The Malt Shovel Inn, Eynsford - pub details
Address: Station Road, Eynsford, Dartford, Kent, DA4 0ER [map] [gmap]
Tel: 0871 951 1000 (ref 24835) - calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras
Eynsford (0.2 miles), Shoreham (2.6 miles), Swanley (2.7 miles)
Pub facilities/features:
- Food served, Real ale
Are you the Licensee? Click here. ** SPECIAL Royal Summer Sizzler offer! **
> Current user rating: 5.5/10 (rated by 22 users)
other pubs nearby:
Plough and Harrow, Eynsford (0.2 miles), Castle Hotel, Eynsford (0.4 miles), Five Bells, Eynsford (0.4 miles), Pied Bull, Farningham (1.2 miles), Lion Hotel, Farningham (1.2 miles) - see more nearby pubs
user reviews of the Malt Shovel Inn, Eynsford
please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
5 most recent reviews of 21 shown - see all reviews
| Very nice old pub, shame it's on a busy main road but you don't really notice inside. Plenty of room inside and a garden for when it's not pouring down. Had a couple of pints of "Long blonde" from the Long Man Brewery, a light summer ale and very nice to. Food was good & cheap and turned up quickly. Landlord & staff all very friendly and helpful. alan_From_SAWW - 26 Aug 2012 18:01 |
| Visited last week and was pleased to see some interesting beer on. We had Long Man Blonde and took it out into the very pleasant garden at the rear (which although I had visited before didn't know was there). However beer was well past its best and we were disappointed. Alan_br12df - 24 Aug 2012 19:22 |
| Pretty ordinary / a little old fashioned looking pub. why do pubs have carpets? ... it puts me off straight away. On the plus side, it does Have Kingstone Press Cider on draught and the Landlord seems very friendly. On our 2 previous visits, he has kindly opened the side door, so that we can take our dog to the beer garden at the rear. Dogs are not allowed in the actual pub itself. Not a great pub, but a better option than the somewhat pretentious Plough nearby. Pat_Bateman - 17 May 2010 10:18 |
| Lurking on Eynsford's main drag is The Malt Shovel. All faded paint and opaque windows, it has the look of an old man's boozer from the outside. That impression is only partially dispelled upon entry. The clientele is probably not quite as cosmopolitan as the one you can find at the WAG haven that is The Plough across the ford, to put it kindly. In fact, I haven't seen this many men sporting slightly dodgy moustaches since The Village People were at the height of their powers. Actually that sort of helps sum up a trip to The Malt Shovel - it's a bit like stepping pack into the late 80s. Even the old stickers for Access credit cards are still in the window. The decor is dark and heavy but not unpleasant. It is very unpretentious, with lots of copper kettles, chitntzy porcelain lamps and vermillion velvet booths. Meanwhile, the food is just about as weighty. The chips are so thick cut it's a wonder they found potatoes big enough, and encased in a shell that could double as low-grade armour. Portion sizes range from huge to enormous. The goat's cheese salad (�4.50) contains enough cheese to have kept a small goat busy for at least a week. And the hand-made maltburger (�7.95) is topped with enough melted cheese and bacon to fell a rhinoceros at 100 paces. It's all pretty tasty, but if you like your food low in fat, this is not the place for you. And then there's the service. Oh, the service. It started off well - attentive, polite, swift. But after a couple more encounters with the waiter, we started to wonder if he wasn't just a little bit, well you know, odd. He certainly had a great enthusiasm for comedic asides with the diners, if not a great talent for it. "The last time I put my hand in a lady's purse, there was a bear trap in it," he chortled. Mostly to himself, it has to be said. Then there were other slightly scarier comments: "Oh, don't worry about me," he said after shutting his leg painfully in a high chair, "I crushed my hand under a steel beam and destroyed 95% of the nerves. I don't feel pain like I used to," he added. Erm...ok. By the time he was telling us (unprompted) about his near-death encounter with a Great White, we were out of there. Overall: �56 for three people and three courses each was good value, and the pub is pleasant. Recommended, but only if you enjoy the odd scare from the Norman Bates-esque service. res_publicker - 3 May 2010 16:59 |
| Awful, truly awful. High prices for mediocre food. Ordered 3 meals - lamb (asked for it well done but was told it would be done how the chef wants to do it!), burger and chips and mushroom puff pastry crown (asked for it minus the cheese sauce as I cannot eat cheese and am veggie) very little veggie choice. Advised it would be a 30-45 minute wait which we accepted. Then after 30 mins were told that they couldn't leave off the cheese sauce as it was already made with the sauce on top - obviously not freshly cooked. At that point we left. The other meals we saw brought out looked pretty ropey too. To add to that bar staff didn't seem to care about what they were doing, didn't see one of them mile and two were bickering with each other whilst seving our drinks and the place is really badly laid out. Like someone else here said, you feel like you'e in the way wherever you stand or sit. Avoid - go anywhere else but here. seadragon - 10 May 2009 16:26 |
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