The Fox & Hounds Neasham — Restaurant in England

We visisted this establishment today for lunch with our two young boys, having been reliably informed that there was a play area outside which was suitable for children. There was dog poo and empty cigarette packets all over the outside area, so it was far from suitable. We had already ordered our “food” so decided to inform a member of staff about the dog poo, hoping that by the time we’d eaten the boys would be able to play outside after their lunch. After a very disappointing meal the children were left even more disappointed to find they were unable to play in fresh air because the dog poo had not been removed from the outside area. I’m not a dog owner myself and I am not suggesting it is necessarily the pub owners responsibility to pick up after other people’s hounds. However, it has left a bitter taste in my mouth. Not the dog poo. I’ll move on to the food. I ordered the southern fried chicken burger, which had nothing else to it. It was as dry as sticks and not like momma used to make. Served in a chargrilled bun, which tasted like burnt toast. My husband ordered the steak pie, which admittedly looked homemade. Homemade in 1962 and frazzled within an inch of its life. Death by microwave! My 4 year old is currently dehydrated because of the amount of salt on the chips, from a meal on the children’s menu, and my 18 month old (who eats crayons) turned his nose up at the pasta and tomato sauce that was served luke warm as opposed to piping hot. £50 later we left after what we expected to be an enjoyable lunch. It was far from enjoyable and the distinct smell of foist / damp from inside the pub has stayed with us all afternoon. We will not be returning. I urge you all to avoid this place. And pick up...

We were travelling in the nearby area & I searched online for great pub food in scenic locations & the Fox & Hound came up recommended. We drove 30 minutes off route to get there & found a lovely looking pub with a beer garden, play area & views of the river. The menu on paper looked really good, some nice game options, hearty pub food, a good variety & we were impressed, a struggle to choose.

Sadly this was the beginning of what turned into a dissapointing experience.

We ordered a bread selection with Chutney & pigs in blankets with wholegrain mustard sauce to nibble on while we waited for our mains. The bread was so hard I nearly broke a tooth! Like all the different breads were rock solid (almost as if when you bake stale bread to make bread crumbs) & when our waiter checked in on us I told him, he apologised & said he would get us some more. Another waiter comes over, takes our bread platter & gives us 4 small pieces of bread which was soft & fresh but not the £8 platter we had ordered.

For mains we ordered the Duck & pheasant & the minced beef & sage dumplings.

The duck & pheasant were very overcooked, tough, dry & hard to cut or swallow. The minced beef was chewy, as if not braised for long enough, the dumplings were hard & the accompanying veg was so dissapointing- boiled carrot slices which lacked vibrance & flavour, some boiled cubed swede, just bland, unloved & not what you expect when you read the menu description.

It felt like the chef didn't care & had lost the love. I mean if you can't get a bread platter right then how are you going to get the rest right?

The waiter was apologetic & took the items off our bill which I was grateful for but the whole experience was bitterly...

If I could put 0 stars I would. We had a table booked for 7:30 and we were told to arrive at 7:15 prompt, which we did. We then stood at the bar for 15-20 minutes before anyone even acknowledged us. Eventually we were seated at 7:45. After that, orders were taken at 8:15. We then waited until 9:10 for food to arrive. Eventually finishing one course at 9:30. Our initial plans were to have two courses each (main & dessert) but due to the fact we had a 5 year old child with us and waited so long, we decided to leave so that she could go to bed. There was 10 main courses ordered and there were issues with all of them: The rump steak was cold and like rubber and there was no steak knife. Ordered curry and chips, there were no chips. Burger was chewy and stone cold. Fish that looked like a whale but turned out to be a goldfish (all batter). Not to mention that we weren’t asked for drinks at all. We had to keep going back to the bar ourselves. None of the staff asked us how are meals were and no one apologised for the wait whilst we were waiting for an hour. What we thought would be a lovely family gathering for my brothers 21st birthday, turned out to be an appalling pub experience and we will definitely not be...