Full Moon, Hawridge Commonback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
We decided upon the resturant area, as opposed to the bar - Probably a mistake.
The menus and prices were identical, but the area lacked atmosphere.
The food was good, reasonably priced and made a change from your normal pub grub, but still offering the basic fish & chips, burger, steaks, etc..
The Adnams bitter was in good nick too. Not the best I have had, but quite acceptable.
Have to agree with the previous reviewer, the 10% service charge is a bit naughty, but it is optional. We opted out.
A return visit? If in the area, quite possibly, but don't think we would make a special journey.
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It should first of all be said that in these outrageously expensive eating out days, it has to be expecting too much to get a turkey Sunday roast for �9.95 that will do more than ward off the reasonable need to eat something at lunch time. It was therefore a case of hope once more triumphing over other recent cases of disappointing Sunday lunch experiences in the South Bucks area, that my wife and I visited the Full Moon Pub at Hawridge. We had eaten there a couple of years earlier as part of a group of local Atheists and had been rather impressed with the cooking and presentation. We had, however, paid rather more for our food on that occasion.
The Full Moon without doubt has a lot of traditional olde English pub atmosphere and the welcome as one enters it - from the Autumnal cold sweeping across the scenic common across the road - and comes immediately face to face with the bar, is as jolly as one should expect. It was warm there too � unlike the dining room area to one side where we were be seated, which had yet, at 12.45 to be affected by the radiator and the arrival of other guests. The olde English pub chairs were therefore not only hard but also penetratingly cold. We will bring cushions next time we said, not knowing at that stage that a further visit to the Full Moon was to be an unlikely event. On the plus side we were given a table for four and so had plenty of room, although the peaked folded napkins placed in the already tall large wine glasses on ours and on the several other tables in the �at that stage � empty room, produced a quixotic white forest appearance at odds with the otherwise olde English pub ambiance. But I digress.
In choosing our main course we possibly made the mistake of being fixated on the Sunday Roasts. The sound of roast turkey seemed inviting, however and that is what we both ordered. It was served relatively quickly - by the friendly but clearly waitress-unschooled staff - and that was in itself a clue as to the quality of the food on the plate. The �roast� turkey it transpired was turkey roll so there was only white meat and no dark. The vegetables, the Yorkshire pudding cakes and the roast potatoes were identical to the accompaniments we observed were served with the roast lamb and the roast beef to fellow diners. We also had the same brown gravy. So no bread sauce or even stuffing.
While the turkey had been nicely cooked, any taste it might have had was covered up by the brown gravy. The roast potatoes looked as they should, but they had clearly been kept in a very hot oven too long and their leathery skins needed some very heavy wrist work to break through to the meagre amounts of potato within. The carrots, parsnips and mange touts peas had all been undercooked and had to be left. My wife and I mused once more on why restaurants in this country, and especially country pubs offering Sunday roasts, find it so difficult to cook vegetables, which really are so very simple to prepare properly.
We shared a toffee and Baileys flavoured cheesecake served with Movenpick vanilla ice cream (�5) which was very acceptable if quite rich and we both had rather good coffee served in a properly sized cup (unlike the buckets some restaurants consider appropriate these days) which at �2 each was right and proper. The pub's desert menu was, however, devoid of the simple standard olde English pub offerings like Apple Crumble and custard and concentrated on more high falutin sounding afters. That has to be seen a purely personal taste thing by this reviewer and the comment is not offered as a serious criticism.
The Full Moon management obviously have to tailor the food they serve and the prices they charge to the clientele who visit. With a little more thought and perhaps some acceptable increase in pricing to cover the costs of improved quality though, it might, however, be possible to satisfy more customers. If the turkey had been carved from a full roasted bird to provide white and dark meat and served with proper turkey gravy and either bread sauce or stuffing it would have made such a hugely improved impression. We would have been glad to have paid an extra two or three pounds each for that. The chef might also benefit from a refresher course in how to cook vegetables so that they are succulent (without being overcooked to a softness). The very pleasant and obviously intelligent young ladies who did the serving could benefit enormously from a �how to wait at table� course.
