The Anchor, Wisley

Went to this pub today for Sunday lunch.
The pub was heaving but there were free tables inside.

The queue for food and/or drink was long (10 mins wait).

We ordered 1 starter to share and two childrens meals to arrive at the same time and four adult main meals. We were advised that we would have to wwait 30 minutes for the food.

55 minutes later we asked a waitress what had happened to our order. She asked us if we had waited long. I pointed out that two other tables had ordered their food after us but they had recieved their meals and had almost finished eating by now. She disappeared and then came back, apologised for the wait and said our food would be with us in 5 mins. Thank goodness we thought as the children were almost chewing the menus. 10 minutes later two adult main meals arrived, another 5 minutes and the other two main meals arrived, 5 mins later the two kids meals were served and eventually the starter arrived (we sent this back and were given a refund).

The food was ok but not great, my daughters celery, carrot and cucumber sticks had seen better days and the humous looked like scrambled egg and tasted like it was made with lentils. I had the grilled tuna but the balsamic and red oniond chutney sauce was tasteless. The Somerset Chicken pie was just a chicken and ham pie. The roasts did indeed have lots of meat but weren't really worth waiting over an hour for. The staff were not particularly friendly nor nearly apologetic enough.
We then ordered 2 teas and 2 coffees which took 20 mins to arrive. 20 mins to boil a kettle and pour it on some tea bags???

As others have said fantastic location, nice small play area (if your children are between 5 and 7 yrs old I would have said), lots of outdoor tables but little playing space if your children are not in the 5-7 age range but I guess thats because it is squished right next to the canal, bar area is tiny and there is no option but to join the long queue even if you just want a couple of drinks.

All in all a nice afternoon cos it was lovely weather and good company and a great place to sit but as for the food, forget it and go to a decent restaurant or eat first.

26 Apr 2009 23:24