please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Good basic carvery - but the last time I tried it, it was apparent that the contents were only changed maybe once in the entire lunchtime session. From that point of view, the Toby Carvery in nearby Frimley (The One Oak) was streets ahead.
Nevertheless, have just tried to boook a table for tomorrow (based mainly on the lovely views) - but three calls...no answer at all.
There is so much in the way of good eating in this area, who's going to bother with this level of (non)service...?
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i cannot begin to tell you how much of waste of your life it would be to step foot in this place, the food is terrible everytime I have been in the last three years, the carvey is the pits, staff standing around, shouting at each other as they cut your gristle with a little meat, dreid veg, solid gravy, rock hard potatoes if any are actually left, the bar staff have never been trained properly, ale is always cloudy, some goes wrong every time, its the pits i tell you, the pits!
I've lived in the area for long enought to visit and eat at the place when it opened at a wine bar/fish restuarant, you could even get in with jeans 20 years ago!
dont waste your effort, time, money on what will surely be a complete disappointment
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The ONLY way this plae could be improved is with a wrecking ball. Flattenen it and start again. Still it does keep pond life away from other pubs in the area.
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The last review being over a year ago, we thought it was worth a visit, I mean, things could only be better, couldn't they? Wrong! Two real ales on offer, London Pride and Courage Special, we opted for the Pride. It was a super sunny September day, not a cloud in the sky.....just in the beer, which tasted foul! This place is now advertised as a carvery, only when we arrived there was a sign on the door saying that due to a failure of a vital piece of equipment the carvery was unavailable. As the only piece of equipment you need to roast meat is an oven and as the rest of the menu was being served we guessed that the vital piece missing was the cooking operative. We settled for a Ploughmans for 2 at �9.50. Most people can picture a Ploughmans, a wedge of Cheddar, maybe some Brie and if you're lucky a hunk of crumbly Stilton. If this is what you expect, give this place a wide berth or take your own. The plate, sorry slate, that arrived consisted of 2 types of cheese purporting to be Cheddar and Wensleydale, not wedges but small tasteless thin strips and bits, half a tomato and some wilted leaves. This pub could and should be so much better than it is given it's idyllic location, somebody.......anybody should get in there and sort it out!
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Seems things haven't changed much since my last visit quite a while ago! The lakeside patio is still terrific. The food is still awful - mediocre if you're lucky. By the bar, they are still posting a list of dishes that they cannot serve due to unavailability of ingredients... some things never change. We rarely visit, and when we do, it's for the outdoor atmosphere, not the food. Go for a cold lager or drink in the garden, if you must. I'd love to be able to recommend this place for other reasons, but can't.
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We went for a family meal to the Quays on 22nd May 2010 having been there for lunch many times. I suppose the warnings were there a few weeks ago when it took ages to get the food and no cutlery I had to get some myself.
I am actually surprised that the reviews in 2007 are the same as my experience in 2010 so the management change hasnt helped.....
We ordered two peri peri burgers which were the driest bland est thing ever My wife chose the sea bass and it was cremated she couldn't cut through it and neither could I the vegetables were tasteless.
I had the jungle Thai curry and that was OK.
The menu is very limited with both my daughters choosing the safest option.
The problem was initially it took so long to get the food I had forgotten what I had ordered subsequently my daughter ordered a drink refill and we had to remind the next waitress about 10 plus minutes later.
So the food experience was abysmal as was the service.
The puddings were ok however custard was in a tiny pot for the pie making it not worth having the chocolate fudge cake again had a slither of ice cream.
The final straw came trying to pay my daughter had to go find someone for the bill and then they forgot us again we were ready to leave but waited at least 15 minutes before going to look for someone who could do the payment.
Luckily we found the manager we think who apologised etc but by then they had lost us as a customer for bad service and abysmal food. We were given a discount however it was a ruined evening priceless..
I don't think we or I will ever go there again one to be avoided shame as its in a fantastic location lastly the decor is out dated.
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Inconsistent or what? They lost our booking for a table in the restaurant area, we had to sit in the bar. The barman could not take the money for our drinks and had to ask someone else over to operate the till. The food options were carvery or carvery - nothing off the main menu. The meat portions for the carvery were miniscule. The vegetables were rubbish. We had to wait half an hour for the desserts and even then had to chase them up. Average London Pride and Old Speckled Hen. The Quays is run by complete amateurs and is desperately poor. What a difference a year makes.
