The Blue Ball — Restaurant in England

Our 'meal' in this pub was one of the most ghastly and almost comical experiences we have ever had eating out. They offer a Thai menu, but in reality are not equipped to offer food at all.

5 of us went for dinner, several things were off the menu (the chef had forgotten to bring the right cooking utensils apparently), one starter never arrived, and then after the starters we had a wait of 1.5 - 2 hours for our mains. The window is approximate as one main arrived every 5-10 minutes, and the missing starter never turned up despite our asking after it. Sides also did not arrived with mains- we were told not to expect this as the chef was struggling to get things out of the kitchen...it was chaos, he was apparently raising his voice at the staff (a sweet 12 year old girl, and her teenage cousin, who despite being nice girls were too young for such a role). When the food did arrive, someone else got my rice (generally we had to guess what each dish was as the waitress didn't know), the rice I did get was wrong, and all of the food was INCREDIBLY SWEET. Rather like spicy desserts. A shame as apart from the very heavy use of sugar the spicing was good. We arrived at 7.30pm, and left at 10.30pm, the moment that the last-served person finished their meal. We wouldn't wait to get out of there. We were told in the end not to worry, as a gesture of goodwill we would not be charged for the side of rice and the duck starter...I mean, these things never did turn up, we didn't eat them, but still, it seemed to the owner that removing these from the bill somehow counted as a discount in our favour, thus making up for the chaos and complete failure of the evening. I should add that they had to serve food to maybe ten people that evening? Of we we comprised the first 5. The people running the establishment no doubt run a good pub, however they are completely ill equipped to serve food, and also do not seem to have any idea of what is a minimum level of service that a paying customer would expect. I would not return here to eat if...

Does simple things quite well, had a large party catered for very well, good service.

Mains were tasty, nothing fancy, most presented nicely. The chili looked basic but was actually tasty. Burger came on a wooden board and chips in a little metal basket. Chips are bog standard not actually fried in the basket. Does venison, and a full crust pie!

My sponge was microwaved - dry with burnt bits in the middle. But other puddings looked nice.

Decent servings. Or at least rich enough to fill you up.

Staff were lovely and very efficient service. Went the extra mile to help with our young kids. Would recommend for a casual pub meal or...

Fascinating old building, but the Thai food was amazing! We have missed our favourite authentic Thai restaurant (The Pho Factory, Lincoln Nebraska) from home for the last two years, and the food we had here today (Pad Thai tofu and yellow curry tofu) were so tasty and so much like our old favourites it made us very happy. If we lived in the area, we would eat there often. I hunted down the chef to thank him for the delicious food (made vegan, no less!), and he was very gracious. I wish the business the...