The Barley Mow — Restaurant in Basingstoke and Deane

I have no reservations of reporting the our experience at this Barley Mow was the worse we have endured anywhere. On arrival and on time there was no table prepared. We were asked if we would like to wait in the bar. The bar was stacked with dirty glasses and empty bottles. Our glasses were warm and there was no ice or lemon or lime. We were then given a table, which we feel was an afterthought alongside the exit door. People in and out and a cold draft was only the start. Talking of starters we were asked what we had booked. I showed them our booking on my phone and they took a picture of it. The starter, prawn cocktail was an example of what was to come. For £80 a head the presentation was poor. "When" the main meal arrived we were shocked to see just a pile of food on plates. The vegetables looked as if they were the leftovers. The parsnips and carrots were burnt on the edges and undercooked in the middle. The roast potatoes obviously reheated in a microwave. A small amount of gravey was present with no extra on our table. Not even the basics of salt and pepper. My venison pie was "just" okay but it was not without lumps of gristle and tough meat. My wife's meal was of a similar standard with a couple of thick lumps of turkey unceremoniously dumped on top of a pile of veg. The dessert was, we agree, acceptable.The young girl that served us was a treat. She was pleasant but rushed off her feet. We arrived dressed for the event as the dress code stated "business casual" but even the staff didn't quite make it. Sorry but, for a special meal on a special day at an extortionate price the experience was attroctious....

Myself and my family came here for Sunday lunch and having not been from around here we were eager to eat someone lush and chose the Barley Mow. However the expectation vs reality hit when we walked through the pub door. We went in to the restaurant and having booked a table prior to our booking there was not one appropriately set up considering we had reserved it.

This aside, we sat down 4 adults and a 13 month old baby. We ordered our drinks first and having got them it took another 20 minutes for us to get our food ordered. Again, we waited and waited and having worked in a pub previously I was worried something was wrong since unfortunately our food took longer than 45 minutes to come. Considering we also had a hungry baby we would have expected a little bit more consideration and communication. We even peeped round to the restaurant and it wasn’t as busy as we thought! The waitress was clearly rushed off her feet and although polite, promised the children’s roast dinner would come in 5 minutes however 10 minutes later and we were left wondering.

When the meals arrived the meals were ok but unfortunately I think had I known a meal of that quality would take that long - I would’ve chosen somewhere else. My roast potatoes were burnt to a black crisp and my creamy leeks were hand delivered from the freezer however in spite of this the staff tried to remain in good spirits.

As frustrating and disappointing that our experience was - I’m hoping we are the only unfortunate ones who have waited an hour for our food. However please consider thinking about if it is worth waiting that long for food prior to...

Booked a table for 6 at The Barley Mow for my parents birthday meal. We turned up to the quaint and cosy dining area and unfortunately there were no staff around to seat us, so we went off on the hunt to find someone that worked there. Stepping through into the bar area was like taking a portal into your local bruiser, as a load of locals stared at us as if they’d never seen another human before. As we stood waiting at the bar to ask whether we should just sit down and if so where, a local got up from his table in the corner, stepped in front of us and got served whilst we were ignored. We were finally seated at our table by the waitress/chef, who then let us know she was leaving next week so they didn’t have everything on the menu. She then handed us 1 food menu for a group of 6 to scramble over. Fortunately with 70% of it crossed/scribbled out it didn’t take long for us to pass it between the group. I asked for another minute to decide on our drink order, 10 minutes go by and she still hasn’t returned, by which point we decided we’d go somewhere else. Can’t comment on the food or drinks as we didn’t stay long enough, but the fact we didn’t...