The Boathouse — Restaurant in England

Not the first time we've been really disappointed here. Firstly it's really expensive just for a drink as a couple. |A pint of lager is £6.10 a pint and a glass of wine for a medium glass of an average wine is a similar price. So to sit down and have one round of drinks is over £12 + ... |These are London prices ( which would be ridiculous in London) but even more ridiculous on the Isle of wight. ||We have eaten here in the past 6 years but as you could imagine a meal for two with a drink or two becomes seriously expensive . ||Cue the summer and my wife sees an offer on the price is wight for Sunday lunch. Buy one get one free £18. |Now we thought well the Boathouse must be trying to drum up business and bring in some trade to the pub so she bought the deal and along we went. ||The first time we went we were pleasantly surprised,the drinks were still prohibitively expensive but the roast was very nice, portions were ok, the ambiance was nice worth going and the " Price is wight " deal was worth it. We did note that the pub appeared to be providing a separate menu for "Price is Wight " guests,upselling certain items you normally expect to come with a roast, listing items such as " Pigs blankets " ( £4 )...for 4x .. a quid each for a small sausage wrapped in overly fat bacon that I'd expect to come with a good roast in a good restaurant/pub anyway. ||Also on the upselling list was "larger portion of Beef/pork also add ( £4 ) extra roast potatoes also ( £4 ) etc... my point being that a decent portion should come with any meal,you shouldn't have to pay extra to obtain something you would get elsewhere as a matter of course anyway. ||The reason we were so disappointed the last time we went was ONE THIN slice of beef on our plates,and not really even a decent size slice either,the food was luke warm, the vegetable portion was also very small in comparison of meals we've had there in the past. ||We also had to wait the best part of 25-30 mins before our orders were taken beforehand,when we were asked if we were happy with our meals we both had to say actually no we weren't,explained why and very little was actually said or done by the staff apart from a bit of a wet apology and the staff chatting amongst themselves saying they need a better chef. ||All a bit of a letdown really for a place charging London prices for food and alcohol, providing nouvelle cuisine sized portions served nearly cold, backed up by poor customer service. It just feels as if they are in this instance getting people in the door by way of participating in the price of wight scheme,but then trying to rip them off by asking for more money for...

Inattentive with disregard for customer safety by wasp stings Staff are a total let down for such a beautiful restaurant setting.

Booking our table it felt like the lady we spoke to was mithered or that it was too much trouble to slot us in, albeit fairly last minute.

When we arrived the table was ready and it wasn't too busy but we weren't greeted at our table for drinks. The menu was decent enough and we placed our order, however they forgot to ask us for drinks at that time - so we had to ask them to come back for us to place the drinks order.

By the time they returned to ask for drinks we'd been waiting some time after ordering - so long our meal had nearly come out.

Whilst waiting we noticed several wasps around which was a cause for concern given our daughter has severe allergies. Thankfully we swatted them.

Our meals came out but still not drinks. Just as I was about to remind them we were still waiting I noticed the waitress realised she'd forgotten them and she then brought them over.

Whilst eating our son got stung by a wasp that was hidden under the table which caused him great distress and upset, none of the staff even enquired as to why he was screaming at the top of his voice. I thought I'd tell them so they knew and they just said "ok" without asking if my son was ok or offering any assistance! Only after asking a waitress for a plaster and she brought one out along with a glass of ice but still no one asked how he was.

Then there were more wasps hovering by our girl who suffers with many allergies. We managed to get rid of the wasps and I then went back to the same guy behind the bar to ask if they have a wasp problem/nest explaining our girl has severe allergies to which he just shrugged his shoulders saying "you get them by the sea".

All throughout the meal no-one asked how our son was or tried to offer any assistance. We shouldn't have had to keep chasing up our drinks.

Absolutely disgraceful service and a shame as their meals were quite nice (bar the major wasp distractions).

Fundamentally though, if they don't care about their customers' safety then I don't care to return to them...

It's a lovely location, seafront next to a nice park and across the road from the beach. You ignored the Tripadvisor reviews but a small alarm bell rings when you pull up into the car park, almost empty on a Sunday lunchtime.|You're escorted to your table, noting one other small party dining and you count over 20 empty tables. A few people are having a drink on the sunny terrace.|Menus are handed out but then you wait and wait for some service. After 25 minutes without even a drinks order, never mind the food, you go up to the bar where 3 staff members are chatting in the empty room.|Almost an hour after first arriving, your main courses appear. Your companions' mussels and sea bass are nice but your lamb is tough, chewy and tasteless. The Yorkshire pudding is dry, atomising into powder when you bite into it, like an oversized prawn cracker. You have some cauliflower cheese, overcooked and scorched, a few florets served in a dish the size of a yoghurt pot. You paid an extra £4 for this.|You're not sure whether to go for dessert but the chocolate parfait with peanut butter ice cream sounds tempting. After another long wait, you get two petit-four sized slivers of chocolate served with a golfball-sized scoop of vanilla ice cream and what looks like two blobs of squirty cream. This was £11, about what you'd pay for dessert in Mayfair. |You think about questioning it but by this point you're late for the ferry and just want to pay up and go.|The Boat House's website and adventurous menu give the impression of aspiring to some kind of upscale, fine dining establishment. You're not sure this matches your experience.|You think it's a nice location and you might enjoy one of their well kept beers on the terrace next time you're in the area. But you'll skip the lunch if that's...