Ball & Wicket — Restaurant in East Hampshire

The Ball and Wicket – Where the Only Thing Roasted Was My Patience

We made an impromptu visit to The Ball and Wicket after a calming wander around a nearby garden centre. I suppose we were lulled into a false sense of optimism by the soothing sight of petunias and potting compost.

Now, I’ve been to many a Chef & Brewer pub in my time. They rarely blow me away, but they usually strike that delicate balance of being just tasty enough to justify the price. This time, however, the balance tipped—hard—and landed squarely in the land of deep disappointment.

Let’s start with the good: the welcome. A delightful staff member with bright pink hair greeted us with warmth and a smile so genuine it could’ve lit up the darkest corner of the pub. The chap seating guests was also cheerfully honest, giving us a heads-up about various supply issues. Fair enough—these are tricky times, and we appreciated the honesty.

However, once seated, it felt as though the sunshine abruptly disappeared. Other staff seemed, well, actively allergic to joy. We tried to keep spirits high and give them the benefit of the doubt—maybe someone had just mentioned the energy bill.

Then the food arrived.

I ordered the turkey roast with pigs in blankets, which in theory should be the highlight of a Sunday lunch. What I got looked more like a cry for help wrapped in bacon. Instead of a couple of cheeky chipolatas, I was presented with a single oversized, pallid sausage swaddled in what I can only assume was an uncooked Duvet of Bacon. Visually tragic. Taste-wise, even more so.

The parsnips were boiled into oblivion, the cabbage and leeks had texture somewhere between “still frozen” and “why are you doing this to me?”, and the mixed veg appeared to be on loan from a 1970s school canteen. As for the stuffing—it crumbled like my expectations. Dry, bland, and Paxo-like in the saddest way imaginable.

I don’t take pleasure in leaving negative reviews, especially for local places facing a tough climate. But with a heavy heart and an even heavier stomach, I have to say this visit was a miss. The Ball and Wicket has potential—if the entire kitchen operation can take a leaf from the bright-haired server’s book and bring back some heart, flavour, and maybe a working oven, there's hope yet.

Until then, I’ll be sticking to garden centre cafés for my Sunday roasts.

NOTE: The photo I have included was taken from my partners plate, who chose to have the vegetarian, mushroom wellington. Needles to say, she did not manage to eat...

Left feeling very annoyed- went on a busy Saturday night ( booking at 8pm). We arrive and before we are even seated the manager/host decided it would be “easier” and circled half the menu stating all of those thing were unavailable. At this point we thinking of leaving but decided to stay and make the most of it. Drinks came and no problem. Almost an hour passed and starters had not arrived but our waitress came over to explain our ticket was either lost or forgotten so will only be a few minutes. The mussels were nice but the bread we got was a joke, a tiny piece with the largest lump of butter on top and the mushroom crumpet was not very pleasant at all and clearly precooked. The mains came in good time after this. Steak and fish and chips, my steak was cooked to order but my chips were cold and the garlic and mushroom sauce was the same stuff on the starter which was very disappointing. However my partners fish and chips was fowl, watery and mush and was unsure if it was undercooked. We asked to replace it and the waitress fully agreed with us. Second plate came and it was the same. Gone 10pm we gave up, my partner wanted nothing else and I sent my meal back not even half eaten. I wanted to leave straight away as it had just been awful. Bill came and I was very annoyed- the fish had been taken off but considering the evening I didn’t expect to pay for my meal as well ! ( happy to pay for the drinks and starters we ate ) so I decided to speak to the host/manager and I found her really rude, she went on the question me ! And say “ why should I take it off, nothing was wrong with it” or “ i don’t understand why your husband won’t just order something else ! “ he didn’t wNt to eat here anymore plus half your menu was off. I should have left without paying at all but didn’t want to make a scene. Thought out the night we were also told multiple times but a other manager or something that the chefs were all grumpy cause they had been there since 8:30am ! Not my issue tbh. Very...

I needed to organise a group booking for a party of 17 at the end of January. I'd been to the the Ball & Wicket before and had been impressed and it was conveniently central for my group. I therefore visited and made the booking and was given the menu and asked to provide a list of menu choices ahead of time for my group.

I sent a spreadsheet of all the group's choices via email in December. A few days before the booking I had to call the Ball & Wicket to make a minor change to the booking and whilst on the 'phone checked that they had received my choices spreadsheet. The guy in the 'phone confirmed he had and actually read out the list of the names in the group from the list.

On the night we arrived and I was asked if I had sent a list of choices and was told that the place was under new management and they hadn't seen my email. They did find it after I gave them my email address. Fortunately I had a printed copy of the list which I gave them. Unfortunately many of the choices were not available so people had to find alternatives that were available before they could finalise the order.

Whilst many in my party were very happy with the food I found my steak particularly tough.

We were offered, and accepted, a drink on the house for everyone in my party because of the issues. I felt for the waitress dealing with us as she was obviously in an awkward position and did her best to deal with a situation not of her making and keep us happy as possible.

I understand that a change of management can on occasion give rise to issues but do feel that, on this occasion, we received a less than a reasonably competent...