please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A lovely pub in a great location by the river - watching the rainbow trout was entertaining.
That's about the best that can be said about it. Gales (Fullers) HSB and Seafarers, Fullers London Pride and Red Fox were so cold as to be tasteless. At £4.30 a pint you expect a lot more than that!
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Excellent place to stop for food even on a wet November day. Open all day every day for food and drink. Had a lovely two course meal here with HSB to drink. Dog friendly throughout and very nice atmosphere.
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Beautifully located pub. Well kept Fullers/Gales beers on the pumps. But it was �4.10 for a pint of HSB!!!
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Still trading on it's location. Prices are astronomical.....But, now Fuller have acquired it, once it becomes a 'managed house' undoubtablely we'll see a change for the better. The current 'tenant' has obviously 'milked it' for all it's worth. Time to go buddy!!!
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The first impression we had of this pub and its setting was "Wow!". Stunning setting, dog friendly and a seperate area for smokers. My husband went in to fetch menus whilst I sat and admired the river views, turns out the menu was on a chalk board by the ordering counter so the first challenge was to be able to see past the heads of the queueing folk to read what was on that day. Not a huge choice but then thats not always a bad thing. We both chose the venison burger with cheese, sauted potatoes and salad for �10.95, pricey for posh burger and chips but hey! Food arrived fairly quickly, the lady who brought it out not overly friendly, no "enjoy your meal". The ciabbatta roll the burger was in was untoasted and flabby, no sign of mayo or any other condiment, the salad was undressed, the burger so thick that coupled with the bread it was difficult to swallow despite the cheese. On the plus side the potatoes had a lovely flavour but a third of them were not browned so well. I went into the pub to get some condiments and asked the barman where I should get them from, turns out they are in bowls infront of the ordering area so I had to get past a long queue of people to get to them, the mayo had no spoon in the dish and as I had already pushed in and the serving staff were so busy I didnt like to ask. All in all not great, seems like the pub is trading solely on the beautiful location. Stick to a coffee or a pint to take in the view then get off to Stockbridge for food.
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Love this pubs location overlooking the river. Food good and beer ok. It tends to get very crowded and so can feel a bit hurried and service can slip very occasionally because it is so busy. But this wouldn't put me off visiting again. The landlady very helpful and friendly and the one error when pointed out to the waitress (plastic candle holder in cake which I nearly swallowed) was immediately apolgised for and remedy offered.
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This is a fantastic Pub set in a beautiful location......Food is very good, staff have always been pleasant & helpful. Their Sunday roasts are good value and taste just how they should do! Yes you could go to another pub and pay a bit less but if it doesnt 'hit the spot' with the food, wine & atmosphere then why waste your money? Best Pub in Hampshire as far as I am concerned...........Keep up the good work :)
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I recently discovered this gem whilst looking for a dog friendly pub with good food, it scores very highly in these fields. The great choice of well kept beer out beautiful location a real bonus. We were made most welcome and I was impressed by the food and service. Back again next week but really looking forward to the spring when the outstanding location will do it even greater justice. Excellent pub.
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Pub is ok but is consistently overpriced both for food and drinks, neither of which have ever proved better than average inmy experience. It is well known for this, but its location on the river seems to assure its success. I would avoid and maybe they will rethink their pricing, there are better/cheaper pubs nearby - avoid.
odbod - 25 Jun 2010 11:56 |
I've been a visitor to this Pub for over 22 years - not frequent, only when I could afford it (!) - as my family and I love the location. The cold cuts with salad (even if you got charged extra for a heaped spoon - I always made sure mine was well heaped to compensate!) and they always had interesting well kept beers on tap. More importantly, I've always got a smile or joked with with whoever is behind the bar.
