The Beach Arms Stonehouse — Restaurant in Basingstoke and Deane

Fantastic waitress, bad manager, worse food

Would give 0 stars if I could! Went on Sunday night at 7pm, usually peak time for a carvery. Before beginning my criticism I just want to say that the waitress was absolutely brilliant! Everything else, however, was bad. Old stale sad grey food on the carvery - waited 20 minutes for someone to be available to serve us. Returned my plate and advised that there was fresh meat and veg on the way. Waited a further 25 minutes. Was given fresh meat that looked absolutely fine, same stale horrible Yorkshire pudding, veg and stuffing. It had been there a long time when we first arrived at 7 and by this point it was almost 8. My partner tucked into his because he had run a marathon that day (post-race carvery is our ritual) and would have eaten a dead dog. He did not enjoy it. I declined my second plate. Waitress was very kind and very apologetic but I was keen to remind her that it was not her fault. Please bear in mind that we had been very patient and understanding, the waitress had explained that they were understaffed and we were empathetic - at this point we would have been happy to pay and leave.

What entirely soured the experience was that the MANAGER decided to come over to our table and lecture me on how the food had “only been out for two hours and it is safe to eat as it is the right temperature”. I was embarrassed for her but I did explain in polite terms that you can heat dog sick up to a legally “safe” temperature but it doesn’t mean I’m going to eat it - let alone pay for the privilege.

Had it not been for her bizarre behaviour and bad attitude we probably would have considered a revisit as we have had previously positive experiences at the Beach Arms.

Tipped the waitress, paid for my partners plate as he had eaten (reminder: he had run a marathon and would have eaten anything but he did not enjoy it) and left - we stayed for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Other diners around us were similarly disappointed. It’s a £10 carvery, not expecting bells and whistles, but this takes the p.....

EDIT: Please do not respond with “we are disappointed to hear of the negative experience you had at our location” - obviously you are disappointed. We are disappointed too. Take the time to address criticism or don’t...

On paper this Carvery/Pub seemed like a fine choice for a relaxed Sunday dinner. What we experienced was far from it. When we were first seated our waiter didnt seem to want to be there. When it came to ordering food our first choice was (The Cavery Calzone) was not available, so we decided to settle for a cavery and a side order of pigs in blankets. When I went to get that, I was told that there was no Turkey left now and so, dejected, I chose a different meal and cancelled the pigs in blanket. A short time later the manager came over and apologised for the issues with food and he comped the pigs in blanket which arrived, despite being cancelled. Deciding to eat the pigs in blanket whilst I waited for my new meal I noticed that half of them were dry and over cooked whilst the others were ok if not a little greasy. When I finally got my burger I was told that the chips were self service, so I went to get them. Whilst I was getting them I heard some shouting and swearing coming from the kitchen and then shortly after a distressed and visably upset waitress emerged. I asked her if she was ok and she said it was a regular thing. I told her to report this to her manager but she seemed reluctant to do so. So I did and the manager was not as apologetic or suprised by this as I would have thought he would have been. This aside and hearing the waitresses say to each other that they had run out of cutlery earlier, the rest of the meal passed uneventfully. When we came to pay the bill though the pigs in blankets were still on it but these were removed once I pointed it out. In summary the food was just above passable with my partner commenting that the best part of the roast was the potatoes and mash. Unsuprisingly we decided not to risk desserts. The toilets were clean but some of the lights needed fixing. The overall cleanliness was poor and the ice cream station was a complete mess particularly the floor which had not been swept in a while. Also leaving plastic tongs under heat lamps is not a good idea as they were scolding hot and therefore hard to use.

Personally and I rarely say this, this is one place I would most...

Food was nice mostly I was under the impression that the gammon eggs and chips were going to be a gammon steak so was reasonably disappointed when it came out I also don't like egg so asked if I could take the egg of and replace with a few more chips which I got told no from the chef then when it came out they not only said gammon with extra chips but they also didn't serve me peas with it, the gammon was off cuts from the carvery and when I asked the staff about the peas I got weird looks from them , following this we all felt the staff let it all down as they didn't really feel aprotable and we booked a table then got told to sit wherever which is fine but then we had no one come to us and tell us if we needed to go up and order bar or if they would come take our order baring in mind there may have been only 2 or 3 other tables that were being used by guests the others I were with food was nice and looked really good I was very disappointed in my gammon but maybe they need to be more clear on the menu , another thing that we didn't understand and we have been many times and have always been able to have a tab but were told they don't do tabs any more to which was very disappointing as we had a 25% off voucher to use and wernt able to use it we felt pressured to pay then and there , I wish I got something different as it would have made it a bit nicer but can't change it now might be back in the future hope the staff will be more...