Why are they so pretentious?

An example of good presentation of good food - not a cast-iron platter in sight and no paper on the plate for fish dishes

This is a bit of a rant. Mr M and I decided to have lunch out. We had been to The Range where they had several things I desperately needed and as we drove away I said shall we have lunch? We went to a local hostelry.
Mr M ordered the Gammon with fries and egg and stuff and I ordered the Surf and Turf - nine pieces of wholetail scampi and a steak with a flat mushroom half a tomato and fries. Please note that there is no mention of onion in that list. I also had a decaff coffee and Mr M had diet Pepsi.

The coffee was so weak it was waving a white flag in surrender. It was awful. I said so to Mr M who said it was "one of those Nescafe sachet tube things".

The food arrived and I will say right now that the steak was cooked exactly to my liking. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the food. The fries come in a separate bowl. The rest of the food was on a cast-iron platter with ridges on it, the whole thing balanced on a piece of old floorboard... at least that's what it looked like.

Serving food on a ridged plate is wrong in so many ways but adding to this crime the fact that no matter how hard you try you cannot get cast-iron to look clean. It is rude to the customer and totally un-necessary.

How many people can you name that would say "let's go to X restaurant because they serve the food on red-hot, cast-iron platters?" I don't know anyone.

The scampi was so dark brown it was almost burnt and when I bit a piece all I could taste was the bitterness of burnt breadcrumbs, not a hint of scampi taste at all. The mushroom was soggy the tomato only partly cooked and there was nearly a whole onion, soggy and unappetising under the steak. I don't eat onion unless it has been caramelised and is in a sauce. I specifically chose the dish because it didn't say onions. Unfortunately yesterday was not a day when I could send the food back, my brave was still at home with my other handbag. So here I am ranting on about something I could have fixed.

Mr M said his gammon had been so over cooked he could have mended the soles of his shoes with it.

So if ever you are in Newport and want a good meal do not go to The Stonehouse on Lighthouse Road.