The Windhover in Northampton

We visited recently and came away disappointed. A few observations: - Food was average at best, and although the venue was far from full (it was lunchtime), our meals took an unreasonably long time to arrive. - The garden area was empty, which surprised us on such a beautiful sunny day. At first, we appreciated the peace and quiet—until we realized why: the garden looks out onto a roundabout, with the car park and a care home framing the rest of the view. Not quite the idyllic countryside retreat you might hope for. - Service lacked any real hospitality. When we asked our server for cutlery after our food was brought out, she simply pointed to where we could fetch it ourselves. While this might be standard practice in some places, it felt dismissive and out of step with what one might reasonably expect, even at a casual pub. It left the impression that staff may not be fully engaged—or perhaps haven’t received adequate training in customer service. As shareholders in the Mitchells & Butlers group, we’ve visited numerous country pubs under their umbrella, and sadly, this was by far the poorest experience we’ve had. We weren’t expecting white-glove service—this isn’t Eleven Madison Park—but a basic level of attentiveness should be standard. If you’re local and just after a quick drink, it might do the trick. But if you’re looking for a place with even the most modest touch of care or charm, I’d suggest going a few extra miles elsewhere.

Dropped in here with no reservation, we were seated in the bar area which was not overly busy but all the tables were clean which was nice to see. Food was of a good quality, I had the rib eye steak which was cooked to perfection (medium rare) and my wife had the pie which had plenty of filling in it as you would expect. Service was prompt and staff that served us were all polite. Looking forward to visiting in a few weeks time with the rest of the family. Keep up the great work!!

Got told- no reservation - go find a table in the corner. We found one and asked for it to be cleaned 3 separate times. Girl who brought us the food cleaned some of the plates left the rest as per photos. I asked for Blue roll and she brought me blue roll and left me to wipe our table myself. £25 per main. Miserable untrained staff. This is so poor that it’s funny!

Popped in for a late lunch, really enjoyable. Ribeye steak was cooked to medium rare perfection, the triple cooked chips were excellent and the bacon and mushroom sauce was delicious.

Very welcoming from the start , was seated and served very efficiently by our server bree , food was excellent and the atmosphere was amazing , hard to find a better countryside pub than the windhover 11/10 definitely be going back