The Tickled Trout — Restaurant in Ashford

These stars are only for the location, otherwise nearly every experience here has been marred by things this pub repeatedly gets wrong. The setting is wonderful, and that's what we come for. If you choose simple things from the menu, you may be OK - sandwiches, fish and chips, burger and chips, nachos - but if you stray into more exotic realms expecting any understanding of flavour and culinary flair, prepare to be deeply disappointed. I've previously had a terrible 'Thai' curry, and today, foolishly, had the 'Sri Lankan' potato curry - which was disastrous. The potatoes were very underdone and the only discernable seasoning was chili. I rendered it vaguely edible by using onion from my companion's salad and a lot of salt. The sauce was just horrible. Does the 'chef' not taste their own food? My companion enjoyed their burger, but even as a Londoner used to high prices, she was baffled to be charged £6.95 for a lager shandy. She was also particularly put off firstly by the poor young chap in charge of allocating tables who clearly didn't have a clue what he was doing and his anxiety was contagious, but worse than that, the huge chalkboard with a detailed list of expected behaviours from the clientele - including requiring them to be fully clothed. Is there a lost tribe near Wye unused to civilization? Who are these half-naked loud sweary people making a bad experience worse? We hope and pray this pub changes hands and becomes less shambolic and over-priced. Previous visits with my partner down the years have taught us to generally be VERY careful what we order to eat, as the 'cuisine's' quality has zero consistency. The first time we went, my partner had steak and ale pie.... once he'd sawn through the bullet-proof crust, there was a hollow with a lone piece of inedible dessicated meat at the core... he threw the lot to the nearby trout, who flocked before fleeing from it. I had a perfectly pleasant wrap. Our second visit, I again had a wrap and my partner gambled on the pie having improved... it hadn't, and he once again set about tempting the fish with his fossilised pie, and they duly scarpered. It's criminal that such a lovely setting is let down by shockingly poor food. We'll probably be back to sit by the beautiful river and marvel at the birds and fishes... but it's sandwiches all the way, and chips, maybe chips, they...

Well what can I say, but dissapointed. Booked Lunch here Saturday 19th September 2020. All safety procedures in place Tick, Staff half a Tick, food 🤔 Left both of us feeling underwhelmed, my starter prawn cocktail, served on a side plate, prawns in Marie rose sauce, salad accompaniments, no dressing or seasoning had to ask for seasoning (salt & pepper) plus 3 lettuce leaves served with what looked like Caterpillar holes! so I did check to see that there weren't any, or slugs sharing my starter! never serve a dish up with limp outside leaves of a lettuce, as your bound to get a complaint! Main Course, Seafood Linguine, cooked with Muscles 5, 4 prawns, no Crabmeat as mentioned in the menu... oh yes I nearly forgot the 5 leaves of Spinach which had shrunk to a third of their size resembling bits of green tissue, used ! All this Lavished in a white cream sauce..NOT !! loads of pasta though....and at £17 something very poor indeed....I do not recommend any of the above. My husband ordered Starter, Whitebait, again with salad, no dressing or seasoning on the salad, whitebait served with batter pieces left from someone else's order of what looked like Battered Fish! Mains ordered Steak with Peppercorn Sauce, fries, Greasy Onion Rings, more Salad no dressing, steak was very sinuous as I watched him struggle to cut & eat it, Onion rings so covered in oil you could run a car engine on! Peppercorn Sauce bland and did a good job of covering the sinuous steak up! Verdict for all our courses, UNDERWHELMING, yes when asked we did tell staff who said they could ask for money of or something, of which we replied No Thank You! We did not come here for that, we came out for a what we thought a really nice meal, this was not our first visit but it will be our Last! Shame , Tickled Trout you really have gone down hill and yet the prices are still up there with quality food which we did...

Went to this pub today and left disappointed after waiting 45 minutes for our starters which were cold, small portions and completely different to what was on the menu.

The waiting staff did not seem to be particularly interested in their work and had to be called over by any customers who needed something.

After being seated we quickly got our drinks served and food order taken. This was the last time we were offered a drink with the empty glasses remaining sat there even after a member of staff spoke to us.

We then waited 45 minutes for our starters which had clearly been sat there for a while judging by the temperature when they got to us. The pork was completely bland and had to be smothered in sauce to give it any flavour. Paired with the fact it was some of the toughest meat I’ve ever eaten. The whitebait my partner ordered was stone cold and unimpressive and sat untouched on the slate.

At this point we called over a waitress (she may have been a manager/team leader but if so I don’t hold out much hope for this place!) and said we wanted to pay and leave. She immediately countered with ‘is it because of the wait’, so clearly this is an issue they suffer with but don’t seem to be making any changes about it. I explained the wait to receive the substandard starters was not good enough and we would be leaving.

When she returned with the bill she then proceeded to explain that she had taken the main meals (which we had not received) off the bill. There was nothing by way of apology or even any emotion as she cleared away the plates which included a full portion of inedible food.

This was £20 down the drain for 2 drinks and 2 appalling starters. Definitely not worth the time or money spent coming...