Finally I was not impressed to get a bill from this kind of establishment to which a 10% service charge had been added and which I asked to be deleted, given the less than impressive performance of the kitchen and the restaurant staff.
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On first impressions, it was an idyllic country pub. Can't fault the atmosphere nor the staff, who were polite and accommodating. However, the food had much to be desired. If they are going to charge a tenner for a burger, you'd hope the meat would be 'real' and not from a packet mix, covered in lashings of cheese (despite the menu not listing it as a cheeseburger, nor being asked whether I wanted cheese in the first place!) to bind the mash together and to mask its pale appearance and watery texture. If that was real, fresh mince meat...Shame on you Chef!!
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put it this way.... i want to move to this area, just so that i can claim the Full moon as my local pub. lovely place. amazing location.
was only in here briefly after a country dog walk, but i was absolutly impressed. real fire going, various small rooms, an authentic country pub. attentive bar staff.
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Landlord was good not so sure about others - Sheepdip might have been first out of pipe for day.
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Great pint of "Landlord" - nice to see the pub picking up again
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Had a lovely pint of Landlord in this nice little country pub. Chips were great too and friendly staff.
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Does a very good pint of Timothy Taylor's "Landlord", very busy on Boxing Day.
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Received a friendly welcome in this country pub. The interior was very pleasant. The clientele were a good mix of young and old. 5 real ales were available - Taylor Landlord, Young's Bitter, Draught Bass, Adnams Bitter and Butcombe Bitter. Not the best pub we visited last night, but certainly in the top 3.
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Ha! I met the service-centric bar lady/owner Monkdawallydahonk described below and he's right she's so miserable and surly! It's a lovely pub and the waitresses were nice enough but we waited 45 mins for our food and when it arrived found it really disappointing. It's great they're apparently serving local meat but the "roast" potatoes were pathetic sort of deep fried new potatoes and the roast beef was off a steak or something similiar, maybe they were running low. Would have been ok 20 years ago but standards and expectations have changed. Shame as it's a lovely location and building with good beers.
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I couldn't believe it when they asked for �6.20 for 2 pints of lager! (VERY much more than a pre-pack from Sainsbury's or Tesco's)!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only bog-standard Fosters or Carlsberg, NOT the usually more expensive!! (Dread to think how much THAT was)! Not our usual pub, but like other peeps, had been past a few times previous & saw lots of others in the garden, so thought we would give it a try. Sadly, when we'd seen peeps there before, it was quite a long time before we tried it & apparently their 'old' Chef had left & after that they put their prices up & have heard since that even the food wasn't as good, but can't comment on that as we've never eaten there before.. Very sad at that, a great pub, good atmosphere, seems like quite a few locals, but at that lager price?? I think not again. Shame.
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I'd cycled past this pub for about 7 years before eventually trying it. First time me and a mate went in dressed in full cycling gear and thought it was pretty decent and fairly friendly staff. Large garden with many other cyclists. The next day (Sunday) I went in with my wife in normal clothes, was "greeted" by the most miserable woman I've ever been served by, clearly a dental receptionist in her day job, with all the service ethos of the old Eastern Europe. Apart from scowling at us all she managed to spit out was the (over)price for the beer, which was almost as sour as the welcome. If you look around there are countless signs saying don't do this, don't do that, don't stand here etc. Haven't been back since and can't understand why the local CAMRA branch have recommended this for the 2009 beer guide instead of the superb Rose and Crown just down the road.
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Pretty pub in beautiful countryside. Food is very expensive and the quality didn't reflect that.
dave - 25 May 2004 22:53 |
this is a fantastic 14th century pub in a quiet location. The ceilings are low, the clientel rather countryfied and the food is excellent - great place to take a new partner. Could benefit from a wider range of proper ales though....but the manager is a superstar (and not related to me I may add!)
tim - 11 Feb 2004 18:32 |
bloody ace, like sometyhing out of duck til dawn on the weekends
scaramonger - 14 Nov 2003 11:21 |
Good old Boozer. 14th Cent pub in country
Peter - 2 Oct 2003 13:16 |
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