The Bear — Restaurant in Elmbridge

Unfortunately, we had a poor experience. It’s a nice pub but the service from the start although friendly was very slow and not very professional. We had several of the waiters/waitresses walk past our table empty handed when we had empty plates etc and things were forgotten several times. We’re not sure if they were understaffed but there were only 2 other tables eating and it was quiet. The food was poor overall. It was bland and lacked seasoning. We both had the orzo salad which was meant to come with feta cheese but came with mainly mozzarella even though the waitress said it was vegan feta. The orzo was also very overcooked and mushy, had no seasoning and the dish was missing ingredients. We would have been fine if we were told this previously but we weren’t. The courgette fritters were again bland and the garlic and paprika mayo just tasted like mayo. We ordered the Apple Galette and the chocolate brownie for dessert. The brownie was actually very nice but the Apple galette was awful. It is supposed to have flaky pastry but it was completely soggy and uncooked. It had obviously been put in the microwave to heat up which was just pure laziness and really disappointing. We mentioned this to the waitress and luckily she took it off the bill for us. Unfortunately we won’t...

We booked a private room for a 40th Birthday family lunch. On the day, we arrived to decorate the room we had booked and discovered it was absolutely freezing (this was end of November). We were informed the heating was broken and they were waiting for it to be fixed the following week. The staff were aware that the heating had not been working, I don't know how they thought anyone could sit in a freezing cold room. We asked to be moved to the main pub, which still wasn't a comfortable temperature as there was a draught from the other room. The food was very average. We told a member of staff that the burgers were dry and tasteless but there was no apology, just an "Oh, OK". We decided to skip pudding and get home to the warmth. Rather than kick up a fuss on what was supposed to be a nice family gathering, I decided to email the pub after the event to provide feedback on our experience. I emailed them 6 days ago and have not received a response, which is disappointing. We will definitely not...

Limited veggie options, but what was on the menu was delicious. The quinoa and beetroot salad offered a delightful blend of flavours offered with dressing on the side (which is a pleasant surprise - not everyone likes a clothed salad). That said, offering the same dish on both starters and mains smacks of lazy and foolish menu building. Whoever wrote the menu should take a long hard look at themselves and then probably go and rewrite the menu to include a modicom of diversity that is remotely passable in the modern gastro pub climate.

My companion was less than impressed by the dry roast lamb, soggy roast potatoes and overcooked vegetables in what seemed to be a disappointing sludge of gravy.

So a heavily mixed review with exceptional quality although limited veggie choices and a plethora of meat choices which seemed to all lack any sort of gastronomy.

On the positive side the front of house staff were delightful...