The Abinger Hatch, Abinger Common

I visited this pub on a Sunday in May with three friends. We were trying to find another pub and had given up. Reading the reviews as we sat in the lovely beer garden waiting for food, I was rather apprehensive.

However, this pub is ok. It's by no means as bad as some other reviews suggest. On the plus side, our food arrived fast, hot and definitely edible. Not haute cuisine, but better than aveage pub food. I had a good lamb shank with spring onion mash, my partner had beef with roast potatoes and a slightly below par Yorkshire pudding. The others had a smoked salmon and crayfish saad which they thought good. THe service was fine - the landlord was friendly and attentive and the other staff were ok, not overly friendly, but quick and polite. The beer was also good, and a nice selection.

On the down side, the pub does smell a bit, I think from cooking fat. The loos could do with a lick of paint. And the food is a little pricey.

Overall a 6, as it's by no means the worst pub I've been in - far from it, it'sa perfectly adequate sunday lunch pub. Given the surroundings, it could do better though.

10 May 2009 19:32