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This place has certainly improved since my last visit three years ago. There is a wide choice on the menu and the portions are large. The carvery is very good. Youngs Bitter and Special were available and both drinkable. A good venue for a works lunch.
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If I had read the reviews before going I may have not gone but as we found it accidently and apres the refit then Im glad. When walking in it looked lovely and I felt that expensive feeling but was pleasantly surprised to find it in line with most places these days on price. A wide selection of beer on draught is available which is definaltly a rareity these days. The staff were very friendly and chatty, another rareity these days anywhere. This place is in a great location, no feeling of being pushed into eating, although the carvery was excellent. Normal price and large selection of veg that didnt look as if had been there all day even at 6pm. Its the kind of place I could make an afternoon of quite easily so check it out since the refit. We were pleasantly suprised even without seeing the historical comments.
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Holepuncture is spot on. Haven't returned for AGES because the food was just disgusting and the service was non-existent. Last time I went I was cycling by on a hot day and the waterside ambiance seemed to fit. The menu had been dreastically reduced at that time (summer 2007?) Had a beer & that was about it. I was not wowed. There is so much potential for this place. Maybe I shall return now that I've heard that the place has changed hands.
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Anybody braved it since the refit?
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Ps
forgot to add: GOOD LUCK to Sue Gradon taking over, take it back to how it was.
PPS, Is Lee Marsh & Monkey Boy still there ????
anonymous - 13 Jul 2007 13:49 |
OMG what has happened to The Quays. Ok so its about 5 years since I worked there but OMG, What happened.
Come back to the old guys who worked there-It might have gone ratshite at times but we all had a laff.
what happened to ernest,andy,fat ian,matt,sally(might havebeen suzie) and glenn &the rest of the doorstaff, at least they stopped the chavs & squddies getting silly.
anonymous - 13 Jul 2007 13:46 |
holepuncture, well said and accurate but they will try and get your review deleted soonest!!!
Biker - 24 May 2007 12:12 |
such a shame, soooooo much potential but instead we are offered a pub with awful service overseen by terrible managers. the staff are walking around in a dream, heads down not knowing what they are doing, management who cant provide a consistent selection of beers and only scope of leadership is leering all over the dippy girls they employed, probably for those intentions too. I cant comprehend how why or who is allowing this car crash operation to continue but i hope its sorted out soon.
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Went to The Quays New Years Eve, it was a fantastic night. Rodeo Bull, wet t-shirt contect, DJ, buffet.
Karaoke nights are brilliant too, proper packed out and a good laugh. There is a huge bar and about 10 staff were on, the staff are very lively.
anonymous - 4 Jan 2007 12:56 |
Jeezusss H. I wish I'd read the reviews here before I let my brothers girlfriend drag me to this sh*t pit. What's with the running out of chips - and even worse running out of white wine???! I'm no expert on the hospitality industry but surely if someone has messed up on the ordering then you drag your carcass off to Asda and buy whatever it is that you need? Don't you??? *shrugs*
As it was we called a cab and went elsewhere. I'm getting too damn old to be held to ransom waiting for food, waiting for drinks and waiting for someone there to give a sh*t.
I want to go out and have a good time on the weekend not get stressed out because we have to leave a place as hungry and stone cold sober as we arrived!
I'm not saying anything against the staff - it's not their fault poor little minimum wage slaves. I bet they have to take some crap from the peed off punters. It's the pub management and *their* management who need their arses kicking.
Also - what's the point of having door staff if you're just going to let all the scum in anyway???!
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Went last night - dreadful. All comments are right. Grubby, understaffed, food mediocre. Location is perfect but that's all there is to recommend it. There's an A4 sheet of 'unavailable items' at the food ordering point - notably eggs (!), steak and fajitas but the list got longer as the evening progressed. I pointed out that Asda was open but none of the few staff who could drive could be spared to go out. Waited ages for food, ages for drink and AGES for puddings. I cleared our table, both before we could use it and after our main course because we were tired of looking at the dirty plates. The kids (staff) are very willing but haven't got a clue - I feel sorry for them.
A dreadful place - wouldn't waste my money there again. What a waste of a perfect summer location!
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All the previous criticisms of this pub are valid. If I didn't go there to wakeboard, I wouldn't go there at all. As I do, I keep cursing myself for not bringing my own food and drink. Put enough (competent) bar staff on, serve decent food and impose a dress code then you'd have a fabulous pub.
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Ewww! Three staff huddled at one end of a huge long bar & a rude manager who tried to make it my fault that I was overcharged.
