Chef and Brewer Collection Reviews 

Visited Red Lion Todwick for one of our family Christmas meals, Laura ran the restaurant like a drill Sargent, I diligently checked and re checked my pre order before sending however, upon asking to order the child menu for a 4 yr old she barked that I had a kids meal booked and she frantically started to run off and stop the cooking of our meals urgently we said don’t worry iam sure she will eat some turkey and tried to carry on, food arrived all ok, Laura serving platitudes ‘how is it’ ‘ all ok guys’ etc then upon dessert being delivered we were one missing, she looked appalled that we were one missing and shouted ‘you only ordered one’ and stormed off, I was expecting problems with this meal as having being in communication with them no one seemed to know what they were doing, so I started pulling up all the screens shots of my order to show Laura when she stormed back, and lo and behold she appeared carrying said dessert with the excuse ‘oh someone can’t read’. But she plays the game and is all happy but not sincere. Totally ruined the meal for me and next year it won’t be at the Red Lion from start to finish it’s been painful.

Maenllwyd inn Wasn't impressed at all with the food the gammon looked like a slice of pork belly nothing like a gammon steak and the cod in batter well I can honestly say that I've had better in a weatherspoons bar so I will not be popping back in a hurry for what you charge for your meals is really disappointing

Our dining experience was made extra special by the Fox and Hounds, Bursledon wonderful staff Mary and Lauren. Even thou it was very busy, these ladies were very attentive to all their customers.

Fab service and food at The Ely - served by Amanda always smiling - helped make a lady who turned 97 have a wonderful surprise

Tried to book large table for Christmas lunch for my team at work, around 16 people . Guy was unhelpful and told me couldn’t do more than 12 . Can we have two tables then? Apparently not. He can’t fit it in his restaurant as room is smaller now. Funny , room was same size last time I went in. Clearly just didn’t want the business. Don’t advertise for Xmas then!

Had a lovely Sunday lunch ,the place was buzzing.Roast beef was so tender,plenty of vegetables.Came away full .Thank you to Niamh and keyleigh who liked after us both.

We visited the Smith’s Arms in Killinghall on Tuesday 14th October and were very happy with the experience. We hadn’t been since before it became part of Chef and Brewer, w swede glad to see the decor has been refreshed but still in keeping with the style of the pub. The food was gorgeous and well priced. Graham served us and was really helpful and provided excellent customer service. We will be coming back with the family!

Went to the Riverside Inn at Cound near Shrewsbury for lunch with my daughter in law.
We had a great table with fabulous view of the river.
We were served by Lesley. She was very efficient & made us laugh! Just what we needed.

My friend and I had lunch today at The Green Man in Old Harlow. The food was superb and excellent value for money. I cannot praise Steph enough in taking our order and looking after us. Extremely professional. The food was served very quickly and presentation was top notch - compliments to the Chef. Traditional pub with open fire; beautiful outside seating area. Would highly recommend.

Went to the Royal Oak Farnham Common
Food was disgusting ordered fishcake which was so small you can barely see it and very dark which suggests the oil had not been changed, after that experience I was offered to order again, which was just as bad, round 2 ordered a chicken pie, the chef had overcooked (burned) the pie case the filling was not cooked properly it was disgusting, was so annoying but keep it calm needless to say we did not pay for our meal.
Never ever going back will be avoiding any pub with Chef and Brewer logo on their menu that for sure.
Ps. The staff were amazing despite what was going on in the kitchen area

The Crown Pub at Eaton Socon has been beautifully refurbished and is now part of the Chef and Brewer Collection of pubs. Today, we ate here for the third time and not only is the menu better than the ordinary GK pubs but the food is excellent. The staff here are unflappable in spite of the fact that they, like so many other businesses, are short staffed. They are all so professional and friendly that it is an absolute pleasure to visit.

