The William Bray , Shere Guildford Surrey

I was happy to discover this place , it was late sunday afternoon a tricky time to find a place who still serves food , ( we were heading for William 4th in Little London - but unfortunately arrived late in the day and they stopped serving food and recommended we try Wiliam Bray in Shere) I haven't been to Shere in a while , so was glad to see that the pub has changed hands and got a much needed lick of paint , the food looked very appatizing and the fire place was warm and inviting , although the whole place was a tad souless like so many gastro pubs these days. the guy (who turned out to be the bar manager) was standoffish and rude , while we were looking at the menu he had a very nasty go at one of the waitresses , which made me feel uncomfortable. the menu is normal gastro pub fare with prices to match - i had a brie ploumans , plenty of nice granary bread , butter and okish chutney ( very heavy on the star anise) but only a very modest sliver of brie , for the price they charge i expected more , my partner had a sandwich which was rahter bland. whatever, would have left satisfied if it wasn't for the amount of money i paid for a glass of red wine !!! i asked for a small glass of red - the choise was good , and they also had an open bottle of Ch�teauneuf-du-Pape, Domaine de Cristia 2006 (France) , which now i realise they don't usually sell by the glass , that was not mentioned to me at the time,Ch�teauneuf-du-Pape vary in price , from reasonable to the rather expensive , i honestly believed that they would offer a reasonable Ch�teauneuf-du-Pape by the glass ( that would match prices of the other sold by the glass wines) around �6-�7 for a small glass. I really didn't expect to be charged �12 for a small glass of wine in the middle of a recession !!! the bar manager didn't mentione the price when the order was placed , and i learnt a lesson in never assume.......
i found his service to be arrogant and unhelpful ( the other bar staff were pleasant enough) the whole place is fine , nothing more - a cheery friendly face behind the bar could make all the difference.

18 Oct 2009 21:03