The Running Mare. — Restaurant in Elmbridge

A friend of mine had dinner and said the food was very good food. Since it was very close to us, we wanted try it out. We ordered BBQ ribs, mac&cheese, and a burger. My son said the burger was fine but the ribs were terrible. It was dry and almost rubber in texture. They did not even take out the membrane so it was hard to eat. It was slapped with bbq sauce and hence the name BBQ ribs. Otherwise, I don’t think it was bbqed and smoked. The service was also bad. After an hour of ordering, the food had not come and could not get our waiter so I went to the bar to ask for our orders. The bartender went back to check. It came to our table in 3 minutes after I had asked. Our waitress who to her defence was new at her job probably forgot the bring it and until the bartender asked about our order, the kitchen did not even question why the order was not picked up. From the looks of the dinning area, they did not have a lot of tables. As for the drinks, I asked for a whiskey sour which is really straight forward drink, the bartender lady said they do not have nor any other cocktails. That was a bit surprising since this place is a bar/pub. So, based on our experience food and service was not good at all. Atmosphere is...

Had a fabulous Sunday lunch here a few Sundays ago. We were a large party of 9, and I wanted to book somewhere that I remember from my youth. The selection was everything you'd expect for lunch, and more. Most of our party elected for either of the 4 roast options, but a few went for other items. The fish pie was excellent with considerably more than the usual offering of a prawn and a token piece of white fish, and very filling. The general consensus of the other lunches were very positive, with a vast selection of vegetables which included red cabbage, which always pleases one member of our group. The impressive Yorkshire Puddings were the king of the plates, which cast a shodow over everything else, they were so huge, which caused a little consternation to those who opted for fish pie..!!!! If there was any criticism, which would be quite unfair, the service was a tad slow, but considering we were a large group, and the venue was incredible busy, I can accept that for what it was. In conclusion, the food was hot, well presented and deserves and other...

In many ways this pleasant pub offered a potentially perfect setting for a traditional British Sunday lunch. Indeed the food was not bad at all, but unfortunately not worth the hour we had to wait for it.

The poor service experience was compounded by a complete lack of communication from wait team. To say they were inattentive would be an understatement: from the time we gave the initial order, to the time, over an hour later, when they delivered the food, they did not revisit our table to apologize for the delay or even take more orders for drinks.

They seemed surprised that we found the waiting time excessive. They merely explained that they had not anticipated so many guests that day and were short staffed, as if their poor planning would make us feel better.

So, if you have above average patience, enjoy so so food, and have a few hours to kill, this could be the place for you. At least the beer...