The Orange Tree

Nice location, have seen the pub countless times (grew up 2 miles away) but had never visited before.
Must have been an off day I guess! The pub has been around for over 300 years and it wouldn’t have lasted 3 years if every experience was as bad as ours. We both love cider, ordered two different ciders — both pretty tasteless, flat and disappointing — we each left ½ of our drinks as we walked out of the pub.
The food was awful. My wife ordered the lamb chop special and was very clear that the lamb should be well done or at least medium well — NOT pink. Well the two fatty lamb chops arrived sitting on a pile of mashed potatoes. My wife ate part (the least fatty part) of the first which she said was tasteless and cut into the second from which blood poured out (so much for the well done!). After requesting it to be taken from the check (as usual in the UK you pay in advance) we were refunded the ten pounds. I made the mistake of ordering the lamb madras curry which comprised some tasteless chunks of lamb sitting in a reddish sauce which (to me at least) had little similarity to any Indian meal I have ever experienced before. The rice was OK. I left most of it (together with ½ of our ciders — my wife’s bloody plate had been removed by then) as we left hungry.
Again a historic watering hole in Baldock — hopefully the food is usually better than what we experienced today — but we will not be back.