But after the last visit I'm not sure I'll be going back. It started with ordering a round, trying to start a conversation with the barman, joking about the name of the beer - this got a blank look. Then they've changed the food service such that if one in your party is having a hot dish and they others cold cuts then it gets very complicated indeed. They told us that the food will be brought out to our table after we�d ordered � OK so far. To do this they've hired a team of waitresses who bring the food out and although we'd ordered what salads we wanted we ended up with a bit of everything except the condiments - anyway how do you order a spoon full of mustard, pickles, mayo, etc? So, I took my plate back in to enquire about the reason for the new serving arrangements (while helping myself to mustard, pickles, mayo, etc) only to be shouted at by the 'manager' (I think she was) "D.O.H., D.O.H."! I think this meant Department of Health, but I'm not sure. Anyway, we ended up with dishes of food we didn't really want served by people who didn't really care and charged lots for the 'pleasure'! I don't mind the food being wrong, expensive or even the weird way of serving, but the attitude was inexcusable.
Well, I could go on about the high cost (�14) for one pint & 3 soft drinks & 4 packets of crisps we had when we first arrived - we didn't have anything more to drink after that - but I won't!
However, when paying the bill I was asked "was everything all right for you", I replied that I'd found the new serving system a bit confusing. I was told "well, things change and we just have to except them don't we"!
We we're made to feel like we were just an inconvenience - probably preferring if we'd paid our money and left without eating or drinking anything - by staff that, in my opinion, had been trained at the 'Basil Fawlty School of Catering'!
My recommendation is if you really want to visit this pub - fantastic location - stick to beer (which was a good pint of Goddards) and crisps, they can't get that wrong (can they?) just charge lots. I probably will visit it again in the hope it has been taken over, but not for awhile.
I think it�ll be a shame if it became a McDonald�s � although my kids will love it � but �one has to keep the rif-raf out�! :-)
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Equally, a lovely location but marred by OUTRAGEOUS PRICES!!
3 drinks came to over �10.70! Why should we have to take out a mortgage to buy a round.
I think this is why so many pubs are going under..I call it extortion!
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Over-priced: The Mayfly is undoutedly in a beautiful setting. It is a pub for sitting outdoors on a summers evening by the fast flowing Test watching the swifts swoop in for the rising Mayflies (in May), the trout snapping them up from the clear water below and the ducklings venturing out with mother. For this reason it has always been a very popular stopping point for food and drink.
HOWEVER, the proprietor/owner is PUSHING its PRICES UP to even BEYOND CENTRAL LONDON rates !! Adnams Broadside ale at �3.85 at pint?! Now that's greedy. I had to check the barman hadn't made a mistake. The food prices are edging up quickly too. The pub was surprisingly quiet for a Sunday May Bank holiday evening. I wonder why. Great setting, but folk know when they're being ripped.
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The setting is lovely, but the price of beer really is beyond a joke. I bought 2 pints; Becks Vier and a local bitter - �7.90! Sorry, but I pay less in central London bars. No wonder the place was near empty on a pleasant Saturday evening and hence very little atmosphere.
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Superb location. Good but overpriced beer and food. The food is also portion-controlled.
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Whitbread use to own this pub as branded Wayside Inn (a sort of funky, small scale Brewers Fayre) and it was very good and resonably priced. Now it's just extortionately expensive rubbish (I really should use the word C**P). Give it a wide berth and save your money.
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The Mayfly is pricey... but in such a lovely location. It can get very, very busy in the summer-time. The interior of the pub is very dated... although they do get away with this with regards to the layout and style. In my personal opinion, the staff are very friendly... Maybe this is a little bit of a biased opinion... being that the Land-Lady is a fair-bit senior than me in age... I really do fancy her.
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The Mayfly is pricey... but in such a lovely location. It can get very, very busy in the summer-time. The interior of the pub is very dated... although they do get away with this with regards to the layout and style. In my personal opinion, the staff are very friendly... Maybe this is a little bit of a biased opinion... being that the Land-Lady is a fair-bit senior than me in age... I really do fancy her.
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Had lunch yesterday at this pub, on a lovely sunny day, and really enjoyed it. Yes, the prices were a bit steep (most ales around �3.30 per pint, and typical food around �12 for a main course). But that is not outrageous, and compares with city centre prices in Southampton.
But the location is great, and the pub does well to make the most of it. Staff were courteous and friendly, so that was OK. We would definitely go back again.
The best walk afterwards seems to be from Chilbolton (about 1 mile away) rather than just following the Test Way, which was a bit disappointing.
