The Duck On The Pond, South Newington

Do not eat at this pub!! We are a family of 5 who recently stopped off at this pub to break up a long journey south. We had found it on the internet and it seemed to have a lovely menu, if a little pricey, but we were on holiday, so we were treating ourselves. The portions are very small for the riduculous prices they are charging, fishcake and chips is nearly �9 and is one sad looking fishcake, half a dozen chips and a bit of salad. Fish and chips is a better portion, as it should be for just short of a tenner, but the fish appeared to be of the bought in frozen kind, not what you're expecting for that kind of money. However the worst offender was the plate of king prawns that were incinerated beyond belief. I have never tasted anything like them, there was literally no meat left inside them, they had been cooked for so long, and all they tasted of was burnt butter. I mentioned how disappointed I was with them to the waitress, who didn't say much, and my husband mentioned it to the lady behind the bar when he went to pay. She said she would knock them off the bill, but it wasn't until we arrived at our holiday destination that we realised she hadn't even bothered to do that.
All in all a very disappointing start to our holiday, and at �63 for a bar snack for 2 adults and 3 kids a very expensive mistake that I will not be repeating.
On the positive side, the pictures of naked ladies in the toilets proved quiet an education to my 3 sons!

31 Aug 2009 18:16