The Red Lion — Local services in Great Britain

Awful pub with awful atmosphere, moaning staff and awful food! I left a 1 star review before yet some how has managed to vanish! I was stopping by today for mainly a pint but thought I’d get a bite to eat also and ordered chicken strips with honey bbq sauce… Worst chicken strips I’ve ever had, all you can taste is grease even with a dollop of bbq sauce on the end of a strip! Disgusting!

Staff member who seated us tried seating us in 3 different places and wouldn’t stop moaning about the other staff not communicating and doing their jobs properly also customers not showing up for their reservation!

The menu looks bare, not a single good description of any meal on the menu basic as you like!

Upon seating and waiting for our food we couldn’t help but notice utter laziness and poor upkeep of the establishment, not only did waiters fail to wipe down tables around us (just spray them, also spraying over cutlery led on the table) that exact table had two guests out of four as we arrived and only two out of 4 sets of cutlery were replaced with new ones when attempting to clear the table for the next guests after they left. We also noticed paint work above our food peeling, shelves behind and around us full of dust, the lamp shade above us (missing one out of 4 bulbs) had spider webs and even older cobwebs surrounding the dusty seating area we were sat in, not only that our cutlery, that I chose not to use based on the cleanliness of them (covered in water marks - not been wiped down as they should) Out of the drinks we ordered the gin glass still had residue of lipstick on - cleanliness is a REAL issue here!

My previous review stated that the only saving grace for me and this pub was the Korean chicken that they have taken off the menu! So I will not be returning for food the owner actually replied in a defensive not apologetic manor and stated how they do still have the Korean chicken it’s now called duo chicken…. After reading the menu, the two dishes differ so much just by reading the new menu! The new dish has nothing Korean about it for a start, no spice, no chillis, and different sauce entirely! As stated earlier how poor the chicken strips are, that’s what they have replaced the Korean chicken (bites not strips) with and I wouldn’t feed that to my dog, the overpowering grease is too much for even a dog to stomach! (Chicken inside was flavourless and really bland)

It’s such a shame when this pub (before owners changed) used to be good some time ago, with quality food and fair service but lately it’s gone down hill an un real amount!

SO MUCH SO, that when I left my previous review the overall rating was 4.3 stars! Only a couple of months later it’s now a 2.9 so please mr owner tell me again how I am wrong with my review…? I have multiple people agreeing with me so this review is very warranted and hope you can learn from it rather than getting defensive…again…!!!

I have photos of the area we sat in, I have chosen not post them here - if I receive another defensive reply I will certainly post them and show how cleanliness is a real issue here with photo proof seeing as being defensive seems more important than having your customers...

Disappointing Food-wise - everything else okay.

I ordered the Chicken BLT ciabatta. I saw a serving of 2 of the same dish come out on the table next to me. They both had a generous serving of chips and salad. I thought I had made a good choice.

However when mine turned up after, there were 2 bits of small salad with a squirt of dressing and a pathetic amount of thin chips 15 in total. The bacon in the ciabatta was also burnt to a crisp. I was disappointed and felt let down. If I had not seen the adjacent table's dishes I might have thought it was a minimal dish styling this pub does. This pub has a captive market, probably makes a lot of money and should do better and be more consistent with its food.

On that same evening I had a ready meal from Tesco which was comparably much better value and tasted better. I probably wont be visiting this pub again until it's pulled its socks...

Indifferent service on day albeit we only popped for as quick drink. More annoying was to receive a parking penalty notice 10 days later! It is certainly not clear when parking that it is necessary to register at the bar or pay a fee or whatever the drill is. It’s a pub car park, why would you expect to pay!! We have proof of purchase and will fight this ‘invoice’ but note this is not a fine, it is an invoice so fight it if you feel you have been poorly treated. The management and parking agency, Britannia, need to make this far more obvious if it is not to be perceived as a cash cow. Chances are I won’t...