The River Rail Country Inn - Shropshire

This restaurant is closed even though the website says it is open. It has been closed for quite some time, based on appearances. Do not waste your trip like we did.

We have been to this restaurant several times and the food has always been fantastic. During our most recent visit, we tried the new specials and they were amazing. The prices for both the meals and drinks are reasonable, and the young waiter is friendly and attentive. The only small suggestion we have is to offer more options for vegetarians and vegans.

My wife and I had lunch here yesterday the 17th of April. We were shown to our table by a very attentive and friendly young waitress. The table is in a lovely, elevated position giving a view of the Severn Valley Railway. I ordered a pint of Doom Bar which was perfect and my wife had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. For our main course I ordered fish pie which turned out to be full of fish which is unusual for any fish pie eaten out, and my wife had sirloin steak which was tender and done to perfection. For dessert we had Eton Mess which was delicious, and finished off with filter coffee. It was a lovely way to spend two hours. The pub has loads of space outside with plenty of well-spaced tables. The waiting staff wear masks at all times. There is plenty of hand sanitizer available. Can't recommend The River and Rail too highly.

We visited the River and Rail whilst on holiday nearby. Advance booking was very easy on Facebook and the owner was brilliant in helping us planning our small celebration of our wedding anniversary. The atmosphere was so friendly and the staff only too happy to look after us. Knowing of our love of seafood, the chef had prepared a platter for us, which was absolutely delicious and so thoughtful. The main course was also superb (dressed crab and pork belly). We spent a perfect Sunday afternoon at the River and Rail. I can thoroughly recommend it.

My partner and I have been here for drinks a few times and I would highly recommend this place for drinks. It has a cosy country garden feel and just a few yards away from a beautiful river. However this is the second time we have had food and this visit took the biscuit for bad food and rude, unwelcome service! The middle aged bar lady has the customer service skills of a spoon. Considering her age you would think that she could’ve racked up a few years in hospitality however she should check her face as any experience doesn’t match it. We asked for food menus and ordered two fish and chips. I asked for olives as a starter and was told rather bluntly ‘we aren’t serving starters’ and also ‘you cant sit in the beer garden either’. We hadn’t decided where to sit yet but on leaving the pub the beer garden was approximately 30cm away so i’m not sure what the problem was. Maybe the waitress had a wooden leg. I politely asked if ‘no starters’ includes the olives as I could’ve waited at the bar for a bowl of them to take away but was flatly told ‘no’. The guardian of the olives had refused freedom of the olives for one day. After ordering we were told (again, bluntly) that the food would have an extra 10 minutes waiting time on top of cooking because there were other people to serve first. Having worked in a kitchen myself I understand, however there were only two other couples in the whole vicinity so i’m not sure why the wait was so long maybe the cook had to go down to the river to catch the fish on a spear or something. At this point we noticed my partners bottled cider was warm. In hindsight the fridge lights weren’t on so maybe the electricity meter had run out of change. The food arrived half an hour later and the fish was soggy, the chips were undercooked and the onion rings undercooked in loads of greasy batter. We diddn’t want to complain incase the miserable spoon held us captive in her olive prison.