Poachers Barn — Restaurant in England

We have been to many good pubs which are under Marstons, used to be our place of choice where we used to live, this just isn't one of them.

We went on a Saturday around 5pm and went to sit with our dog in the restaurant area at the back. We were told this area was not dog friendly and to go to the bar area (under previous management, the whole of the pub was dog friendly). The restaurant is also big enough to have 1/2 dog friendly in the restaurant as I understand not everyone likes dogs, it also has more wooden floor compared to the bar area? I personally don't get it, but not up to me.

This would be fine, except all but one of the tables in the bar had dogs and the restaurant area was completely empty. People were cramped on tables and the area was so loud I couldn't hear my partner who was sat next to me, we ordered food pretty quickly (we'd been on a long walk) otherwise we would've left. Also, if any other person or party walked in with a dog they would literally have nowhere to sit - with an empty restaurant area this business model seems ridiculous.

£3.70 for a Pepsi max that didn't even taste like it - alcohol was cheaper. Not friendly for people who don't drink alcohol at all. The food arrived luke-warm and the portions abysmal. An extra £4.50 to add veg chilli to nachos and I kid you not there could not have been more than a tablespoon (if that) of chilli on the already small portion (old management were incredibly generous with their portion sizes). The fish and chips were reportedly okay, although tiny amount of chips. We also had to wait quite a while considering we were the only ones in at that time who had ordered food.

Much nicer food with good portions and great environment in other pubs in Scarborough and surrounding areas.

Oh, and there was a man inside the porch smoking when we arrived so literally had to walk through a cloud of smoke (it wasn't even raining or dark).

If you want a loud place to drink alcohol then this is probably fine for you.

If you want to have a meal, bring your dog, sit in a comfortable area, avoid alcohol, have a nice atmosphere, be able to hear the person next to you, have a hot good sized portion of food or not waste money then avoid, avoid, avoid.

So disappointed and will not...

As we had family staying and live local we decided to have a meal at at the Poachers Barn. We arrived early evening on Friday. The staff were very helpful sorting a table out for us in the bar area. On ordering food we were told several of the menu choices were not available. Not a problem so I personally ordered the gammon. The server came back and told me that there was no pineapple would I be okay with an extra egg. No problem. The server came back and told me no eggs would I like a mushroom or tomato instead. Okay I can cope. The meals arrived and we ate. Back home talking about the meal I realised that I hadn't been given peas, they had been replaced with a bit of salad! Dare we go back? The next day as there was a Soul night on at the pub we decided we'd like to go along and give them a second chance. We didn't want the same problems with the food so during the afternoon my wife visited the pub in person. She asked if we needed to book a table. No problem, we don't need to book as Saturday tends to be quieter than Fridays and that food was available from five until quarter to eight. The only menu item not availble was fish and chips. Great we thought we can walk down a little later than normal, have a meal and a few drinks and enjoy the Soul. We turned up at about a quarter to seven in plenty of time to order and eat. Whilst finding a table we were told the kitchen was now closed because of Soul night. Not impressed we had to walk home and then drive to another pub to have a meal. That pub was very welcoming, we had a great meal and enjoyed their live entertainment. Such a shame we couldn't...

After eating at The Poachers Barn fir a good few years, when we visit the coast.This time was sadly not a good experience. Went for dinner on Sunday, which fine was the day for Sunday roast, but usually have other options on menu, to be told chef won't cook anything else but Sunday dinner, offered choice of beef or turkey or vegetarian cauliflower cheese tart. Explained my daughter had dietary requirements and couldn't eat a Sunday roast, to be refused pointed blank on ordering her a starter dish instead. (Which was stated on menu's or a starter or dessert refer to main menu).I then asked could they surely not rustle up a baguette or bread and put some turkey in it? Again to be told no the chef would not be happy if approached to request anything other than the 3 options. We had 1 x vegetarian dish and a roast turkey dinner, with my daughter choosing then to sit and eat nothing, feeling embarrassed because of her dietary requirements and insisted we go ahead and order our meals. The food was very mediocre served with a small amount of watery gravy on, carrots like rubber and Yorkshire pudding dry and rock hard. I don't understand how a restaurant in this day and age can be run like this where every member of staff felt they couldn't approach the chef as he wouldn't be happy at all and kick off. Staff behind bar were pleasant enough and 1 lady that worked there, was lovely. I've always recommended this pub to visitors at our caravan, but will definitely not be in the future. Perhaps might give it a while until they employ a new chef and...