BITE user comments - nroskilly
Comments by nroskilly
The old Plough has been renovated and extended. We visited soon after the pub re-opened, hoping to support a good new local eatery. However, everything was disappointing: serving by the young staff seemed slow and it soon became clear that they weren't experienced. Most disappointing was the food, which was a BBQ: a small portion of meat (less than 6 oz), a handful of unimaginative salad and a hunk of bread - and that's it. I was so disappointed that I contacted the owner who described the food as a "stop-gap". Well, it didn't fill a gap and was poor value to say the least. An alternative was the sausages - just two miserly pieces with the same accompaniments. The beer wasn't anything to right home about, either. The owner asked me to call, which I did - he wasn't there and didn't call back, so I can only assume that he's not really interested. Avoid.
6 Jan 2015 16:39
Unfriendly new owners who seem not to like children/people/locals (delete as applicable).
2 Aug 2014 21:59
We've eaten and drunk here on two occasions and have been pleased. The menu is limited and rather on the posh burger/fish and chips/choice of steaks side of things - not cheap - but tasty and well-presented. There seems to be a few specials to add variety. The beer is interesting - good selection of hand pumps, but the guest beer I tried wasn't clean and probably hadn't been racked that long. So best to stick to the regular offerings. Other reviews seem to indicate a little minor tension between regulars and more casual users. That's probably right and the overworked lady behind the bar couldn't cope with an error on the till and suggested that she served a regular first. I politely suggested otherwise, as we were in a hurry. The regular got the hump, used foul language and stormed off into the front garden!
20 Jul 2013 09:17
This is a popular and very friendly country pub. There's a pleasant garden with a small children's trampoline and skittles, with traditional pub tables. Inside is also pleasant with a traditional but clean feel. The food from what we sampled in June 2013 was excellent - mains are mainly in the £10-12 range - home-made lasagne, coq au vin, and more traditional choices like home-made pies - all very good. There's a children's menu which seems a bit steep at £5.25 for a main but the fish fingers were home-made and it was good to see a real fruit salad for kids at £3.00. The beer is very good indeed, with local breweries favoured. The staff were great on our visit and could not have been friendlier. So we were certainly impressed and will be back.
15 Jun 2013 20:22
The Cross Keys Hotel, Saffron Walden
Cross Keys has undergone extensive renovation and is now more gastro/hotel. The food is mixed - salads poor (avoid the ceasar) and other dishes variable, but generally you'll fine something of good quality if you choose carefully. Food is generous on the whole and very well presented - no pub grub here. The bedrooms are very nicely done and service is excellent throughout. The beer isn't cheap but this isn't a drinking pub - the beers are all very well kept. Wine is variable and the house wines are quite poor for the price - well marketed, of course. Watch out that the wine they serve is actually the one you order. One two occasions I've been served a different year and the drop in quality was noticeable. But it's a very good choice for a meal now (very good atmosphere and surroundings - plenty of nooks for a private meal) and with the town being dominated increasingly by pasta chains that's refreshing.
15 Jun 2013 09:40
Very good village pub. The beer includes Coniston brewery and the food comes in plentiful, tasty platefuls. You may need to book. The bar gets very busy and noisy quite early on a Friday and Saturday evening, but there's a very welcome separate room with soft sofas and tables for families.
3 Apr 2011 09:07
Good pub grub and a rotating selection of beers. It's a very friendly place with lots of interest for families. The theme mixes railways with angling and the bar staff will happily dangle a spider in your direction (seriously) or activate the model railway that runs the length of the ceiling. Overall: very welcoming and relaxing. If you visit in Spring, check out the carpet of daffodils in the valley graveyard just below the pub - quite exceptional.
31 Mar 2011 20:50
The range of reviews gives a good prediction of your potential experience at the Regal. Cheap, good beer and lots of choice, and cheap and filling food sit alongside a cavernous interior that was once a cinema. The cheap beer attracts a variety of people - some of which you could do without in any establishment. However, choose your moment and the place will be fine and you'll enjoy the experience.
