Charlie Purley — Restaurant in Arun

1st visit - Service was great, food was great & it was all at a very reasonable price. Will definitely be back soon.

2nd visit - Returned 4 months later to take my mum & family out for lunch & I have to amend my review. Not through any fault of the staff or the food but with the horrible online ordering that they have introduced. We were informed that this was how to order when we arrived so assumed that food orders from the bar had ceased. It wasn't even an app, but a QR code that took to a blank white page that said "Order & Dine In"

My son only wanted a small plate & some water. Here lies the first issue. You can't order water from the online service, so I had to find one of the few staff to get some water. Both my other half & mum wanted a carvery but with about 15 choices on the online system as opposed to 2 in the menu this wasn't clear so I had to ask someone again which one to order. Apparently as it was easter weekend I had to pay more as well! After about 15 minutes of messing around, rather than just going to the bar I had ordered. What I had ordered though wasn't clear until I received an email through because when it came to pay all I was told on screen was the amount & my table no. so I had no way of checking if my order was correct until after paying!

So about 15 minutes after ordering my son's small plate came out & nothing else. No burger that I had ordered & absolutely no way of knowing whether the 2 carvery's I'd ordered could be collected. In all other circumstances you've have a ticket showing what type of carvery you'd ordered so the chef would know. Only thing I had was on my phone but it wasn't even me that was having a carvery.

Another 20 minutes later & my son’s small plate had long been collected & we were all still waiting. My son was now feeling worse & was getting bored as nobody else had eaten & he would now have to wait. I went to the bar to check what was going on. It was now 45-50 minutes after ordering & we'd seen people come & go & have carveries in the meantime. They said that my son's lunch had come out as a starter (there is no option to specify) & that the carvery's could now be collected & they would chase up the burger I had ordered. I mean if I'd not gone to the bar...again...I have no idea when the food would have come or if the carveries could be collected. When my mum & other half went to collect them they had no evidence at all that they'd even paid for one! Could have just walked in & walked straight up for all they knew.

I ordered desserts as well & thankfully they came out with no issues, delivered by the man who was doing the carvery?

I work in IT & I urge nobody tries to use this online system until a number of issues are resolved. These are only the ones that I experienced:

1. It is an app, rather than a link to somewhere that doesn't seem as secure
2. the ability to specify that a small plate/starter be brought out as a main
3. the carvery menu is simplified as there are way to many choices that aren't clear at all
4. You can order tap water
5. Once you order someone brings you your tickets so that you can collect your carvery whenever you choose to stop any delays
6. When you go to pay it gives you a break down of what is in your basket so that you can check it before paying

I felt sorry for the staff having to deal with orders being made using really quite inferior tech that was causing more problems than solutions. I urge anyone that visits to not use this way of ordering & do it at the bar until they get it right as it took my mum & my other half an hour to get a carvery that they essentially could just walk up & collect! Also my son ate & then had to wait for a very long time. Feeling not 100% & being autistic he got quite agitated so I had to buy him a dessert to make him feel better.

I will point out that the food we got was good & the staff were really helpful & really apologetic for an issue they...

A tasty carvery at the Charlie Purley.

First of all I want to say a huge thank you to Louie who looked after us, he was extremely hospitable.

Let's set the scene, the place was rammed, the queue for the carvery was huge but we were seated very quickly with the table laid out with colouring pencils and picture for the 2 children we had with us. Within minutes Louie came over and took our drinks order, whilst the drinks were being prepared Louie was tending to other tables and guests, he quickly had the drinks to our table then took our food order. Again he was away looking after and seating people, the manager and other staff were very busy also making sure all were ok and the carvery line although was busy, moved along swiftly, you should of seen the mountains of food! Nobody was walking out of there hungry.

Our food didn't take long at all, I'd say 10-12 minutes tops for 4 adults and 2 children. They gave a ticket for the carvery when the order was taken and we were told to go up to the carvery when called. They called so the carvery was collected as our meals came out. Food tasted great, absolutely no issue with the food at all, we were actually shocked how good the food was considering how busy they were, we been to places when busy and the standard of food hasn't been great! Anyway Louie got all the condiments we asked for and we flagged him down a few times for bits whilst eating and although he was busy he didn't hesitate to get what we needed.

All in all, I got to say that this has been one of the best meals we have had out, the place was clean, the food was great and the service was exceptional.

Thank you Louie and the team at Charlie Purley, we...

Staff were friendly and easy to understand. I was given my choice of 5 tables as we walked thru within a minute if entering. My table was clean and freshly wiped and server explained ordering from bar or app and warned me that a 20 top was coming in at 19:00, which was no problem for me. I said I had a taste card and he said I would need to order at the bar. Table went from slightly wet to very tacky because of it's varnish. Personally I'd recommend sanding and waxing the tops or using table cloths. Menu was easy to read, full of options but not overwhelming, and I appreciate but the spice ratings and the calorie counts. Ordering at bar was easy and I got the lighter 8oz rump with cheddar beer sauce and a non alcoholic cider. I was impressed by the generous salad and the well cooked medium rare steak. My only issue was it hadn't rested enough and was bleeding on the plate and during eating. Staff come by twice to make sure I was ok said the desserts were good, though I later decided I was full. Just looking around the pub is well decorated and clean throughout. A brief walkthrough led to easily finding the toilets which mostly clean, with some marks in stall walls. Walking past the Carvery, the joints seemed dried out but the chef on duty was smiling and promptly asked if I'd like him to lift any lids to see the veg, which I declined. Was surprised to see a small kids area and wish it was larger. Outdoors seemed lovely and I was surely tempted to eat outside. Overall a great experience and I'll...