The Fox and Hounds, Theale — Restaurant in England

A real disappointment. My previous review was 10 years ago where we had a fantastic roast dinner but needs revision. We haven't been for a number of years after the inconsistency of previous owners, but we're tempted back by the menu. The place was relatively busy but not heaving. We were oddly seated next to the toilet, and after the overpowering smell of cleaner and toilet we asked to be moved. A few items were missing from the menu including kids burgers that only came to light after trying to order. The drinks were brought out, but we had to chase down a hot chocolate after 10 minutes. For food we. ordered garlic bread, kids pizza, the ploughman's, and a sandwich which took over an hour to come out. The sandwich and ploughman's bread had clearly been left out and the bread had gone stale, the token watercress wilting. My wife chose to send her sandwich back as it wouldn't have been very nice and didn't want to wait for a replacement. In less than 3 minutes a new sandwich appeared with the old contents scraped into new bread, unsurprisingly she didn't fancy it. My ploughman's was missing butter which came 15 minutes later when I was asking for the bill. At twice the price of the £8 sandwich, the £16 ploughman's (pictured) was very disappointing. It lacked any fresh ingredients like salad, celery, apple etc. the sourdough bread was toasted to hide the fact that is wasn't fresh and the sausage roll was a meare razor thin slice. The kids food was ok but nothing special, my son said the garlic bread wasn't very garlicky. The staff although not dismissive were very uncompassionate when we highlighted the problems and rather sheepishly apologising when presenting a £60 bill for a table of two adults and two children when the adult meal had been sent back and one of the kids just having garlic bread. I saw that a pint of larger shandy came in an eye watering £6.65. In summary a poorly managed, expensive, chain pub, with little regard for food quality or service. I anticipate a response along the lines of - you didn't give us the opportunity to correct these things - in the reply. Well I did politely three times and sent food back; good service in the UK shouldn't be dependent on patrons demand it - but on...

Recently visited The Fox and Hounds with my partner on a Saturday evening after wanting to come by for for ages! We booked a table to dine but a arrived a little early to sit in the garden and have a drink, which was glorious on a sunny evening! We were taken to our table and seen to in good time. We both ordered the Vegan Symplicity Burger, both of us not trying this particular vegan burger before. The waitress repeated our order back to us to check all was okay, which is a big green flag in a restaurant for me! I'd also like to note that the location of the pub is lovely, just off the M4 so very easily accessible. The pub itself is also very classic British pub, a lovely aesthetic! Our food arrived promptly and was all piping hot, and the portions was very generous! We both switched our fries to thick pub chips. These were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, had a glorious flavour, which was amplified with lots of salt and vinegar. Now - the burger. First, the bun was very soft and fresh, with a nice flavour. We switched our vegan cheese to regular, which I believe was smoked, and perfectly melted. The cheese complimented The Symplicity patty well, which was like nothing I have ever had before. It is not your typical fake meat burger, as it is made with fermented vegetables. Thus, it is much softer, which we felt was not a problem. The flavour gives umami and mushroom vibes, is powerful, and tasty! I felt parts of my burger had been left on the grill a bit too long and there was a burnt flavour that unfortuantly overwhelmed the the burger at times, thus, would ask for it to be grilled a little less in future! Regardless of this, I would return to The Fox and Hounds and recommend it to others looking for some classic...

What a disappointment. The fox and hound is usually a go to for me and my partner so we eagerly booked a table here to celebrate my birthday. We arrived for our 18:30 booking and was out the door by 19:10. We were greeted by a nice young man who took our drinks and food order, all was well up until this point. We got given our food by a young barmaid/waitress who asked if we would like any sauces, which we did. After a few minutes and my chips turning cold, she appeared behind the bar, to talk to her colleagues. I then had to get up and ask for the sauces again. She then came back to our table with our sauces and said that she had made them but then forgotten all about it. My partners steak was supposed to be cooked med-rare and came out blue. Now if any of the three employees had done a check back, this would have been quickly resolved, however they were all too busy talking to a couple of regulars at the bar to bother with us. After finishing our food the same waitress came over asked if we were done and if we wanted desserts we said no we would like the bill. She then quickly came back with the bill and then a few minutes later the card machine. We paid and then got ready to leave. Not once were we asked if everything was ok, there was simply no people skills whatsoever and as we walked out the main door we heard a faint ‘thanks for coming’ from the young man who had greeted us just 40 minutes before. Never have I felt so unwelcome in a restaurant, it was almost like they were too busy with their friends to deal with actual guests coming to eat and drink. As for spending £20 for a steak, that is fine, but at least get a chef that can cook it properly ! Embarrassing from the fox and hounds...