The Buck — Restaurant in England

Beware this place has changed.

We've just returned from a weekend camping in Thornton Le-Dale and we ate at the Buck on Saturday evening. We were VERY excited about eating here as we went last July, and my sister and her husband have eaten here many times. Last time we had Boa Buns, spicy chicken burgers, and steak and ale pies. All cooked fresh and delicious.

I have to say we were extremely disappointed with the food. The menu is very small, they no longer have a lot of the options (like pie's) that they used to have on the menu. Even the specials of Chicken Korma, a Charcuterie Board and Halloumi didn't sound very appealing. We shared Halloumi Fries for £16 to start which had obviously come from a frozen packet heated up in an air fryer or microwave. Just extremely tasteless and bland. The breadcrumb coating was pale (like you'd see from frozen food fish fingers in a supermarket).

Three of us then ordered the Chicken Burger with Pulled Pork and my brother in law ordered the Gammon. I'd never seen such a poor piece of gammon, the thickness was the size of a pound coin, it was over cooked and extremely salty like it had been over seasoned (Gammon is already salty). The burgers were edible, again none of it was fresh, breaded chicken fillets from a pack and the pulled pork tasted like it has been from a packet. It hardly took any time at all to bring out the food, so it definitely wasn't fresh. Frozen chips on all of the plates and frozen peas on the gammon.

Price for the burgers was £18.95!! and the gammon was around £16. I'd expect this type of food in a Wetherspoons if I was paying under £10 but not in a place like this. At this price I expect fresh cooked food.

As I said we've been before and the food was fantastic, I assume they've tried to cut costs OR they no longer have a proper chef who can build a menu and cook fresh food.

The only reason I've given this 2 stars was that the girl who was serving us was fantastic.

p.s. I really felt for the two guys in the beer garden buying your beer but eating a takeaway, after you'd finished serving food at 7 and you were turning people away before then because you were fully booked. It wouldn't have been too much of a hardship to let them eat outside and still take their...

Always like to visit The Buck with our friends when we stay close by with our caravan/motorhome. Pre booked our Sunday evening meals to avoid disappointment and sat down looking forward to our meals. I ordered mince and onion pie what arrived was a tiny portion of watery mince with wet mushy pieces of what was supposed to be pastry threw on top of it which didn't look anything like a pie. A tiny portion of of what I think were oven chips which were hard with hard sharp edges. 1 very small dish with broccoli and a carrot mash substance in it which to my disgust was to share across 3 of the 4 meals we had ordered. In total out of 4 meals 3 which were awful only 1 which was ok that was the steak Guinness and stilton pie which also actually looked like a pie but with the same terrible chips. I will say the girl who served us was friendly and very polite but never came back to ask if everything was ok with our meal which I'm not surprised about. Such a shame when this happens don't know if its changed ownership since we last used it but wont be going...

Stopped off for lunch after a wander around the scenic countryside, and we were glad we did. The service was good, the drinks were appreciated but the food was absolutely incredible.

Me and my girlfriend just got starters, skin on chips and cheesy garlic bread, but they were delicious and very filling. Our friends on the other hand chose the roast dinner and a black n' blue burger, and they were both completely blown away!

My friend Anne said the gravy on her roast dinner was the best she had ever had, a sentiment shared by another diner nearby, and the chef came out to talk to us about his secret recipe and seemed genuinely happy at the compliments.

The burger that arrived was gigantic, and from the noises my other friend made while eating, it was just as tasty.

The Buck is a centrally located pub in a picturesque little village, and well worth a visit - especially for...