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Will agree with much that has already been said; Great location (especially on a sunny day), mixed experience with the staff, 1 grumpy - came to table with our food but didn't confirm what she had just looked at us - a bit odd! 2nd waitress very friendly and polite and another girl also very helpful and friendly was a honey and definitely 1 for the fellas adding to the delightful scenery ;-)!! Prices are way over priced, our lunchtime meal for 2 came to almost �70; over �6 for a glass of wine is a joke! Not likely to go back unless I wanted to soak up some more of the view.
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Beer prices at The Mayfly are daylight robbery. A half pint of Dorset Gold and a half of Summer Lightning came to �3.56 Ouch!
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Once experienced never to return in my case.
Regrettably, I have to agree with so many of the previous negative postings.
My abiding recollection is the charging by the spoonload and the tardy service.
It may have changed since - I hope so.
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A great pub which was great to visit on the wayback from Dorset to London. I have happy memories of going there with my father. The outside and location is great however on the inside the food is over priced and there are way too many signs. Feels like you are in the middle of a traffic roundabout ! If they reduced the number of signs and improved the provision of food then it would truely be a great pub rather than one living on its former glory.
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My whole family met here last week merely as a convenient spot on an onward journey. Unfortunately I have to agree with many of the points made by earlier posters. Conveyor belt food service - food prices - surly staff - heaped salad spoons extra , etc. But the final straw was being charged �3.15 for a pint of Summer Lightning and having to ask for it to be topped up. Everything good about this place is outside.
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Was on holiday in the area and went there for a pint every lunchtime last week, didnt eat there at all though, would have liked to have tried the other ales on offer but never got past the Hopback Summer Lightning (which looks to be a permanent feature there) - 5 days visited and 5 perfect pints of HSL, no complaints here :)
Nurke - 30 Aug 2007 13:18 |
Fantastic location but the food is overpriced in the extreme and dished out by the most sourfaced, miserable woman it has ever been my misfortune to come across in the service industry.
If this pub was anywhere other than by the River Test, it would have gone belly up years ago.
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I have to agree with most of the negatives here (if only I'd read the review before we came!) Beautiful setting, ruined by penny-pinching management. More signs telling you what you can't do than any pub I have ever been to, my favourite was "It is ILLEGAL to run a tab for alcohol alone" or words to that effect, in other words each time you buy a round with a card, it's an extra 25p!
Would not bother going back - the Plough at Sparsholt is a MUCH nicer option.
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The setting by the river is, of course, the pub's great selling point. Yes, the notices about salad servings and minimum credit card spend might seem unfriendly, but the system works and we found the food good value.
For anyone confused by the lunchtime offering, this is how it works. You take a plate, help yourself to salad (90p per spoonful), hand the plate to the bar staff who then add your choice of dish (eg. ham, quiche, trout) plus accompaniment of either bread or new potatoes. They then hand the plate back to you and you pay at the till. It might seem bureaucratic but it's an efficient way of serving people on busy lunchtimes.
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Have to agree with TimesFood. Lovely building and the best location in the world, only spoilt by the management. Won't change, there are always suckers, so no need to!! On my last visit, watched kitchen staff serve food with their hands - unwashed between servings. AVOID THE FOOD!!
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Not had any of the problems referred to here with the staff, I have been there quite a few times and they all seemed ok to me. I will agree that the food prices are pretty exorbitant, but I find the food is well presented, good sized portions and tastes good. Very good choice of ales on show, with Abbot rubbing shoulders with 49er and Hobgoblin, although I will insert my usual comment about the beer being too cold here. The setting is fantastic too, sitting alongside the Test. It gets good points from me!
Nurke - 20 Sep 2006 09:22 |
Great location, brilliant in the summer if you like a drink by the river, but i havent been for a long time and seems like the food isnt the best thing about this pub, shame because a lot of pubs would kill for where they are situated
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Superb Pub. Great Location. Everything you could ever want. Even had 'Hobgoblin' on tap.
Downside? Landlord is a chuffing idjit who has no place dealing with the public or employing staff. He's been there for years and it's all gone to hell-in-handcart as the prices have gone up.
