Fox and Hounds, Northamptonback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Recently refurbished in a vibrant (but not gaudy) manner that might also befit a cocktail bar but which works well in this traditional honey-coloured ironstone building from the late 17th century. Doom Bar and Purity Pure UBU were the 2 handpulls yesterday but most people (including me) were drinking colder, fizzier beverages.
|
The Fox and Hounds has a lovely ambience. Since I last visited the atmoshere seems to have changed alittle, it now seems more relaxed and welcoming of drinkers. It also helps that it now serves more than one ale. It now serves three. Talking to the landlord London Pride (probably the best kept i've tasted it 'house ale' and always available) and then 2 guests ales ranging from those of big regional brewers (Doombar) to smaller bespoke ones (Wyre Piddle) on the night I visited. The place just has a lovely warm feel about and and i've heard the food isn't too shabby either now! Definately worth visiting more.
|
Visited this place to find a very attractive looking building which opened up inside to a very clean, bright and polished bar inside.
There were several real ales to choose from, the Brains 'Party Popper' being well kept. The price was on the expensive side, but as a one off visit, I felt I was paying for the overall atmosphere of the place which was impressive.
Would have liked to have had a bite to eat, but they only appeared to serve expensive meals which a simple sandwich or similar would have been appreciated.
Reading previous posts, this may not be the perfect place, and I cannot comment on how the pub was originally, but whatever your views may be on pub makeovers of this sort, they do appear to have made a nice job with the decor and the atmosphere.
|
Our family chose this pub to celebrate my mother's birthday (September 2010) and wished we hadn't bothered. We used to visit this pub several times a year when it was the Dusty Fox and it was always regarded as a bit of a treat. It used to be comfortable, with good reasonably-priced food and child-friendly. Not anymore! Since it became the Fox and Hounds, it has really changed and not for the better. The identikit make-over is totally out of keeping with the building's heritage, in my opinion. But worse was the food (over-priced, partially cooked, heavily salted, inedible and served in very small portions) and the service (indifferent, slow, no eye contact, the staff were not familiar with the menu and there was a language barrier). When the food eventually arrived, my 10-year-old said he thought the chef was more concerned with presentation rather than quality. What surprised me was the number of people who were there - they arrived just as we were leaving, despite the poor service and food. It seemed to me the type of pub to 'see and be seen in', judging by the expensive cars in the car park. My mother said it was a case of 'the emperor's new clothes' and no-one liked to disagree. I was tempted not to pay the bill but the barman had already insisted on swiping my debit card when I ordered, so I would have been charged regardless. Because we hadn't booked, we were told to sit in the bar despite there being plenty of empty tables in the restaurant at the time. No-one came to see if our meal was okay because no-one really cared. There were so many things wrong with this pub, I could feel myself getting more and more irritated the longer we were there (and there was a long wait for the food). We were very, very disappointed. We left feeling ripped off and still hungry. Needless to say, we will not be repeating the experience.
|
we have recently revisited thsi pub after several years of not going in and oh how it has changed! The ambiance was lovely, with the lights dimmed and the open fire on. It has an excellent range of beers and ciders and now offers 1st class guests ales which made me very happy. It is a little pricy but for the atmoshere, the setting and the friendly service we were given it was well worth it. The barman told us that they have just started on a new menu so we shall be back there very soon!
|
Avoid sunday lunchtime if you dont mind very slow service from the waiters/waitress.
They seem to pack the restaurant out but dont have enough stuff to cover the amount of customers. We encountered long periods with empty glasses, staff standing around talking, and a very long wait for our meal. We found it very difficult to attract any member of staffs attention during our visit.
We tried to bring the issues to their attention but they didnt seem interested and their unsincere smug apology was rather frustrating.
There are better places to enjoy a sunday lunch in northamptonshire who seem to value their customers
|
We used to eat here several time a year but have been disappointed on the last three visits so thought it was best to say something so that the restaurant could either raise its game or people could be forewarned.
Having said that, eating at the Fox & Hounds is not exactly bad, it just offers a lot but consistently fails to deliver. The pub is a lovely old Northamptonshire stone building that has been sympathetically extended to provide a larger eating area. It�s full of exposed stone/brickwork and beams but the furniture is the large chunky tables and chairs that have become so de rigueur for gastro-pubs over the last few years.
The menu is wide and interesting; salads, steaks, pasta, pizzas, mains and a good range of starters and sharer platters and is accompanied by a good wine list. It is quite pricing with starters at around �4-8, pizzas at �7-10 and the main courses/steaks �10-20. There were also a number of specials (upto �19/head) on the day last visited.
For those sorts of prices you�d expect good food and good service but they never quite seem to hit the mark. We booked for lunch on a bank holiday Monday but they couldn�t find the booking so offered us a table between with entrance doors on either side.
We ordered rustic breads to start but our order was initially lost. When they arrived they were inexplicably toasted so our daughter wouldn�t eat any (in retrospect we wondered if it was to hide some staleness).
They don�t do a children�s menu but the staff will tell you that they will do a children�s portion of any course so we ordered a small margherita pizza for our 4-year old. What we got was a full size pizza which was doughy, soggy and simply pizza base smeared with tomato paste and cheap mozzarella. There were just a couple of scraps of basil and three cherry tomato-halves to complete it and even our daughter wouldn�t eat more than a few bites. Needless to say we were charged the full adult price for it.
I ordered tagliatelli bolognaise with chianti but received a fairly mundane concoction that was a little watery, the mince lumpy and without a taste of chianti. By this time I was probably being over judgemental but I felt that I could have done better myself at home in about 15 minutes. I asked for chilli oil to add some taste (several of the dishes boast chilli flavouring) but I received some bazaar story about the chilli�s being �off� and was handed a bottle of Tabasco sauce (which of course then made us wonder what went into all the other chilli dishes).
My wife ordered the fish and chips which was fine, but just fine. For half the price we could have got the same in a high street pub. Service was slow; we waited an hour just to get a main course, no one asked us if we were enjoying our meal and when we paid the bill I don�t think we even got a �thank you� from the chap who seemed to be running the restaurant.
Sadly this was consistent with previous visits were service was slow, orders were lost and dishes were served cold or were missing some of their components. After giving them three chances we probably won�t go back as the overwhelming feeling is invariably one of coming away a little short changed by staff that are a little too smug to really care.
Rich5 - 31 May 2010 17:07 |
From the outside you see a splendid stone building on fairly grand scale for a village pub. Once you get inside your hopes are dashed as you find yourself in one of M&B's Landmark Leisure abortions. It been been cynically refurbished into yet another identikit gastropub, so there's nothing pubby about it at all. It of course appeals to the more tosserish residents of Northampton, who think fifteen quids worth of Brake Brothers boil in the bag sea-bass is the pinnacle of eating out, but anyone expecting a comfy village pub to go and have a drink in will be sorely disappointed.
I'll give it a couple of points because the TT Landlord was in good nick but tha'ts the best I can say about it.
Avoid.
|
Firstly this pub is NOT in Northampton, it is in Lower Harlestone village. Once known as the Dusty Fox it was given a make-over a year or so back by M&B, renamed and is almost wholly food oriented. It's a most attractive ironstone building in a very pretty setting (blighted somewhat by the A413 running through the middle). It caters for a more upmarket crowd and this is reflected by the prices charged; cheap, it is not! It is comfortable and quite cosy at the front around the bar and has been furnished in contemporary style - which is not unappealing, however, one could never describe the pub as a village "local". Only one beer (Taylor's Landlord) on sale - a good ale - but hardly a local one and no other choice for the discerning beer drinker.
|
|
