The Shy Horse, Chessington

I've been to the Shy Horse a few times over the past couple of years. It is always busy with a good mix of young and old and is a family friendly pub.

The drink is pretty good and the staff are generally helpful.

However, this evening I went along for a bite to eat to celebrate my partner being promoted. We ordered our food and waited. Now the pub was busy (the manager was walking around telling people to hold off ordering for a few minutes), but this was around 20 minutes after we had ordered. After half an hour our food hadn't turned up so we went to check on it.

This must have hurried them along as 10 minutes later our meals turned up. All seemed fine until I cut into my chicken to find that it was raw in the centre. Actually it wasn't purely in the centre - the majority of the breast was raw. It would appear to have been rushed out.

Naturally I sent this back. Waiting staff apologised and offered us free drinks, which was much appreciated, and informed me that it would take top priority. My partner proceeded to finish her meal as it was getting cold.

Half an hour later I received my second chicken kiev, again with many apologies. Not wishing to make the same mistake I cut straight through the middle of this one to check whether it was cooked through. Amazingly this too was raw in the centre, although it was a much better effort.

The waitress apologised again and took this back saying that she would get my money back, which she did.

I have no issue with the waiting staff, but would just warn people that the food in this pub appears to have fallen short of standards that we had come to expect given earlier visits.

It is understandable to get something like this once in a while, especially during a busy evening of service, but to receive such food twice beggars belief. I look forward to this establishment returning to the heights it achieved in the not too distant past.

27 Aug 2008 23:27