He really needs to get out of the business while he still can...at these prices he must have saved enough for his retirement by now.
Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. (and you can quote me)
anonymous - 11 Jun 2006 15:19 |
The Mayfly pub;
What can I say? Once a beautiful pub, in an even more beautiful location. Strutting its stuff on the river test, this pub used to make the British summer evening more delightful than a day trip to Heffner's pad for a spotty 16 year old. You may notice an element of past tense in the previous few lines. Let me tell you this, even though I have never been, to Heffner's place, it undoubtedly wins hands, feet, shoulders, nose and lips down these days (did I forget knees?). Now, this of course is no great insult - what is, is the fact that so does the McDonalds in Putney. So, what does the pub offer? ...
Easier to go into the problems. Firstly, the Land lord/lady is Lazy, conceited and incompetent. Secondly, the pub is now full of the sort of people that make a football crowd seem civilized and this probably leads onto all of the further points, which are almost too absurd to contemplate.
The buffet bar! (Which is also the place you have to queue for the main menu): Staff - not bad, nice, kind but ruled by a capitalist monster. Around the menu, scrawled in chalk type graffiti are words stating that all customers must spend �3.50 or maybe even �3.95. This is no great revelation as this is the price of cheapest meal (apart from if you help yourself to just salad - I will get to this point very shortly), but it sets a tone. Once you get to the buffet bar (usually 10 minutes minimum), more pornographic graffiti meets the eye 'Salad is charged at 90 pence per spoon, heaped spoons will be charged extra'!!! This could be understandable if it wasn't for the fact that the spoons were practically flat - because of a fear of random costing I opted for no potato in my potato salad, a shame I thought, as it is a side order I am particularly partial too - oh well, I guess the mayo would be nice with my smoked haddock (potato) cakes.
After this trauma (one that I appreciate is no huge one compared to some that people across the world have to deal with), I took out my card to pay for my �10.75 meal. 'WHAT!' A 25p fine if I spend less than �20 on my plastic?! If only I had brought some cash I may have got some potato for the same price!
All in all, a terrible experience - a pub run by people who have no place in such a wonderful spot. Go there at your own peril - if you do go for the view I suggest taking a laptop in order to calculate the excess charges, a sad reflection of modern times - who knows, maybe next year this place will be replaced by a riverside McDonalds - Bring it on!
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No-one can deny that on a warm day this pub has a beautiful setting alongside the river Test.
On the down side:
� the food is fair, but verging on the over-priced for many of the more basic dishes
� the buffet queueing system needs serious and rapid revision
� the buffet staff do need customer service training
� it would be useful for the buffet staff to remind clients if new potatoes are already an option with a meal rather than offering once they have been added to a plate from the salad buffet.
I suspect the owner's defence would be along the lines of the pub being a victim of its own success, but, if true, this should be a reason to improve anyway.
Prices (June 05) for main courses �6-�10 plus �0.90 per spoonful of salad (plus apparently an additional charge if you are deemed to have "heaped" your salad spoon....!).
Its a shame that a excellently located pub is not better, simply because of a lack of thought to client care.
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I love this place, the foods nice but the setting is best, try and go when the weathers nice. It can get really busy so make sure the timings right. You can sit and watch the trout and ducks squabbling over breadcrumbs as you sip a nice cool pint.
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Apart from the tranquil setting, this pub has appallingly slow service (via a buffet queuing system), very average food and an arogant, rude landlord (who suggested McDonald's might suit us better!). Join the masses and enjoy the worst customer experience ever. Best to avoid this one!
anonymous - 30 Mar 2005 14:22 |
The Mayfly was the first pub that I visited when I moved to Andover from the Isle of Wight in 1978. I left Andover in 1989 and now live in Detroit, USA. This place is absolutely magic! Good beer, good, service and an absolutely perfect location. Nothing better that sitting next to the river test in the summer, watching the fish, with a good beer in your hands. It doesn't get much better than this.
Greetings to all my old friends
Phil Connor
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A very pretty pub situated on the River Test at Chilbolton in Hampshire.
anonymous - 25 Oct 2004 15:55 |
