Restaurants in Chippenham

Superb meal in relaxed environment. Owner was very helpful and welcoming. Good value and flexible on portion sizes and prices.

GREAT FOOD, BUT BEWARE THE NOISE OF LARGE PARTIES We heard about La Flambe a few years ago (by recommendation) and have visited about 3 times since then. We've always had great food and service so thought we'd try it again. When we arrived (on a Saturday night) there was barely a space in the car park. Going through the front door could see it was frantically busy. We were greeted at the bar and told there would be a slight wait for the table we'd booked. We were offered seats and were able to order drinks and look at the menu.. all OK so far. Finally after about 15/20 mins we were shown to a table. This seemed OK until we noticed that the table next to us was a very large party of about 25 people and my goodness were they noisy!.. laughing, loud talking, shouting etc. We could barely hear ourselves think, let alone talk! - I knew there was no way we would be able to enjoy our meal with that amount of noise next to us so I asked to move.. the problem was every other table in any quieter areas of the restaurant were already taken. To be fair to them they found us a table in the same room a bit further away. It was slightly less noisy there.. but not very much! - having eaten, and enjoyed the main, we didn't feel like enduring the noise for any longer so we declined the dessert menu and moved to the bar area to finish our drinks and settle the bill. Turning to the food itself, that was excellent. A relatively short wait time considering how busy they were. I had the Fillet Steak and my wife had the Sea Bream. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals.. top marks for that, and for the efficiency and professionalism of the staff, who moved us and indeed sympathised with us about the noise. I think most people would agree that an important part of the pleasure of dining out (for us anyway) is being able to enjoy good food in relative peace and quiet. We've realised now that La Flambe, being a family restaurant do cater for larger parties, children etc, and there is a chance that if you dine there you may end up next to a large party as we did. That's all OK if you can be moved away from it, but it's not OK if you can't. I don't think it's a very good idea to place tables for 2 so close to a table of 25! It could well have been a rare event for them to have such a large party, but unfortunately for us, that night they did and we were the unlucky ones to have to endure it. It's not something we would wish to take the chance of repeating again so it's with some sadness we'll be giving La Flambe a miss in future. It is a very busy, successful restaurant and we're pleased for them. If they're catering for such large groups then it makes sense for them financially. In this day and age, where there are such cost pressures on business (and particularly hospitality) they need to take large group business when they can. I completely understand that but it comes with the downside off being completely off-putting for couples like us. Put simply - they don't need us! Note - Because of the staff and food quality I've still rated it good, but it wasn't a pleasant dining experience for us. There are many other places where the emphasis is not just high quality food, but the ambience and surroundings to enjoy it in a relaxed and calm atmosphere. Those are the places we'll give our business to in future.