The Castle Grounds — Restaurant in Coventry

Had lunch on a Friday afternoon and opted for the meal and a drink menu. I chose the pulled pork sandwich, which I was told was the last one left. When it arrived all looked fine, and the food was brought out very quickly. I'd chosen to upgrade my fries to sweet potato and was happily tucking in to some well cooked, crispy chips before starting on my sandwich.

When I moved on to my sandwich, I took a couple of quick bites before putting it down, topside down. At this point I took a closer look and also asked a friend to do the same. We both agreed the the bottom of the bun was at least 50% covered in green, furry mould, with a large black spot of further mould. I was quite horrified and it immediately put the rest of our table off their food.

At seeing this, I went to the bar to let them know and was given a fairly meek 'sorry', with the question of 'would you like something else?'. Now, this isn't an unreasonable question, but my response could only have been 'I'm still quite hungry, but I honestly would not trust anything further from the kitchen so I would like a refund'. My refund took over 10 minutes as neither of the staff on duty were able to process it on the till. When it arrived there was little apology for the delay, nor a further apology for the lunch I'd been served.

Mistakes happen, and I felt that I was quite reasonable about how it was handled it (I have no idea if I'd actually bitten through the mould, but the principle remains), but I certainly did expect a bit more effort to be made regarding an apology for something that any chef would and should be ashamed of serving.

I can't recommend this place for their service or...

The Castle is a slightly below average student-oriented establishment. Prices have been low in the past although have spiked with the most recent influx of assumedly wealthy university-goers. The beer options are passable although the tendency to market these as “craft” instead of “ale” comes with a premium price tag. The premises are well positioned in the centre of Coventry with good parking available in salt lane behind the pub. They do a Monday night pub quiz and some other weekday food offers.

Last night I ordered the hunters chicken on the false assumption that it is easy to make and ubiquitously tasty. My friend laughed as my meal was brought to the table. A thin slice of a chicken breast in a yellow cheese crust with a solitary blackened greasy parody of a piece of bacon, a cup of chips and 2 tablespoons of peas. The chicken had the salty starchy dextrose flavour that accompanies all terrible chicken, and yet despite being pumped full of water, it was tough and chewy due to being clearly overcooked. The cheese was a cheddar slice unceremoniously slapped on top at some point during the cooking process. I would guess too early in the cooking process, given its formidable tensile strength. The bacon both looked and tasted like it fell behind the grill during the breakfast shift and was swept up at the last minute to garnish this unholy creation. The BBQ sauce used was satisfactory.

There are several pubs and bars on little park street and gosford, if you have the option, go to...

Asked for a food menu (the pub has always done food) and was told it was only margerita or pepperoni pizzas, however we were ordering for our little boy who loves pizza so a margerita was fine. Pizza came out, already cut but with it being our little one I asked for a knife and fork so I could cut it up smaller and they said they didn’t have knives and forks? Yet they normally have a full food menu? One half of the pizza was okay, the second half had raw watery dough in it, we showed the bar staff and manager this and they said the pizza oven is on a timer. That’s not an excuse for customers paying for food and receiving it raw (the bar staff also knew it was for a child). Does this mean we don’t check any food before it goes to the tables? When we showed the pizza we were offered some sweets for the child and a squash. No offer of a refund or anything like that. When I ordered my drinks the wrong drinks were poured but that was before this happened so I just though no worries, everyone makes mistakes but this was an absolute shambles from start to finish with no professionality from the staff, particularly the manager who said ‘I’ve had 4 weeks off I’m rusty’. That’s not an excuse, we’re paying customers and the service and food...