Artichoke, Shenfield Commonback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Vile and a waste of what used to be a nice green space before the old pub went on fire.
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I don't agree with 'knocker' but can sympathise with 'Andicheese'. This is the sort of place you go to with elderly relatives who think that the height of sophistication is cauliflower cheese, on special occasions.
Despite the temperature being like a furniss (try eating here in the middle of summer), the staff are generally friendly and efficient. The food, which is your usual 'I'll have a piece of each' and all the veg. you can pile onto your plate, is well cooked (ie. you're not likely to get 'delhi belly') and the prices are reasonable. Beer is the usual token real ale (Speckled Hen?).
You would not go here for a drink up with the lads, or after a drink up with the lads, when you get the 'munchies'.
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This is not a pub, its a carvery and a bad one to boot!
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Must agree with what skerriegoat has written on this pub. The same old corporate mass produced over priced products which the everyday non-thinker will appreciate.
Shame these companies cannot come up with the idea of free thinking and maybe offer different things at different locations. I will not venture to this pub again but will find another one with a tad more individuality about it. Maybe a place where people who eat a burger and fries in a pub do not think it is up market as someone has put a green leaf on the side of the plate.
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This is a difficult one to score, because I am a fan of the Toby Carvery concept of serving good wholesome, value for money food. In this respect The Artichoke gets full marks for its food quality, and full marks for service and the pleasant staff. Nice location too. But as this is a beer orientated website and I am a real ale fan, I must deduct points from The Artichoke for its lack of hand pulled beers. Smooth-flow Speckled Hen is pretty poor in comparison with the real thing.
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Good selection of wines, reasonably priced.
Beer is ok - predictable mass-produced stuff you get in this kind of chain. Some lagers expensive for what you get. 'Real ale' - CAMRA would not applaud.
Food better than average.
Service not bad - when it's not too busy. Can be a bit 'remedial' when the staff have to put brain into overdrive.
Decor ok, loos are clean, and a pretty sensible smoking policy - ie you can get away from smoke if you want, or you can puff in designated areas if you so desire.
A chain pub, designed by geeks in an office, so if you are prepared to behave like one of the cyber-customers the computers spew out, and if you are happy with chemically-engineered food and drink, this is the place for you.
Every once in a while, it's nice to come and know exactly what you're going to get, how much it'll cost, and how you are meant to behave. So let's not knock it too much.
One of the better outlets in this chain, not bad value, and can take the guesswork and gamble out of a night, if you want to eat or drink in a hurry.
Better mention the location - looks out onto Shenfield common, nice tree-shaded bit of grass, but lots of traffic passing close by. So quieter in the evening
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Was better before it 'went on fire' and was reinvented as a sort of Happy Eater for people who are too scared to drive on a motorway.
U used to stretch out on the grass outside.
What a shame.
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A Toby's Carvery pub which serves good carvery style meals. The meat portions leave something to be desired, but as much vegetables as you like.
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