Bull, Otfordback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Having held my breath after a previous very poor experience, today it was unfortunately duplicated. Snail-tempo service to obtain a menu or be offered drinks, and even slower for them to be produced (with the beer a short measure!) and an order to be taken. It was finally almost an hour after arrival before seeing any food, which then was little better than tepid. Certainly didn't bother to stay and sample any desserts - now searching for a more acceptable alternative.
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From the outside this pub looked as though it would be quite rough and the staff and patrons perhaps a tad dishevelled. However on closer inspection it actually turned out to be quite a treat.
As many others have pointed out it's more of a restaurant than a pub and I would agree that the food definitely takes priority over the drinks here. Despite this the beer is okay (as you'd expect in any restaurant really) and the food was very nice. What I liked the most though was the fact that it was so cheap. My friend and I visited on a Thursday lunch time and paid less than £30 for a three course meal and a pint each. It was bustling inside as well which is good news for the local community as it provides plenty of jobs for the younger generation.
I will definitely be coming back here - I might even bring the trouble and strife!
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Unfortunately they ripped the soul out of this pub when they 'refurbished'/wrecked it a few years ago. Prior to the alterations, it was a wonderful pub with real character and up to six different ales at a time.
Now it's a dull corporate food re-heating utility with no enthusiasm for beer, staffed by people who have little interest in their jobs.
Chef & Brewer seem to have a real vocation for turning everything to trash.
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This place has changed from being a Beefeater to a Chef and Brewer (or maybe it's the other way round). Whichever way the change is, it's for the worse. It's a soulless commercial operation, entirely food oriented - and the food, when we tried it, was poor. Sad, because it's a magnificent, historic building, and ought to be worth visiting
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Nice pub, good beer and excellent food but appallingly bad service! Everytime I have eaten here I have had to chase up where my food was! Tonight the first course arrived in reasonable time but the member of staff who brought it out (we were in the garden) ambled out with an "I-don't-really-want-to-do-this" attitude and toured the whole garden before he found us! We had already ordered dessert but half an hour after finishing the first course I had to go and chase it up! The same person ambled out with scalding hot crumble - fresh from the microwave - ignored the dirty crockery from our main course and ambled back to the pub empty-handed. He did this every time he brought some food out and by the time we left, several tables were loaded with dirty glasses and crocks all being ignored and the family on the next table were just about to chase up their food!
aaac - it's not just at busy times you have to wait a little - I've had to wait a lot every time I've been there - and I've not been there at busy times!! Certainly wasn't busy tonight!
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The Bull has a beautiful beer garden and is a nice looking pub.
But my wife and I were charged �8.75 for a pint of Kronenburg and a white wine spritzer. What a total rip off. My beer was tannic and odd tasting and the wife's wine tasted like it had been watered down slightly. They had the cheek to charge extra for the lemonade in the spritzer as well!!! I should have walked out I know but we were thirsty.
Give this over priced "pub" a wide berth. The beer is awful and the prices suck.
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Ah, but there we have it. "Very strongly led food pub". "Part of Chef &Brewer Group". It ain't a pub! It's a restaurant which happens to serve beer, which is regrettably why it appears on this site.
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The Bull has gone through a few managers throughout the past which has made the pub not as stable as it could have been due to its amount of business, as not just an ordinary pub, but as a very strong led food pub (always busy!). However, being part of Chef and Brewer group with the excellent menu of both food and wine, this place has never let me down. With its roaring fire's in the winter and it's beautiful garden in the summer, this pub can never be a let down! You may have to wait a little in extreme circumstances when busy, but hey! who doesn't these days when you find a decent place to dine in. The building has recently been refurbished to be a lighter and fresher pub but still keeping the character of the building and my gosh, the menu is to die for, but being at the same time competitive value for money. We go there regulary and would recommend for both families and couples
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The Bull got yet another new landlord at the end of March 2010 (does not have a a landlady so assume Adrian_s means the barmaid who reads out the quiz questions) and we assumed it was going to be yet another disaster, but no, this time the place has turned round, it's getting better and better. Food great, beer much improved, staf polite, friendly, and seem to know what they are doing. I would never have believed it, but well done new team, and keep it up.
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Great pub, loads of atmosphere and character, well maintained and the all important test - clean toilets. The food was good and the Directors ale well kept. I enjoyed the quiz night, my first visit to this pub. The landlady and staff were really friendly, even though we didn't win! Good sized car park, but tight for parking on busy nights by looks of it. There is another car park opposite though. Recommend a visit.
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Nice Greene King IPA, haunted seat in corner provides extra chill. Sharing plate for 2 with UK pork Pie, ham, cheese, bread was excellent.
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Having read previous review we were worried what we would expect.
We were a party of 6, and it wasnt very busy when we arrived at 1pm , they moved tables together to accomodate us. The food was a while coming, but we were not too concerned, the dishes were all served hot and tasted very fresh.