29 Nov 2009 19:39
The Old English Gentleman (OEG), Saffron Walden
I was shocked to hear how rough this gets in the evening and find it hard to believe. Having said that, I've only been here a few times for lunch - and thoroughly enjoy it. The beer is reasonable if a little pricey, and the food (short but delicious menu) is very good indeed. They serve some of the nicest fish and chips around! It isn't cheap, but the mix of locals and business types at lunchtimes attests for its popularity.
29 Nov 2009 19:32
We've been here a couple of times to eat and think it's a really good choice. We have an "active" two-year-old, and were made to feel very welcome on both occasions - nothing was too much trouble. We asked for a reservation to eat, saying that somewhere suitable for the infant would be good so that others were not disturbed. They reserved TWO tables for us so we had the choice between them - very good service. The food is very good indeed - not an extensive menu (I'm pleased to say) but a couple of fish choices and lots of things across the cost spectrum. The beer (Adnams, etc.) is very good indeed and clearly much care goes into looking after it. The Queens is certainly one of the friendliest pubs I've been to in years and comes highly recommended from us - and our two-year-old.
29 Nov 2009 19:26
Well, we visited once more just to see if things had changed - I'm sorry to say that they seem even worse than previously. The beer is awful and the food not worth trying. I'm coming to the conclusion that the real owners, whoever they be, want to run the place down to sell it off for housing (great location ovberlooking the Hayle estuary) as it is now sandwiched loosely between two other housing developments. What a shame if this were to be true, as it used to be a great pleasure to eat here, perhaps enjoying a meal or a pint looking out over such an important wildlife site. In any case, avoid this rude and careless pub at all costs.
26 Dec 2008 12:43
We stayed nearby during December 2008 and the B+B owner recommended the Bell and Crown for an evening meal. He said that it is a bit more expensive than some other local choices, but it was closest to where we were staying, so we gave it a try. The pub was warm, friendly and accommodating on a cold winter's evening. The place was almost fully booked with a 50th birthday party celebration and other diners, but we were travelling with our two-year-old and wanted to eat early, so we took the chance. The menu is limited (that is normally a good sign), but if the quality of all choices is as good as our meals, then you won't be disappointed. The rib eye was spot on and the rack of lamb quite delicious. All seemed to be sourced relatively locally and both came with a good selection of tasty veg. Our mains were around �14, though there are some slightly cheaper options - pies around �10 for example. Starters are around the �6 mark. The food was cooked just right and difficult to fault. If there is any criticism, then the bland white bread roll should be replaced by something decent - a very minor gripe. The staff were friendly and very good towards our (well-behaved) kiddy. The beer is excellent, by the way: well-kept and just the right temperature. When we visited, 6X seemed popular, though I kept to the Adnams which seemed to have travelled well from its East Anglian home (and it isn't a beer noted for that). The wine choices were plentiful (lots of French varietal coptions), but perhaps not such good value for what we were looking for on this occasion. Ignore the "wine of the week" sales ploy - it wasn't any better value. Given the excellent beer, we weren't concerned. So all in all we thought that the Bell and Crown was just what we were looking for, though I note that some subscribers have had different experiences. There are some regulars propping up the bar, and this can be offputting to some who are not from the area, though once engaged in conversation they were helpful and more friendly than first impressions might have suggested. We would happily return and would recommend the pub as an excellent treat for a special meal and for the quality of its well-kept beer.
26 Dec 2008 11:58
This is a local pub to my parents, and I have visited many times over the years. It is very disappointing that the standard seems to have slipped recently and that the manager comes across as an oaf. On our most recent visit, we waited 45 minutes for our food, then were told that it would be another 10 minutes. It was the height of summer, and this is a tourist area, but the manager wasn't sympathetic, saying in effect that I should have known that it was busy. Another staff member said that they were short-staffed in the kitchen, and we would have appreciated that honesty from the manager, who ultimately was threatening to us. We left quickly, leaving our name and address, but disappointingly ending up with fish and chips locally. For the sake of completeness, the beer (Sharpes) wasn't great and the evidence of our visit suggests that the place now seems to have targeted a lower part of the market - plastic menus, etc. It is always disappointing when a trusted favourite goes downhill and I will be writing to the owner to find out why. My parents are local and in their 80s, and it is a disgrace that the manager chose to treat us this way - all it needed was an apology and we would have been more sympathetic.
