Bizarre. Everything was confused, including the st...

Bizarre. Everything was confused, including the staff! It wasn't especially clean. All but one of the tables was reserved yet no one else came in in two hours. They have a nice idea but I have no idea how it's got top reviews for Alnwick (which is why we went). We ordered the duck dish each from the specials board and it was served with an undercooked stew around the plate which I think was supposed to serve as a gravy but undercooked mushrooms and onions is never nice. The duck was left around this casserole concoction. In the middle was dauphinois potatoes which were serviceable but not very unctuous and atop that was a salad which appeared to be the leftover garnishes from other people's plates. This was of course, famously served in a filo pastry case. Just when we thought the madness was over, out came the sides. We each were presented a board of bread and butter and some steamed vegetables. It was like a 6yo enthusiast was trying to win children's Masterchef with a box of strange ingredients akin to Ready, Steady, Cook!
The one star is for the laughs this 'dish' offered. We were wetting ourselves thinking we'd been dropped in the twilight zone! What a shame it was my husband's birthday.
I would like to assure any foreign visitors that this isn't British pub food!!