Red Lion — Restaurant in England

Booked well in advance for Sunday lunch as this place is very popular for people visiting Lacock; it’s a family and dog friendly pub with a tented garden and sizeable car park. Inside is a charming interior, very rustic. We had a lovely table in the corner by the window.

We ordered 3x belly pork and 1x pie. I complained about my portion because it was all fat whereas my mum and partner had decent cuts of meat too. I know pork belly is a fatty cut but this was an insult when it’s nearly £16 a head. It wasn’t cooked to my taste either (or probably how most people like belly pork) - the top wasn’t crispy so with that & no meat, it was an inedible, soggy mound of fat. The waitress took my meal off the bill, which was fair enough.

There was no crackling either, despite assurances that even though it had run out as a side, there was enough for main meals - obviously not. They had also “run out” of cauliflower cheese - a £4.60 side, FYI - which I find hard to believe as we were one of the first to order at 12pm kitchen opening. We get it, you hadn’t made any - would rather just hear that to be honest.

The meal overall was bland - my partner said his roasters were soggy and there was no flavour or thickness to the gravy. Lack of seasoning maybe? I’m not sure what it was but I have certainly had roasts with more depth & flavour. We expected more for the price I guess.

There were no complaints about the steak & ale pie nor the puddings that my Mum & her partner had - although I did feel a little peeved when the waiter made a comment that because of the issue with the meat on my plate I could possibly have more room for a pudding…..on that note though, the service in general was fine, cheerful enough staff and proactive in dealing with my complaint.

We had visited before for hot drinks a couple of weeks back but I’d avoid the latte - it was bland & watered down. Pot of tea was nice enough though with Twinings tea bags, but we had to ask for milk as it wasn’t brought...

Late post - visited Sep. 2021. Hopefully things have improved since then.

The pub was empty inside, when we were seated we were given a table number which, it was later revealed, was actually outside. We weren't made aware of this so just sat at an available table inside (we had wanted to sit inside anyway as it was boiling). We wanted food but it was 11:30, we were told they only start serving food at 12 but we were happy to wait, I ordered a flat white coffee to have while we waited. Then when I overheard them say, "no they've moved tables" before bringing the coffee over" then I overheard them discussing the fact that they would tell everyone from 12 that there was going to be a 30 to 40 minute wait for food because they had been so busy the previous day. They hadn't taken any orders at this point. On hearing this (second hand) we decided we'd leave after finishing the coffee - which was really high quality by the way.

I think the final nail in the coffin was when someone came in from outside and said, ”sorry can we sit down?”. The waitress said, "yeah sorry, it's just that everyone keeps sitting at everyone else's tables" within our earshot...when we hadn't actually been shown to out table. When we came to pay, they couldn't find our tab, I gave them the table number that they advised before we sat down. I clarified that we didn't know where to sit because none of the tables had numbers on them. She then told us that the table we were given was outside and that the tables outside had numbers on them.

I don't think it's a complicated seating system that they have but they did make it seem pretty difficult. We drove 25 minutes down the road to Bath and managed to get a table at a decent restaurant with staff who knew what they were doing so this was a bit of a blessing in disguise in the end.

It would have been a one star but the coffee...

Was in area for family reasons, needed to stay overnight, and needed somewhere dog friendly, knew of Lacock as had lived nearby years before, so booked online at red lion using their easy to use website, handy for oldie like me! On arrival, parked in large rear park with couple of disabled spaces, and were welcomed by friendly staff who made big fuss of our hound, and showed us to our large clean room, with a nice view of the lovely old cottages opposite. After a long drive, and with car parked, it was time for refreshment, so we headed for the bar, and later had walk around village, before arriving back at the lion, and having some food, which was much needed and very good. After few more drinks we went back to room, which in the high temperatures outside, was blissfully cool, slept like a log I’m glad to say. Upon waking we helped ourselves to tea and coffee, and having time until breakfast starting at 8am, took the dog out for a walk. Lacock can get busy with tourists later in day, but this time of morning is tranquil and relaxing. We made our way to the bar for breakfast, which has a great variety, I chose full English, and missus had fruit then eggs Benedict. The food was excellent both times we ate there. We were very impressed with the staff, the welcome, food, and everything at the red lion, and will be...