& yeah. Chav Central. BIG Time.
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My goodness what a hole!
A perfectly glorious location, ruined by shocking mismanagement. Where shall I start?
There's simply no excuse for a dirty pub. I can't help thinking If the public areas are this squalid then what on earth does it look like behind closed doors - like the kitchen?
I usually avoid eating here because of my hygiene concerns, but I'm aware that my less fussy friends have sometimes waited hours and hours for their food, which is apparently standard.
The last time I visited they had run out of chips, the time before that they had run out of white wine...
The ahem... "service" is truly dreadful, but I can't blame the staff. Evidently they have been thrown into the deep end with no proper training or supervision, and they simply don't know what they're doing, and they haven't been required to care.
The pub is huge, and the bar stretches for miles seemingly...but there are 3/4 barstaff and they never seem to come your way. Staffing levels like this disrespect their customers.
But then their customer base seems to be mainly composed of under age drinkers, chavs and shall we say "the rougher element". (I AM being a tad harsh, but they do seem to predominate.)
The last time I was here there was a sea of "Chav White" heavily logoed clothing, Boyband "fin" hair, conspicuous bling, bleached blonde hair and fake tan.
I am certain I shall be reluctantly dragged here again, and I fully expect it to be equally shit.
There used to be a scottish manager called Andy who never seemed to be able to do anything to help you, but at least he could make you laugh. The latest incumbents lack even that much customer service skill.
If you are planning to visit my advice is this - please eat before you go, drink packaged bottled drinks which don't require a scummy glass, and order rounds in pairs to cut down on queueing time.
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The best thing I can say about this place is that I met the manager on a plane coming back from holiday once and he was a very very very funny man. His pub is crap though.
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Awful place.Awful food. Dirty Glasses. Staff have no idea about what is on the menu and customer service in general.
Ordered food and when it came half the items were missing. Sent it back and miraculously all the items that were missing were avaialble they just obviously couldn't be bothered to put them on. Sauce basket full of ants. Cutlery dirty and possibly the worst coffee I have ever tasted.
Its such a shame as this could be a fantastic place, the location is wonderful
anonymous - 23 Aug 2005 08:34 |
Lovely views, lovely Location. Went at the weekend, ordered a burger with cheese and Bacon, waitress said they'd run out of bacon but we still had to pay full price!!! THEN it came to our table, chips burnt, NO BURGER RELISH as in menu!!! UNBELIVABLE.... You'd think they'd gove us a couple of quid off as all the ingrediance wer'nt avalible but NO, wouldnt even consider it. Not enough bar staff, took about 30 minutes to get a drink. I'm just gutted that a pub in such a lovely location know NOTHING about customer service and NOTHING about cooking. Oh yeah, the burger was MINGING, most desgusting burger I've ever eaten, they even managed to burn the cheese on it... I wouldnt recomend eating at this pub.
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Great place for a nice chill with friends and meeting a few new people. Great atmosphere with a lovely garden overlooking the most beautiful lake.
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I agree with the the last two comments that it's full of Chavs. This used to be the 'in' place to go in this neck of the woods but has gone down hill a hell of a lot and the food is poor quality. The only thing it's got going for it is it's lakeside location which is nice during the summer and they do have some late night entertainment but apart from that you'd be better off trying somewhere else.
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Dreadful place - had a terrible time there (both times - gave it second chance). Full of very young chavs and wannabee footballers wives who can't afford the fare to London. A smattering of fights, and dodgy bouncers, round off a nightmare evening. Vicky Pollard likely to start hanging around in the car park soon. Avoid at all costs
patsy - 21 Jan 2005 14:18 |
It is a bit of a chav pub as noted earlier, but it's got a licence until 1:30-2:00AM on Fridays and Saturdays and acts as a pub/club. Overall a great place to drink.
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this pub is a fantastic place to eat in the evenings, or just to have a pub lunch at the weekends, the atmosphere is indiscribable and the garden area is amazing. i enjoyed watching the wakeboarders from the quayside wake and ski. the staff were all friendly and the late opening is a brilliant, i intend to make it my local.
tracey g - 14 Sep 2004 16:43 |
Bit of a charver dive. Bad Guinness- had a pint there the other day which wasn't even allowed to settle. Too expensive- over a fiver for a pair of pints. Plus points: big lakefront garden, ensuring summer popularity. Late licence most of the week as it's well away from any houses. Popular amongst students.
Dan - 1 Sep 2004 13:45 |