We had desserts which we did have to queue a while to order, but they came fairly quickly. It was perfect for our party as we hadn't met for a while and had plenty to talk about.
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Do not bother going to this pub, we have been here over the years on and off - its been hit and miss, the early days it was a hit - now a DEFINITE miss. Today we had a long country walk round shoreham / otford and starving. Ordered a very simple jacket potato, cheese and bacon but jacket potato chicken, bacon in mayonnaise came out. After saying this was incorrect and can we have the ordered food - the bar manager / tender - said the reason was that version was never ordered so the staff did not know any other version! Then he said it was not on the menu, about 3 times (so clearly does not know the menu) and was becoming irrate with my mother. I went over to say it was on the menu and he was now very irrate, did not even say sorry for the mistake - totally stressed out and generally very defensive about the whole thing. the correct meal eventually came out - an old re-heated jacket potato with cold unmelted cheese and the palest uncooked bacon ever seen! We did not particularly feel like eating or staying in the pub. Would not recommend unless you want an uncomfortable lunch / snack and ungrateful bar staff. AVOID.
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This place used to be great. Home cooked food, nice atmosphere however now it's more of a chain. We went there last night and waited for an hour and we still weren't served despite them repeatedly telling us there would be someone to take our order in a minute. The place wasn't even busy! We told then how unhappy we were and the manager didn't seem to care. Avoid this place at all costs. It won't be open long so let's hope the next people that take it over return it to what it used to be - a great pub with great food!
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Long an advocate of "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything", this no longer applies. I have lived in the village for only five years now but have used the pub regularly through its publicized ups and downs, averaging a couple of visits a month, sometimes with food and have put up with its lack of quality, at least the people running it have been friendly and polite...until tonight. The new landlord patrolled an otherwise empty and previously accessible area of the pub, basically asking people what they were doing there and telling them in no uncertain terms that it was fully booked. There never used to be a booking policy so perhaps the surly fellow couldn't understand my bemusement, add a soupcon of sarcasm to boot, I was informed by him that it was New Years Day as if I shouldn't know. The food had better be really good cos you seem to think you're Gordon Ramsey. Pub Co's, who needs them, another journeyman landlord who doesn't give a damn about people. Pubs used to be places for making people relax and enjoy themselves, now we pay over the top prices for offensive and arrogant visiting pubkeepers, not landlords. Go to the Crown if you want a friendly landlord who cares about his clientele and offers a reasonably priced and well kept pint. This pub is being let down and so are its customers.
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Used to be a decent pub, with good food and service, but not any more - AVOID. The food has changed beyond recognition, the beef and ale pie used to be a "proper pie" - shortcrust pastry and a decent filling - but has now become a china dish with a flimsy puff pastry lid, mostly full of air with some slop pretending to be "beef and ale" hiding in a corner at the bottom. So awful we sent it back. Oh, and don't bother asking for a children's menu as they couldn't find any - we ended up guessing what they might have, having waited for 10 minutes for them to find a menu to no avail. Bar service really bad too - one person serving with several people waiting to be served, while 2 other staff stood chatting to each other nearby. Just awful, and not a patch on how it used to be. We won't be returning, suggest you don't bother either - such a waste, given the excellent location.
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This place could be so much better - in fact it used to be so much better not so long ago. Don't know if the Management changed about 2-3 years ago, but the food and beer seemed to suddenly deteriorate and has been poor ever since, hence the recent negative comments about The Bull.
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My husband and two children had a very disappointing meal at 'The Bull' a couple of weekends ago. First of all we had to wait an hour even though we got there at 12.00 midday. I had the fish and chips and had to send it back as it was cold and my daughters had chicken strips and chips and they said it wasn't very nice. When I complained, politely to the waitress that my meal was cold, she turned and looked at the man behind the bar, as if 'oh you can deal with this', no apology or acknowledgment from her at all. The man behind the bar did however apologise and said he would get me another meal. I did get a hot meal, the original reheated, even the slice of lemon was hot!
Finally to top it all, the bill came and childrens drinks were charged at a different rate to that advertised, even though we ordered from the childrens menu and the ice cream was also charged incorrectly. My family and I have had meals in this pub over the years and have always thoroughly enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. I would never return to this pub and would never recommend it to anyone.
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Went there today and the food was alright, not as bad as others have said. We were told after having our main course that if we didn't order pudding we would have to leave to table, as others were waiting. We offered to eat pudding outside but like cgb33 we were told we weren't allowed to. They also don't do some of their more popular dishes on Sundays for no known reason.
It's a mystery why this pub is so popular.
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VERY disappointed with this place. Tried to go there to have a sandwich yesterday on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. We were told that eating outside was not allowed (even though there were dirty plates on the tables outsie). Decided to take my business elsewhere & after reading the other reviews am glad I did leave.
