The Mint, Banstead

Hi Nickdavies,

I'm afraid I don't know what a Vintage Inn M&B Ember Toby chain pub is.

All I know is that the food served in The Mint was not only disgusting, tasted vile and was not cooked properly, but it was a health hazard too I'd imagine! (Warmed up frozen prawns which were raw inside and tepid on the outside - and a hair (possibly from a cat) in the middle of the prawn cocktail.

Even the spicy filling inside the red pepper seemed to be a teaspoon of uncooked CURRY paste taken out of a jar and plonked inside the pepper!!

Surely there is no excuse for such appalling food? And just bcause it's a chain pub do they have to employ rude staff? Why is that?

Aand why doesn't the chain get someone to remove the wasp nest in there? And clean the sticky tables?

It's probably the worst pub we've ever been in, and it totally lacked atmosphere. Heaven knows why people go there!! It's quite a shame because it has a lot of potential given its setting and structure.

13 Sep 2009 03:04

The Mint, Banstead

Oh dear - what a disappointment!

We have been meaning to visit this pub for dinner for some time now (have recently moved to the area) and its always looked so welcoming and cosy from outside.

So today we decided to have a late lunch there (they serve food all day) and got there about 3 o'clock. After telling the barmaid we wanted to eat we found a table and sat down. First mistake! We must have been sitting next to a nearby wasps nest (this was INSIDE the pub) and I can only imagine that the sticky tables were attracting the wasps. Every time I rested my arm on the table it was sticky and unpleasant.

My husband managed to squash 4 of the wasps which were buzzing around our table, but then we gave up and decided to move to the other side of the pub. Whilst my husband tried to kill these pests the barmaid took no notice at all, and seemed as though she was used to them being there. Whilst walking over to the other side of the pub we overheard a customer saying to someone that we must be changing tables 'because of the wasp nest'!

We'd already ordered our food: 2 starters and 2 mains plus a bottle of red wine.

When our food arrived I was at first surprised at how small the portion was, but the presentation looked rather good. Shame about the taste and cooking! I ordered hot skewered prawns on a red pepper with spicy sauce - and it was absolutely VILE! The prawns (obviously frozen) were tepid, rubbery, hard and raw inside! They were still opaque, and I had to spit them out.

My husband's prawn cocktail looked OK - except for the 2" long black hair which sat in the middle of it. When we called the barmaid over and showed her the hair (and my raw prawns) she said in a very loud voice that she couldn't understand how the hair got there as the chef was bald!!!

If the hair didn't fall off the chef's head I can only assume they have a pet cat strolling around the kitchen.

When we showed her my prawns she seemed mildly irritated and said (again in a loud voice): "What do you want to do then???" Her attitude was such that she seemed accustomed to complaints and wasn't bothered about the shockingly poor and unhygienic food.

We told her to cancel the rest of our order and she stomped off with our plates of uneaten food. We then went to the bar to pay for our wine and went and had a meal in a restaurant in Banstead Village.

I would advise anyone thinking of going to this pub to avoid it like the plague.

10 Sep 2009 19:07