The Golden Crane, Cranham

We went there a couple of weeks ago with our son and granddaughters and had a superb meal. Our son said that the chips were the best that he'd had in a long time and certainly the best ever in a pub. There were no complaints and the girls left clean plates - a sure sign that the food's good. This is a Charles Wells pub and the Bombardier was excellent. They had two other ales on as well. My son, who tends to drink lager, enjoyed the bitter as well. I'm trying to convert him away from the kid's beer, and the pint he had will certainly help seduce him to the big boys' stuff.

30 Mar 2008 14:00

The Royal Oak, South Ockendon

Last year (2007) this was a very good pub - good ale, nice friendly atmosphere and excellent food. We went there a couple of times recently. The atmosphere's still friendly, the pint that I had was excellent, but the food was dreadful. The beef was tough and the vegetables had hardly seen any boiling water. The roasties weren't cooked in the middle I suspect that they had been semi-microwaved. Last year we had a very good lamb shank; now it doesn't exist. We also went there on Mothers' Day and found that there was only an all-in menu, including a starter, which we didn't want, for �15. Again the meat wasn't very good and the vegetables were again, almost raw, although this time, the roasties were a bit better. The staff did their best, but there was a long wait for service. It's not all bad though - the gravy is still rich and delicious and the yorkshire puddings were the best I've ever had in a pub. They didn't try to be meringues (what is it with cheffies that do yorkshires like this?)
I will we going back when they get the food sorted out. It's a shame that the Royal Oak's let down like this. The new owners need to look to what the food used to be and put it right.

30 Mar 2008 13:06

J J Moons, Hornchurch

Interesting to note so many moans about the service. Tim Martin doesn't read this site otherwise there'd be changes made. But no, it still takes too long to get served. Typically, there would be four or five waiting to be served and one bar person trying their best. The other three are delivering glasses, bottling up, polishing pumps and anything other than selling drinks efficiently. The managers haven't grasped that if there are customers, the staff should stop whatever they're doing and serve them. Oh and another thing, in order to make sure that they can get away early, they polish the tables and move you down the pub and close off a whole section including access to the ladies', the rear smoking area and the rear fire escape. On Sunday nights, one of the managers locks the front doors, typically at 10.30 (published closing time is 11.30) so that his staff don't have to have the bother of serving anyone else, as they are now frantically doing jobs that should be done prior to the pub opening, not last thing at night.
Having had my moan, when you actually get served the staff are good-natured, polite and pleasant. Most of the time they know what they're doing and serve an excellent pint. There are eleven hand-pumps with ales for every taste. If I ever get a (very rare) bad pint, it's changed without too much hassle. They are currently in the midst of a beer festival where bitter is �1.50 a pint as opposed to (now) �1.90(I've rounded the prices up from the absurd �x.x9). The food's generally as good as you could expect for the price. The Thursday night's curries are brilliant. They do a Phaal every so often and it blew my son's socks off. I thought it was just about right. My wife likes the korma. I just wish it were nearer. Now that the Plough (strangely not in this site's lists) in Cranham has just closed, perhaps Wetherspoons will take it over. I'll certainly go there if they do. I have only one other gripe about JJ's and that is that they celebrate every other saint's day but St. George. Why?

30 Mar 2008 02:34