When Dad
picked me up today, he had a plan, and that plan involved a trip to Fareham. He
knew of a pub on Fareham quay, just the sort of place you want to visit on a
warm and sunny Friday. I committed to the plan, aware that Fareham wasn't on
our top five most visited areas. Suddenly eager for a taste of something new,
we pulled on our invisible reviewing hats and set off.
We were
lucky enough to get a parking space, and then were lucky enough to get a table
outside, seemed our luck was in. It was a bit of a letdown when we discovered
that you couldn't really see much of the sea from the outside seating. Summoning
up our reserves of pub power we refused to be disheartened and got stuck in to
the menu. There was an immediate whiff of Weatherspoons about the food on
offer, and I don't mean that in a bad way. A wide selection of burgers, pub
classics, (2 for £10 something), and a meal plus drink offer. There was a wide
selection of options including at least three types of pie, although one of
those seemed to be a peppered mushroom pie, I'm not a fan of mushrooms.
Everything was advertised at incredibly reasonable prices, most meals well
under £10. Once our in-depth analysis was complete, we made our choices. Dad
selected the mixed grill at £12. This included rump steak, sausages, chicken,
chips, eggs, tomato, I think that was it. I went for, and bear with me here, a
chicken and stuffing Yorkie wrap. I've never had one before. If you give me the
option of a Yorkshire pudding filled with chicken and stuffing, of course I'm
going to have it, and the cherry on the top, £6. It also came with peas.
The service
throughout our visit is probably best described as distracted. There was quite
a lot of waiting while conversations were finished, a few confusions with
prices and orders, and then there was "Garlic-Gate". We ordered some
garlic bread to start. This was taken very literally, appearing a full 10
seconds before our mains were delivered. Before we talk about food, let's just
confirm the value here. You can get quite a lot of food for not much money,
which can only be good, but value must be effected by quality. The Yorkie wrap
was a bit tough, but it did indeed contain chicken and stuffing. The chips were
okay, I wouldn't call them gourmet as advertised, and my peas were peas. I did
also get a pot of gravy. Dad's steak was tough and overcooked and we aren't
quite sure what had happened to the chicken. He gave me some and I struggled
with it. Every time I tried to eat some I was getting a mouthful of strange
texture.
It's funny
how things can change so quickly. One minute you're sitting in a pub garden
getting excited about some great value honest pub food, then you come crashing
back to earth realising that things generally are too good to be true. Coming
up with a concept is one thing, but the execution of that concept is quite
another. If you can turn out decent, basic food at a good price, more power to
you. There's nothing wrong with that, Weatherspoons have turned it in to an art
form. But if the low price food you sell is of low quality, how many people
will come back? Me and Dad always have a lovely time wherever we go, but you
have probably noticed by now that food wise, this one was a bit disappointing.
Atmosphere 7
Service 5
Food 6
Value 8
Verdict 3*
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