Halfway Inn Wareham — Restaurant in England

We were not too impressed with the food options in this place. My son (age 5) is gluten free, and there were only two options he could have on the children's menu. One was chicken wings- a fiddly option with bones, gristle and chicken skin to navigate, that I can't imagine many 5 year olds particularly wanting to eat and he's no exception. The sausages were not gluten free (there are plenty of good quality, high meat content sausages which do not contain gluten/ rusk fillers, but we don't necessarily expect that the sausages will be gluten free when eating out), but even the burger contained rusk (ie was cheap). Beef burgers without the bun are ok for him in 90% of the restaurants we visit, but not here. There was no gluten free pasta in the kitchen, and he reluctantly ate the only other option- ham, egg and chips- having already had scrambled egg for breakfast. There were a few more gluten free options on the adult menu, such as the sweet potato and butter bean curry I ate, but it was quite hot with chilli and not particularly nice, no real depth of flavour. Definitely not suitable for a child to eat, not very saucy or creamy and no yoghurt/ raita on the side. We certainly wouldn't visit again for the food.

response to owner response- I'm afraid I did ask the waitress what could be done for him and she just stood there and shrugged. I asked perfectly sensible questions and was not given any other options. I did not visit the pub expecting to have a negative experience but maybe you need to invest in staff training to ensure that appropriate information is given to customers. I told the waitress that he wouldn't want chicken wings, but she did not mention that any other options were available or that adult dishes could be adapted. I did not have time to scour the menu myself and would expect the staff to do their job. And, by the way, vegan dishes can be made creamy with the addition of many dairy-free alternatives. Coconut milk for example- both creamy...

Nice surroundings but they were clearly struggling on a Saturday evening as we waited an hour and 45 minutes for our main courses! The waitresses were polite and friendly but vague and clearly had no idea who was waiting for what and at which table: at one point one girl came over and said can I get you anything else? As if we had finished our meal, but we said yes please, our dinners! My husband and I had a shared starter of a whole baked camembert which was lovely but came with 4 small "croutes" (like large croutons) for dipping and nothing else! We asked for more bread or croutes and were told it was coming over but it never appeared. After 15 minutes or so the camembert had started to solidify do we scraped it up with our forks, as at £15 a go we didn't want to waste anything! Main courses were hit and miss, overpriced at nearly £20 each for low to average-standard pub grub. The lamb gigot had good flavour but was very tough in places, the waitress even offered me a steak knife before I said anything so she clearly knew about it! My husband enjoyed his steak and ale pie but commented that boiled soggy courgettes and cubed boiled swede were not very appetising vegetables to go with it. My daughter enjoyed her children's mac and cheese but she had finished around 45 minutes before our mains arrived and was restless to say the least! To pacify her we bought her a children's brownie and ice cream and the brownie was burnt! I would suggest it had been over- reheated in the microwave as it was rock solid to cut into, I ended up bashing at it for her with a spoon but she left half of it. The wine and beer was good and well kept. At £110 for 2 starters, 3 mains, a children's meal and 5 drinks, plus all the waiting around, this was not an experience I would like to repeat. They should probably stick to drinks and bar snacks as evening food is too much for them...

What a lovely pub halfway between Wareham and Corfe Castle! I booked a night there as I was visiting the area to go to Bovington Tank Museum on one day and then the Swanage railway the next. The pub is easy to find and there is plenty of parking. The exterior reminds you that you are in deepest Dorset - thatched roof and white walls. And there's a very pleasant outside terrace as well. Inside it's all 'duck or grouse', exposed historic timbers and brick work. But best of all inside is the greeting. The pub serves a variety of beers including Badgers Beers brewed locally and very tasty they are too. There is also a good selection of wines. The menu is good and varied plus a wide selection of daily specials as well. I had bread and humous as my starter which had a very generous serving of humous. I followed with a flat iron steak with tiger prawns. Delicious. But a word of warning - whatever you do DO NOT have this steak if you like your meat well done. It really does need to be rare, mid-rare at the most. But it was gorgeous. Breakfast was a full English and you could tell it was proper butchers bacon. Again generous. If like me you prefer not to have black pepper on your breakfast I suggest you advise when ordering. And the staff, well they were fantastic. Smiling, efficient, helpful. Special mention to Chelsea. I'll be back again next time...