Had lunch today with my friend at Ravensworth Arms, Lamesley. Been a long time since I've been to this restaurant, and can definitely say I will never eat here again!
Fish and chips, were awful, peas not cooked properly the tartar sauce was in a badly chipped pot, chips which were oven chips were still hard and not in oven long enough, fish dripping in grease/oil.
Toad in the hole (which wasn't toad in the hole it was sausages in a yorkshire pudding) Mash had a skin on it, as it had obviously been under the heated light for a while, yorkshire pudding was so hard it was impossible to cut through, tiny amount of gravy, that had a skin on. No server came and did a call back (probably knew the food was bad and didn't want to deal with it. When they came to collect plates, they didn't ask if everything was ok, but when we said what we thought, there was no concern, just said that they would let chef know. Chef? we had a badly warmed up ready meal and an extremely expensive one at that!
The restaurant was empty, no wonder! Used to be busy all the time.
You should be ashamed to serve this type of food, if you can call it that!

Ordered Cumberland sausage toad in hole! Sausages almost raw and pancake mix also not cooked properly! Inedible meal. Very disappointed. The house only charged for our drinks.
But even so! Memorable for all the wrong reasons! Never again!

Update: today’s response “I can confirm a full investigation has been conducted with the General Manager of the pub, Sarah, who would have liked to have contacted you personally, but unfortunately has been unable to do this”
they have contacted me and I responded but no update. I also contacted the MD of Green King who runs the business and is linked into me but will not respond. Not impressed at all. Chef & Brewer Odiham, waterwitch pub. Two of the worst steaks I’ve ever had in my life, Apple tart pudding that was soggy and horrible and they added an extra bottle of wine to our Bill! Would never go here again avoid

Have used many Chef and Brewer pubs across the country over the years and normally have a good experience so thought we would try the Roebuck on our stay in the Preston area. What a mistake…. Asked for a quiet table on the booking form and got two members of staff (one called Ashleigh) slagging off and swearing loudly about another member of staff with a local behind a separator screen between our table and the kitchen door. We had to ask them to stop as it was becoming unacceptable to the extent we nearly walked out…. Yes an apology given but didn’t stop us wanting to get out of the pub as quick as possible after food was finished. Talking of food we ordered the Pork Belly and Chicken Duo; We could hear the bell being rung from the kitchen to say food ready to come out but it took the chef coming out after a good couple of minutes to ask one of the “swearing ladies” to actually respond to the bell and serve our food. It was just about warm enough to eat, Pork Belly was nice but nearly too cold to eat and the chicken duo had the smallest lukewarm pieces of chicken I have ever been served for a main meal in my 60+ years on this planet of ours, overall not the nicest food to eat but we were hungry after a days travelling to get to the Preston area. From our experience I would say there is some obvious staff discord going on leading to a bad atmosphere and cold food for customers to “put up with”. We will think twice before trying another Chef and Brewer in the future!

We booked in at riverside. Cound Shropshire.
When we were ordering food, asked for seabass, had run out . Changed to Brie and peach salad which was on the specials menu run out! Tried for halibut surprise run Out !
Two of our party had starters which came promptly but our mains took over an hour!!!! I don’t mind waiting for home cooked food but this was a joke !
The waitress was very slow .
This is not the first time we have had problems here with food and poor service .
That’s the last time I go to river side.
It is such a shame as the location is amazing and such a beautifuly decorated pub !

We visited Fairmile in Cobham and had a great experience today. Huge thanks to Henry for a service par excellence who looked after us so well with excellent customer service.

I had a bad experience some months ago at the King's Head in Masham. Having booked a table for a given time, it took more than one hour to be taken care of. The staff were very apologetic and told us that too many meals had been booked by the system. I complained to Chef and Brewer and they told me they would draw lessons from this. I tried to give them a second chance, but decided to check beforehand as I didn't want to repeat the experience. The "General Manager" of the hotel told me haughtily there was no way they could guarantee a time despite my reservation. If I was not happy I could cancel. This is unprofessional, rude and arrogant. They take customers for granted and do not even apologise. I have never experienced such behaviour in fifty years. Clearly overbooking is a constant with the Kings Head. Avoid
I upgraded Chef and Brewer however as they dealt properly with my complaint.