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My wife and her mother visited here one lunchtime last week and when I asked here how it was she said it was awful for the following reasons. She ordered what was described as sausage in a baguette with wholegrain mustard and chips with a salad garnish. Her mother ordered Jacket potatoe with Tuna mayoniase. What turned up was a samll sausage cut into three small pieces which didn' t fill half the baguette, a thumnail amount of wholegrain mustard ( blink and you would miss it), the sald garnish was one wilted lettuce leaf and the chips were cold. Her mothers jacket potatoe wss hard and the tuna with mayonaise amounted to about two spoonfulls. She said she mentioned it to the bar staff, who just gave here a vacant look and an attitude as if to say "what do you want us to do about it?". Quite simply she won't be going back and I hope the brewery / managment that owns this pub reads this and sorts out the problems here. In this "recession" you think business's would get it right to attract much needed custom. My wife and I eat out at least three times a week in Sevenoaks area and will not be going back or recommnending this place to anybody.
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Talk about slow service and the food is so over rated. Typiccal chain pub
Will not be returning
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Very boring interior I agree with previous posts very overated and bland food over priced as well
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The food is not great. We had to wait ages for a table, then ages to be served and then the food tasted like it had been cooked hours before.
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Took my uncle here for his 80th along with some other elderly relatives. Food was passable (they tell me) and the pints were the same. Nice location and interesting decor inside but somehow lacks something ? Cant quite put my finger on it...
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My advice for this pub would be don't bother if you want to eat or drink, but quite a pretty village if you just want to admire the view.
We arrived at 6pm to an almost empty pub. Sign stated 'please wait to be seated'. At ten past we gave up and sat ourselves. At twenty past we were asked if we wanted to order. We ordered both food and drinks. Food arrived at 6.35, drinks a little later!
20 minutes after finishing startes our plates were cleared, then a further 20 minute wait for our main course.
Meals were cold, vegetables overcooked, grilled tomato looked like it had been there all day, salad garnish was so drench in oil the plate had a puddle.Outside of the chicken breast was so hard it was inedible.
Ordered another drink,it was for the person driving, they asked for a lemonade, and 10 minutes later they were give half of bitter.
Eventually, 25 minutes after we finished eating, we were asked if we wanted to order anything else by the landlord, who cleared our table. We said we would like to order sweets and more drinks.
40 minutes later, still no one had taken our order. We gave up, went to the bar, and asked for the bill.Even that took a while.
If I had not been very tired, I would have complained bitterly and left.
I have eaten in other Chef and Brewer pubs and found the beer, food and staff to be of a far higher standard.
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Food was very BLAND and the staff were not at all welcoming. Quite over rated we thought.
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Other reviewers were luckier than us for 'interesting range of cask ales', we found the distinctly uninspiring Youngs, Pride, Broadside. Huge inglenook as you enter with a fierce draw and roaring logs. We were asked whether we'd be eating and that seems to be the direction that the Bull leans, there is not really any comfortable bar space to just stand & drink, and many tables were busy with mostly diners. A large outside area, seating for 50 plus more picnic seats for warmer weather, enabled us to take advantage of some weak sun, and the smokers to have a tab.
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The food here is not fantastic, small portions for Sunday lunch, everything overcooked as well. Staff fairly impersonal. Overpriced for what it is.
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Had lunch here last Saturday; easy enough to get a table if you arrived early, but packed solid by the time we left.
It's a very attractive old pub - mostly genuinely old, with some later add-ons. An interesting selection of cask beers; food fairly standard pub grub, but well done, and not unreasonably priced.
My gripe about food-oriented chain-pubs like this is that you really do get the sense that it's a business operation, rather than a traditional pub. So the bar service, while unfailingly polite and efficient, was also entirely impersonal. I suppose if you got there in time to bag a table, and then just sat and drank they wouldn't complain, but you get the feeling that it's just not what this place is all about - on a weekend lunchtime, anyway.
Interesting to compare it with, say, The Cock at Boughton Monchelsea (not a million miles away) - architecturally similar, also doing a cracking food trade, but still absolutely a pub, with an ever-present landlord and landlady.
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Absolutely packed today - all for meals. GK IPA was very good, and beer range was relatively interesting for a Chef & Brewer. Plesant.
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Certainly one of the better Chef & Brewer pubs I've had the pleasure of visiting. Has the usual 'busy' interior with lots of nooks & cranies to lose yourself in, subdued lighting & pleasant touches like candles on the tables & broadsheet newspapers to peruse.
Good ale range included 3 guests from the likes of Everards, Ringwood & Smiles. Very impressed that a pint of Ringwood Bold Forester & a half of Kronenburg came to just �3.81. Usual inflated prices on the food however, Sunday lunch costs as much as a tenner with mains on the specials board about the same sort of price. Still, this is easily the most popular of Otford's watering holes and you can see why. Don't overlook the Crown opposite though.
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Friendly welcoming pub with great food and a pretty beer garden, great for summer evenings. Food on specials board is a bit pricey.
Helen - 11 Jun 2004 14:22 |
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