Halcyon — Restaurant in England

We booked to eat a special family Christmas meal today at 1.45 pm and had payed a £5 deposit each and ordered ahead. I am disabled in a wheelchair and have a very small therapy dog that travels with me so we were pleased when they could accommodate this and seemed very organised.We had chosen the Halcyon based on reviews and location and had no previous experience of the venue.As a family we live quite spread out so this is central for us all to drive to, about 1-2hrs each. My eldest daughter arrived first and then due to traffic at Boston we arrived around 10 mins late and then my other daughter arrived 5 mins after us. The bar was very quiet with a few families with young children eating. The table was in a corner by the window and quite nicely set with a red cloth and crackers for each of us.We all ordered drinks and waited for our preordered starters to arrive…and waited.It took well over 35 mins for the food to arrive and although the prawn cocktail and chicken strips were decent sized portions,nicely presented and tasty the same could not be said of the Brie bites which 4 of us had. They were rubbery and cold inside with no taste,that’s if you could get through the rock hard crumb coat that was deeply unpleasant and a real tooth breaker! We all tried but despite our hunger barely managed one of the 3 bites that were smaller than a dairy Lea triangle and less tasty all sat beside the saddest limp greenery. Even my dog struggled to eat one and he is a fiend for cheeses! We then waited a further 25 minutes for our mains to arrive even asking if we’d been forgotten but as we were the only diners having the festive menu or any menu at this time we were told it was being done fresh. High hopes were very much dashed when the 3 of us having the Turkey roast Christmas dinner received a cold plate( laughably being told by the sweet waitress to mind the hot plate!!) that had barely cooked sprouts and cauliflower,matchstick thin mushy carrots, dark brown very,very overcooked roast potatoes which had been baked so much they were hollow and rock hard,a solid Yorkshire pudding that once soaked in a boat of gravy( which arrived with the last dinner 15mins after all the others!) we’re just about soft enough to eat. The stuffing although stone cold was quite nice and tasty as was the solitary pig in blanket but the absolute worst thing was the Turkey.It was cold wafer thin slices of the driest meat. It had no taste at all and definitely no taste of any Turkey I’d ever eaten.There was a smear of gravy that looked as though it had been left to bake on under a hot lamp but as the meal and plate were stone cold it was a mystery to us how it’d become so congealed? All of us attempted to eat it but despite our hunger it was quite unpalatable and even my little dog was unimpressed only eating a few scraps then turning his nose up. We mentioned the meat and the poor quality and cold vegetables to the waitress who was apologetic and said she’d inform the kitchen as did the second waitress who came to finish clearing as only half done the first time. We then waited another 25mins while the deserts were made and although the Xmas pudding and cheesecake were ok the same couldn’t be said for the crumble which had been over cooked and looked like leftovers! This was one of the worst meals we’ve ever had and really not worth the price!? If it hadn’t been a special early Christmas for the family to get together and to welcome my first Grandson after nearly losing him and my daughter when he arrived 3months early as an emergency I would of made a lot more of it during the ‘meal’. As it was we did our best to laugh at it all and jolly each other along. But it was a really sad experience from start to finish! Shame as it’s a nice ,convenient venue for us which we’d hoped would be a regular .The staff had put together some sweet props for Christmas all around and were welcoming,friendly(but at times just a bit disinterested/slow).Santa was a lovely man and we had some nice pictures at the end. We also nearly exceeded the 3hr limit in...

I do not normally do reviews like this but we did fill in the feedback form (same words as this review) but not heard anything back so it doesn't look like they are too worried. Date we visited was 15 July 23. We couldn't remember why we hadn't visited the Halcyon for so long, about 15 years. It didn't take long to realise why. The decoration, furnishings and carpet look exactly the same as last time. The doors in and out of the kitchen are disgusting the carpet is threadbare. The toilets stink and the floor grouting needs to be dug out and redone (health and safety) we ordered two smothered steak Sizzlers one rare and one medium rare. The rare came out medium and the other was medium to well done. The steaks were supposed to be on a sizzler plate. A little tip the plates need to be heated up. The boards the plates were on looked so old and seriously need replacing. The steaks were supposed to be on a bed of sizzling peppers and onions there was probably 3 at the most tiny slivers of pepper and the onions were just mushy. It was also supposed to come with peas and topped off with mushrooms. There was one pea and 2 mushrooms. The cheese must have got scared at some point and just ran away!! We asked for the peppercorn sauce to be separate this came out like the rest of the food only just luke warm. We did complain to one lady and nothing seemed to happen then, I think, Louisa asked us how our meal was and she was brilliant. We said we would eat what we have because as the chefs constantly kept coming into the bar area we could see they must have been having massive food fights the state they were in we didn't dare return the food for what they may have done. We asked Louisa if she was the Land Lady and she said no and indicated the lady who was approaching us she didn't even acknowledge us. Louisa did offer us a free drink but being honest the evening was a disaster from...

Went to have a family meal today at the pub after going to the Pantomime at the Cresset. When we walked in at around 5.30 it was very quiet the bar was busy but the restaurant was empty. We was a table of 5, all small tables of 4 was clean but larger ones was dirty so I got out one of our baby wipes and cleaned the table and moved the other peoples items off of it. Sat down with the family to chose our food. Asked for kids garlic bread out of stock, asked for Roast beef, out of stock, asked for Mix it up with 10 battered chicken fingers x 2 was advised this was in stock, asked for pepsi max out of stock so ended up with Dr Pepper (this went back as it tasted like carbonated water) was advised 40 minute wait for food, we didnt mind this as knew that it should be hot and cooked fresh how wrong was we. I was served a cold plate of microwaved pepper and onion with 2 x chicken skewers (the battered fingers had run out so they just gave us other food without asking), stone cold sweet potato fries and stiff onion rings where they was cold. Asked to speak to a manager who you can see is clearly overworked. Believe her name maybe Rach offered us more food but had to wait around 30 mins again even though everyone else had started eating the food, so asked for a refund. Young lady on the counter was overworked and complained she was on a close tonight after being with the company a month. Based on today's visit wont be returning to this pub which is a shame as they are advertising they have improved after a refurb I believe it has gone down...