UK
Visited 9 March 2023
On a cold and rainy night, I was planning on going to a Pub that I had eaten at before and planned on reviewing this time. Unfortunately, there was not a seat to be had, so I decided to walk the street and find another Pub. The Dragon Inn was not far from my original choice, so I went in and luckily there were open tables.
After taking a table, I went to the bar and ordered my meal, Tomato and Basil Soup to start, Lemon and Herb Roasted Chicken with Peas and Mash, and of course my obligatory pint of Cider. After waiting what I perceived to be quite some time for my soup, both my soup and my chicken arrived at the table. What a disappointment is all I can say about The Dragon Inn. The soup lacked any hint of basil and more resembled and tasted like ketchup that had been thinned out a bit, was barely warm, not what one wants when it is cold and rainy. The Lemon and Herb Roasted chicken with peas and Mash was not any better. The chicken was roasted but was burnt on the bottom and lacked any appearance of being roasted whatsoever. I am not sure what herbs they use but there was no evidence of any and the only lemon I tasted was the first bite and it was quite overpowering. The mashed potatoes looked and tasted like they had been at the bottom of the container and had dried out and tough parts and lacked any real flavor at all and were warm at best. The peas were a little warmer than the mashed, and frankly were the best part of the meal not counting the pint of Cider.
All I can really say is, what a disappointment. If they had been extremely busy or appeared short-staffed, I maybe could have made exceptions for the amount of time it took to be served or for the temperature of the food when it arrived, but it really just seemed like my order had been sitting waiting to be brought to the table. As I was by myself there was no reason why anyone would have assumed that the soup and chicken were not for the same person, even so, there is no excuse for the mashed potatoes. The Dragon Inn is definitely in need of some quality control and probably a kitchen manager (or a new one if they already have one) to take control of the shortcomings of the kitchen as it is now. As this is part of the JD Wetherspoon maybe quality has been lost in the corporate mentality, but I have dined in many corporate-managed Pubs and have not experienced such poor quality of the food served.