7 Aug 2008 21:15
I've only visited once, but found the dining area to be spacious and comfortable -ideal for us, a couple with a young baby- no fear of annoying too many other people! The food was very good (a good range of specials and standard items - all served in perfect time and tasty. The service was excellent and everyone was very friendly and welcoming; the two servers were spot on in terms of their attention and genuinely had time for us. The beer was also very enjoyable; I didn't try all of them, of course, but the Adnams was well-kept and just the right "cellar" temperature. My only gripe would be that smokers filled the porch on a rainy night (a difficult problem, I know), which made the passage through unhealthy for us and our young son. But an enjoyablning experience - we shall certainly be back and would have no hesitation in recommending such a friendly pub.
21 Jul 2008 08:40
The Mytton and Mermaid, Atcham
This pub has a lovely setting next to the old bridge and in sight of the church at Atcham. It sets itself out to be a gastro-pub with two AA rosettes and contrasting bar and restaurant menus. The beer is excellent, with Old Tom (Robinson's) being the choice pick. The food is expensive, but variable. We ate as part of a group of six people on each of four nights in April, so we between us tried most things on the both the restaurant and pub menus. Unfortunately, most dishes with meat were disappointing. The attempt to provide imaginative cooking just doesn't work, with inappropriate menu items failing to set of the main meat centrepiece. Though stacked up in the way that seems popular these days, portions aren't always generous, so an additional vegetable or starter is recommended. Old spot pork is a case in point - tiny and over-cooked. The fillet (most expensive on the menu at around �23) was disappointingly tasteless and the rib eye (c�15 from the bar menu) was similarly bland. I had the misfortune to be speared by boned in the rabbit starter, so that is best avoided as well. Some dishes look at taste very differently, though, with the fish being particularly good and not subsumed in the array of silly extras that accompany other dishes - single ravioli, etc. Deserts are lovely - try the banana fritters. So, choose carefully and certainly enjoy the setting - which is probably the highlight of dining and drinking at the Mytton. Service is very friendly and the rooms okay (around �80 per night - not cheap for what you get, but serviceable).
5 May 2008 19:50
We've eaten here a few times as it is local to my parents. It is a big eatery and you have to take pot luck. If there are tables of noisy children, then ask for a seat in the conservatory - not great for a quiet drink, but fine for a meal. Chairs are plastic, but it doesn't spoil the meal too much. The carvery is fine and popular, though the menu is a better option if you want something tasty. The fish is often good (my wife's cod was among the best she has tasted) and vegetables all (taste) local. Beer is good, also, and St Austell ales can be hit and miss. So, all in all a good choice for a meal in this area.
30 Oct 2006 21:58
The Journeys End Inn, Ringmore
This is one of the worst pubs I've been to. We stayed locally in a B+B and the B+B said that the local pub might be worth a try, as it had new owners. The main bar is okay, but there is a miserable conservatory attached where non-smokers need to eat. There were only four items on the main menu (so between us we sampled 50% of them). My wife's fish pie wasn't too bad, but very light on fish. My main course, a pork chop, was quite sad - one thin chop and very little to go with it - a few miserable sliced carrots and frozen peas. One spoonful of mash stared apologetically up at me. As each main is between �9 and �10, we felt the value to be particularly poor. I complained about the food and received a very arrogant, snotty reply. There was clear sense that this is a pub in a tourist area with passing trade, and the new owners could not really care. The beer wasn't great, either. Ales are racked up at the back of the bar and in Summer would be far too warm. My pint wasn't prepared properly and tasted of filings. So, best avoided.
30 Oct 2006 21:49
The Dabbling Duck, Great Massingham
The pub is warm and cosy, popular for its inventive food and good beer - rightly so in our experience. We decided to stay overnight and the rooms were very pleasant indeed. What really struck me was the young and hard-working staff, who were friendly and helpful, despite being busy.
6 Jan 2015 16:42