The Old Crown — Restaurant in Elmbridge

We have been to The Old Crown many times before and it has always been a favourite place to lunch for us. Over the last couple of visits we noticed that standards had dropped a little and staff were obviously unhappy in their roles. During this visit however, there was even more of a decline. The table was sticky, the staff barely communicated with us during placing our order and when our plates were cleared away, not a word was uttered from the elderly lady. At no stage did anyone ask if our meals were okay. The food was not as good as it used to be despite prices going up by a significant amount and my husband said his pint of Director's ale didn't taste quite right. The final nail in the coffin was when I visited the toilets before leaving. Firstly, there was a handwritten note half hanging off the door of the ladies toilets saying 'ladies and gents' so I entered unsure as to whether I was going to encounter a man in there. The room smelt of old, stale urine, the toilet was badly stained and the taps and basin had a nasty grey slime on them. I felt unclean after using these facilities and it made me wonder what the state of the kitchen must be. We will not be returning to this once very welcoming pub which is a great shame but maybe they are planning on closing it down soon anyway as it certainly isn't being invested in with either...

It took us quite a while to find this pub as we had to search for it a day before our booking, however it was nice for it to be near a river plus the river wey. When we got there on the day of the booking which was father's day we were able to sit at our table 20 minutes earlier then we had planned which was nice.

We didn't realise that they weren't doing table service so that was a bit annoying as we had to keep going to the bar when we wanted something.

When we got the main it was gorgeous, the food was cooked really well and it tasted brilliant. However one of the 4 meals that we had was a little bit cold.

When we had finished our mains I had to go to the bar to say we wanted the dessert menu, however they took longer then we had hoped for them to clear the plates.

The puddings were really good, they tasted brilliant and were just the right temperature. The only issue with them were that they were a little bit big after having a huge lunch.

My only advice would be that they consider having table service properly on offer just in case.

The staff were quite good and they seemed to enjoy what they were doing, they were always there if we needed anything and they did bring the food out to the table which is...

What a brilliant place. While other pubs turned us away (sorry we are fully booked)at yet they were clearly had a lot of empty seats outside.

This pub welcomed us and encouraged us to eat. You scan a qr code on the table and straight you can order food and drink with your phone. You can even opt out from some ingredients in the app. For example if you don't like mushroom you can just remove it from your order. Absolutely brilliant!

Although, I have to add two things;

The waiters and waitress are very young and do not wear mask. I do understand that mask is no longer mandatory, but I have seen elderly people ordering and they are vulnerable even if they received two vaccines. I would encourage the staff to wear mask especially those who serve food and drink.

Payment should be asked after you finished your meal. Again probably Covid behind this, but I do like leaving tip for the staff after my experience and not before.

Otherwise 5/5 absolutely great place.

The food was excellent. I had a burger and I enjoyed every bite of it.

Please visit because it's worth...