The Crown

What has gone wrong here? Always had decent food and OK but friendly service. All change though and in my view not a one off bad night. In fairness pub was very busy with all tables full and only two waiting staff. Table reserved for 8.30 but not even a glance from staff till 20 minutes later. Waiter had little knowledge of what we were ordering and had no eye contact so we left him looking at the food menu to work out what Picpoul de Pinet was.

Then the food. A starter of Serrano Ham with Dandelion and Rocket and a poached egg sounded good but while the ham itself was decent enough there was no sweetness to combat the Dandelion and enhance the ham. A little balsamic dressing surely is'nt too much to think of in a straightforward dish. The egg was not so much poached as withered and dry - appalling.

Chef would not cook a burger pink (because of bacteria!!) so I settled for Sausages and Mash. Mistake number two. I have no problem with pricing in this type of establishment but for decent money one would expect decent sausage. Ginger Pig would be nice but even other than this the chef should be force fed these dry, underseasoned bits of pork until he understands good sourcing. The mash was decent but smothered in a commercial thickened stock made for sickly eating. On top of this there were three battered onion rings - bizarre.

One of the very worst meals I have had in a gastro pub yet. Wake up!!
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M Gee
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Saturday, October 01, 2011

We went to the Crown for a birthday lunch today. Food was averagely good for a gastropub but the service was appalling: we waited around an hour for our food, and 2 of our table waited a further half hour at least. Orders had not been written down, no apologies were given and no compensation was offered. Service was delivered with a glare! It turned what should have been a nice birthday lunch into an unpleasant experience, and I won't be going back.
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4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Sunday, October 10, 2010

Went here on the first Monday back to work after new year to ease the pain and it ticked every box. Food (pork belly for me, steak for him) was perfect, wine lovely and good beers on tap, staff friendly and relaxed. Atmosphere was v quiet but it was a very cold Monday night. Still rate this much higher than better known places in this area. Keep it up!
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HC
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Thursday, January 07, 2010