The Wellington Arms — Restaurant in Basingstoke and Deane

Food is well presented however lacks any real taste, the gravy is watered down, the Yorkshire puddings need a touch more salt in the mixture before baking, the roast potatoes which are supposedly cooked in goose fat lack any kind of crunch, the beef burger is highly overpriced for the actual size of the patty compared with the size of the bun, the menu is very limited and caters to a certain taste rather than appealing to a wider demographic by including gourmet versions of pub classics with a twist and maybe try adding some more flavour to the dishes use things like chorizo, cayenne pepper, bell peppers, chilli flakes, star anise and maybe try to add some more creative items to the dessert menu.

This place has so much untapped potential it's a shame that this location is so well presented the venue itself is very pleasing to the eye and the presentation of the food is correct for the setting but they do need to try and appeal to a wider demographic both through flavour and choice.

As for their selection of alcohol I think they have a rather nice selection of drinks available however I would like to see some more creative drinks such as cocktails (an aviation cocktail would really suit this venue as a signature drink) some top shelf whiskeys would be nice too like 18 year aged single malts and a bit more of a selection of high end spirits would be nice.

Another way this place could improve is the atmosphere they should play some music on speakers at a low volume in the main dining area and set some mood lighting around the dining area to add to that customer experience you could even use an atomiser with some essential oils to release nice soothing scents in a steam that slowly wafts around the room and is hardly visible or intrusive and again can be used to relax customers leading to a much more satisfying customer experience meaning a higher footfall due to word of mouth and publicity via social media platforms ending in a higher revenue stream, if you treat every customer like a v.i.p. and treat them all like they're celebrities even if they've only spent £15.50 on a burger and chips if a customer is treated like a v.i.p. they will tell their friends and again it just adds to that customer experience.

A note for the staff, I understand the hospitality industry is a difficult one and I know how difficult it can be to work in that industry I am a security officer I just want to say that the customer service from you all was good it just didn't feel genuine or like it came from someone who truly loves their job but it wasn't bad by any means Thank-you for all trying your...

Was really looking forward to our 6 course Christmas dinner here yesterday, we’d heard lots of good things and they seemed very accommodating on booking. We have a two and three year old and they allowed us to book one meal to share between the two of them.

Arrival was welcoming but that was it, the service was shockingly bad and both adults have food poisoning. We asked for the child’s main to come out on arrival as they were hungry and it was past their lunchtime. They said this was fine but An hour and 40 minutes later all the mains finally arrived.

They hadn’t cleared the table from the adults appetisers and the waitress was left trying to deliver the main and clear the table at the same time. There was a till behind us and there were 3 annoyed customers standing their talking, we thought they were staff at first and tried to order a drink but turned out they were sick of waiting at their table and had been standing there 20 minutes to pay their bills.

The 4 courses the adults received were tasty but 8 hours later felt nauseous. Now we have Severe stomach cramps and diarrhoea.

It was a pre-booked meal with a diary intolerance noted. No allowances made to accommodate this for My 2 year old son, reiterated on arrival and as an alternative to cheese breadsticks I just said he’ll be fine with a bread roll. he was given a burnt piece of sourdough toast. We had two infants tired and over hungry. Luckily we brought our own snacks and activities to keep them seated and entertained for so long. Glad they didn’t eat as they would be suffering like we are today.

We had the table booked from 1.15 till 4

At 3.15 we asked for the dessert and last two courses to come out together as the kids were getting really agitated. They said this was fine but they brought out only our desserts at 3.50 and with two courses still to go and we’d been left for over an hour with no drinks. We had enough. we’d prepaid for our meals and only had two wines and three beers the 3 hours we were there and hadn’t been given two of our six courses so decided to leave. We packed up put on our coats and went to the car where the waiter came running out saying we needed to settle our bill for drinks now. I told him to email it to me and I’ll settle it, we’re not coming back in or waiting anymore. I relayed our experience and He was very narkie and sarcastic. Have reported food poisoning. Ruined our Christmas...

NOT RECOMMENDED! Following years of enjoying meals here and at the wider chain of their pubs, ourselves and our group can sadly no longer recommend the Wellington Arms.

Following our latest pre booked visit for 10 of us to celebrate a 50th (planning to have 3 courses and drinks), we sent in a formal complaint which has been ignored (we gave them two weeks to respond/acknowledge but nothing; then phoned and they confirmed they sent it to management). Two weeks after chasing - still not even an acknowledgment let alone response! Equally their automated feedback request flagged they’d underperformed and said they’d be in touch…yet again nothing. They clearly don’t care if things go wrong or want people to return any more.

Service was awful, staff hid behind a partition rather well than helped, they didn’t have enough menus (around 3 for our table of 10, and the restaurant was empty). We waited over 50 mins on a roasting hot day to get drinks and had to chase someone down to even take our drink and food order.

Equally for those who’ve previously enjoyed their wide gluten free offering - this has been removed from the menu, they gave me a matrix showing two mains, a further steak that could be adapted and no desserts, a burger was not an option for adaption yet was showing as available gluten free on the child’s menu. Then advised oh that matrix isn’t right (!!!) which could have resulted in two of our party being very unwell. They used to use different plate colours or sticker for allergens but not now, and when our allergen dishes came out staff didn’t seem clear which was the allergy or free from option of the same dish. Toilets had clearly been neglected/not checked either.

One of the final insults (having had a drink each and a main before giving up as it wasn’t an enjoyable experience), we were presented with a bill with a tip included but that HADN’T had our £100 deposit removed. Could have been a very costly error in their favour had we not spotted it!

Shame as food we did have was still nice despite the experience being embarrassingly bad (despite it being empty in there!). None of our group will be going back and most friends we’ve spoken to locally agree it’s gone downhill. What a pity. We recommend trying Barton’s mill instead if you have gluten free requirements or well just anywhere...