please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
I visit this pub quite often, purely because they serve a certain......dare I say it on here.......lager that I like. The pub itself is a typical Greene King eating house. No character, no soul. It attracts all sorts of people and some of them are slightly 'suspect'. However, it's clean the service is friendly and it has a reasonably sized car-park. The real ales are the usual 'GK' offerings, Abbot, IPA etc.
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Attended the King Rufus tonight with my Mother and her friend. The food quality was absolutely superb. The price was value for money. The presentation from outset exemplary. The Chilli Beef was second to none and the best I have had anywhere. Even my King Prawn Cocktail was grade one. The menu was better than many so called higher class restaurants where I have eaten. The service was fun and truly memerable.
King Rufus I will attend again and again.
My Rating in my own words: ****AAAA****
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Help going mad - wrote the review below about the other King Rufus at Eling - sorry!!
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Visited in March (bit slow on updating my reviews!) - this is a nice traditional boozer. There were not many people in there this Sunday lunchtime. Friendly landlord, nice layout, I had a few pints of a Hydes of Manchester seasonal beer in good condition.
There is another pub directly opposite! 7/10.
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Yawn, another Greene King soul-less chain experience. There have been some other good insightful reviews, but remember people, ordinary folk LIKE this kind of thing, this is why Greene King will march on. All the usual McDonald's with beer trappings, run by teenagers, microwaved food, ok beer though. Just uninspiring- a safe choice for safe Britain- the brewery provides safe 70s and 80s non offensive music piped to you whilst you eat your airline food in a kitsch 'this was an old farmhouse' showroom. Prepare to grow old quickly in here....
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felt a bit out of my depth when there were a load of young louts outside smoking in the door way and spitting on the floor.didnt even go in back in the car. so far chandlers ford hasnt got much going for it on the traditional pub front
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This place was a much better pub back in the days when it was called the Mount. Configuration was much better, clear drinking and eating areas, much larger bar area and could easily be put right by taking down the false walls. These days it is more of a restaurant trying to be a pub and sometimes the other way round. Toilets always seem to be flooded and not that nice, well the gents anyway. Staff are ok but as with all underpaid young staff, tend to ignore us oldies and serve all their mates first. Having the smoking area directly outside the entrance is a bad bad idea as everytime someone comes in or indeed if the door is propped open, you have to suffer someone elses smoke.
At weekends it tends to be populated with youngsters and on the half dozen times I've been here recently there has invariably been a scrap.
Not for me Ronnie!
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We went there at short notice as a foresome for an inexpensive meal on Saturday 28th November 2009 and expected to be disappointed given all the negative reviews here.
The food and service:
All four of us found the food reasonable at the price.
Maybe my pate starter was a bit too cold and the bread roll cold too. It could have been fresher.
My main was hunters chicken breast with new potatoes and salad and was quite edible.
So I'm happy to write that although the food was artless and easy to produce fast food it wasn't junk food.
The management.
I did not see any information on how to order food or find our reserved table. They had run out of IPA so I had Old Speckled Hen. It was in good condition if a little too cold. Two of the card machines failed several times before I was able to pay for the meals and drinks I ordered.
In summary I found it not the most organised of places, could do with improved management and it was rather soul-less.
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This pub is terrible. The staff seem not to know where they are, there is obviously no training at all. A real generic place with beer to match, food is mass produced junk. Greene King are the new Harvester. Be warned and be prepared to be disappointed if you go here. I am even writing to Greene King about just how bad my experience was.
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Used to like this pub a lot, but it's all gone a bit pear-shaped over the last few months. Change of manager or something ? I don't know. Some good staff, but now quite a lot of that thing you sometimes get with younger bar staff where they're really doing you a favour by serving you. Greene King menu is good value still, but here now it's prepared well two in three and badly one in three, in our experience. Time for a shake up of the management and staff I think, if anyone at GK is reading and cares.
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The food gave 4 of our party of 13 food poisoning. When I went back to complain the extremely rude manager eventually came to see me after 2 members of staff told me 3 time he was too busy and was very dismissive. Need I say more...
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When looking at the previous reviews, looks like we struck lucky today. On the way back from a weekend in Bournemouth, turned off the M3 to find a lunchtime pint and stopped at the King Rufus on the basis that it was the first decent looking pub we came across. Yes, the beer choice is not inspiring as it is a GK house, but it did have Ringwood Best and both this and the IPA we had were perfectly fine. Didn�t eat as they do not do sandwiches on a Sunday and we were too stuffed from the mornings full English to be up for the �7.95 carvery. But plenty of people were and it looked half-decent to me. Also it�s a pretty big place with lots of separate seating areas, so when it is busy, like it was today you could find somewhere to sit. So on our flying visit I have to rate it higher than the current average at 6/10. Also it is blessed with outside bench areas to the front and one side and a large beer garden to the other side. So I can image in summer this would be a good place to have a pint in the sun. So I hope the management turn it round from the experience of the previous couple of postings.
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Always running out of beer and the customer service is appalling. Now that all pubs are non-smoking there's no real reason to go. Won't be going back.
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Nil atmopshere and a poor selection at the bar and what they had was pricey. Nether looks like a pub or a restaurant. Am in no way a pureist in beer quality, but the pint I had here wasn't great. Think this is the place for people with more money than sense.
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I am amazed that this hostelry is still Cask Marque accredited! I called in for a pint in June 2007 on a Monday lunchtime. The first pint I had of Ringwood Best Bitter was returned, only fit for putting on chips. The pint was replaced with Greene King IPA, this pint was again vinegar!!!. Returned same and ended up drinking a J2O, ugh. There is no excuse for serving c**p ale at any time and in particular, not immediately after a busy weekend. Needless to say, I contacted Cask Marque re the above experience, hence my amazement that this establishment is still accredited.
PS The beer garden was totally worn out on my visit, creeky tables, hardly a blade of grass to be seen!!
Come on Greene King, you and your licensee must do better than this ???
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The beef Wellington was as tough as an old Wellington boot. I will not be going back to this pub ever again. Give it a miss.
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Food is OK but d�cor is a bit bland. One of the first non-smoking pubs, which makes it to the top of the list in my book.
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yea top notch this. you don't mind having to pop outside to smoke as the garden's wicked. food decent too if that's what lights your pipe. nice mixture of scholars and murderers.
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As of friday 15th October 2004 the King Rufus became a NO SMOKING pub. Now you can enjoy a drink without smelling like an ashtray. Good beer too!
Nigel - 19 Oct 2004 08:20 |
