The Crown Inn — Restaurant in England

As a local of 25 years, the Crown had always been regarded with affection. Many pints have been drunk at the bar with friends and many celebration meals consumed on our special occasions. Sadly, the change of ownership has stripped much of the 'old country pub' atmosphere, which is a matter of personal choice I suppose, but, it is very evident that drinkers at the bar are seriously discouraged and my attempt to sit and order drinks in advance of considering our food was quickly rebuffed with the directive that my drinks order would be taken at table. Given that I would have been the only one at the bar, obviously keeping the bar clear for other drinkers was not the issue! With all of the beer engines now removed, to be replace with a vast shiny lager dispenser, any chance if scanning the day's live ale offerings has gone! Plan 'B' is a small scribble chalk board offering a very restricted selection for one's amazement and delight... Having said all of this, the Sharpe's Atlantic was perfection, if over chilled. If the Crown has functioned very successfully for decades with a pubby atmos, as well as very successful, largely segregated, diners areas; surely to stifle the last element of a convivial small bar can only detract from the overall country pub feel. It's made vast amounts of money in this mode so why change it??? The friendly greeting smile across a bar is the traditional welcome that has warmed the soul for generations! I admit that things were not overly busy when we were there yesterday, but, the staff are clearly attentive, polite, and hard working. While I accept the benefits of that, as things are you, are left with the feeling of being in a great food vending operation rather that any quirky feeling of old country pub. Given the virtual absence of local drinkers it is clear that I am not alone in that feeling. Saturday lunchtime in the bar was always the pulse of the place - if not the profit! It appears to have gone and that really is a great loss... Now the food - Always fairly pricey, but traditionally good. I am pleased to confirm that the sausage dish served to one of my guests met both standards. I am less pleased with the 'Homemade' beefburger which, although tasty, was as dry as old boots, which at half the 13 quid asking price, would have been unacceptable. Now for my similarly priced lasagne... Truly an appalling offering by any standard , with its diminutive size, burnt surface, under a cm thickness, and tomato only dominated taste. It would have been returned as a 1950s school dinner - certainly not pub standards and extremely disappointing...!@!!*! Come on Crown, save this lovely old village pub and let it be a pub with decent food! Welcome drinkers and diners alike and give us a village pub again! An apology. - No, I didn't complain at the time. With a rarely seen friend as guest, I really didn't want the agro of moaning. It was not an odd glitch in the system, the 'chef' knew exactly what he offered...

We have eaten at this pub on many occasions and had considered it our go to place to eat. We decided to go last night as a treat. Found a table and ordered our usual cod and chips with pea (unfortunately no mushy peas here but we keep asking in the hope that they will ) at the bar, busy with people waiting but the barman made sure he served me in order of arrival which was very nice. The cutlery came out and this is when some of the issues came to light, having placed the napkins on the table with the cutlery on top in preparation of our food when I picked up the napkin it had stuck to the table! The table way very sticky in places as if something had been spilt and the tables hadn’t been wiped down between uses. Only 2 staff on in front of house, the barman and the manager, as the barman was serving nearly continuously only left the manager who we never saw cleaning any tables. Our food came out piping hot and we tucked in, 3/4 of the way through I started to get cramping and stomach pains and ended in considerable pain. Later into the night my friend developed the same symptoms and we both had the same food. Other people on the night had issues with their orders. One couple ordered a starter and mains and their mains arrived within a few minutes of the starter, much to their surprise! The manager asked, “do you want it now?”The reply was a firm no. After they were taken back to the kitchen (with no apologies) the question was asked between them and another table where were they going to keep that until they are ready as they suspected that fresh mains weren’t going to be made! When they finished their starter, a great show was made by the manager to say that they would now go and cook their main courses and 5 minutes later they arrived….

Another table had ordered chilli con carne with rice. Instead of handling the issue himself, the manager instructed the barman to tell the customers that they had run out of rice! How do they run out of a main staple like rice? Not surprisingly, the customer did ask whether there wasn’t a shop locally where they could have bought more if they could see that they had been running low. Good question.

Real shame and lovely pub. Hopefully, this was just a blip on the food and the different levels of service we experienced, but it may be a while before we will be...

What a delightful traditional country pub The Crown is. Since moving to the island, I had passed it in the car several times and intended to call in whenever a suitable occasion lent itself. The first thing a customer sees of a pub needs to be a welcome face and the young lady that served us was lovely.

There is a quiet garden with plenty of tables and a children's play area. Being a little out of the way I imagine it will be a less frantic 'goto' for us in the Summer months, when our children, and their children come to visit. There is a pond, fed by a little stream alongside the garden, which is a pleasant feature.

Within the building there are many traditional features, for this really is an old Island pub. On the day we visited, the day was fairly bright, but with a chilly wind. The open fires were just the ticket and the whole place was warm and cosy.

There were two draught beers, one was Wadsworth 6X, I hadn't seen it on the island anywhere else, so that made a nice change, and was well kept and bright. The other was Yates Sea Dog, an island beer, though not one that I am a fan of.

There were several lagers, but I rarely drink them unless the weather is really hot. Therefore, I didn't pay much attention to them, though I believe there was Amstel and Moretti amongst others.

We didn't eat there on this occasion, but others did. I noted that food was brought to the table quickly and was mostly typical pub fare, but seemed to be well received and looked good.

I really cannot fault the service, the location, the facilities or the staffing. I was particularly impressed by the glasses being filled properly too. This is one of the best pub's that I have found on the island and I have no reservation in awarding...