The Castle, Camberwell

Until a recent management change this pub won awards for its food - sunday roasts in particular were fantastic - now the only certificate you're likely to get is one for a day off sick. We went for a roast there yesterday - our first since the change - and my word what a difference; Previously we were treated to well cooked good quality meats , fresh veg , stuffing , a gravy boat per dish and huge portions, yesterday couldnt have been further off the other end of the scale. The choices were beef and lamb , both of which tasted exactly the same , but strangely neither like beef or lamb. The veg and Yorkshire were clearly of the Iceland frozen variety and hadnt been defrosted properly. In fact i was tempted to keep the yorkshire to use as a ball when playing squash! Upon asking for sauces (mustard , mint etc and some extras gravy - big mistake) we were presented with a bottle of HP and a look that said ''im an eastern european student with no experience - Get me out of here!''. The starter, billed as ''vegetable chowder'' was clearly minestrone from a tin , with NO bread - we had to ask for it , and waited so long that
by the time it arrived the soup was cold (ill add it was half the size of the soups we used to get there but the same price). Having not been approached to pay for 2 hours and one staff change it was tempted to just leave. However we developed a conscience and asked a barman for our bill. He was so clueless i had to print my own receipt off the chip and pin machine. If anyone counters this by wheeling out the old cliche of ''teething troubles'' , i say if it's not broke dont fix it. By cutting corners with shoddy inexperienced bartending , and dire, DIRE food , the new management will also cut their returns. The old management still run the Bishop in Lordship Lane , ill be heading there next sunday!

27 Nov 2006 09:41