The Yew Tree, Lower Wield

Having done some internet research on pubs not too far from Basingstoke as we were meeting some friends who live south, while we live in the other direction. The Yew Tree rated highly, their website is great so I had high hopes. I'm sorry to say we were royally disappointed. We went for lunch last Sunday (17th October) having booked a table. The pub was virtually empty at the time (12pm), and also very cold. The young man who served us wasn't particularly friendly or welcoming (although the even younger blonde girl was nice) and it took quite a while to get the board with the menu on it to us. I chose the roast lamb, two of our party ordered the steak & ale pudding and one chose the ham hock. When the food came, my lamb was inedible. It was tough, overcooked and clearly not the best quality as well as being a very small portion in comparison to what my friends were having. It was swimming in gravy. I'm very surprised that any chef worth his or her salt would have been happy to serve that to a customer. When I complained, the young guy couldn't have been less bothered. His face may have cracked if he'd smiled. I asked him if I could have a better piece of meat, and he mumbled something about that being it but I could have the shoulder of lamb instead if I liked. Not really what I wanted but I said ok as by this time my friends were all tucking in to their food. I was told it would be a 5 minute wait. 15 minutes later it arrived. Again drowning in gravy (as were 2 out of the 3 other dishes on our table). I was left to eat my lunch while my friends had all finished. Two of us ordered desserts, both of which came on one of those biscuity things, both of which were inedible also, although the ice cream was lovely.

All this while we were shivering as it was so cold (yes I know, why have ice cream then.....)

Tim, I'm really sorry but we won't be coming back and we won't be recommending either. Perhaps your regular chef was away, perhaps the lad who served us was having a bad day, perhaps your heating wasn't working, but it wasn't a happy experience.

22 Oct 2010 10:36