The Red Lion — Restaurant in England

The food at The Red Lion is amazing, possibly the best on the Island. It’s got a great mix of options for fish lovers, meat lovers and vegans. On the strength of the food, this venue is 5/5.

However, the service let’s the place down. We were ignored versus some locals that came in after us, ok, fine, we get the Island has it’s own brand of politics (my parents have lived here for ten years - we are mainlanders and therefor a second class citizen). But when our starters arrived and we were simultaneously offered our mains, we encountered an issue that couldn’t be overlooked.

Sophie (her till login name at least) really needs some customer service training. She was bolshy and rude when we arrived and she didn’t know if they were serving food outside by 12:30pm on a sunny Saturday. But when I ordered starters and mains, she read back the order all fine - but didn’t ask if we wanted starters and mains at the same time. I didn’t think anything of it as people rarely do want starters and mains together.

However, after asking the lovely server who brought our mains to return our mains and keep them warm… out comes Sophie. “You asked for starters and mains at the same time.” I replied that I didn’t, and we must agree to disagree… but she kept going. “No no, you definitely did - I read out your order and asked if you wanted them out at the same time.” - I again replied politely that she was wrong… the situation was only diffused because by the time this happened we were ready for our mains.

I don’t make a habit out of negatively reviewing places unless the food or service is terrible, and unfortunately, that was the case here. The venue had about 6 covers at the point of ordering, so you can’t blame them being busy or other stressors.

It’s a real shame as the other reviews also agree, the food is brilliant here. We would like to come again,...

We can’t decide if we just didn’t opt for the right/ best options or if it’s a general thing about the food, but we were really disappointed with the food we had at The Red Lion. The starters we had (smoked mackerel) were okay, but looked a lot better than it tasted; the ‘smoked’ flavour was really lacking. We left quite a large amount of this uneaten. We both had fish and chips for the main. Sadly, this seriously did lack flavour; the chips were very crispy, but with little content. The fish was really, really disappointing; almost tasteless and coated in a very, very pale batter. Again, quite an amount of this food was left uneaten. The service was average; staff were genuinely friendly, but no one checked in to ask if our courses were okay, no one came to ask if we wanted another drink (empty drinks not long after main course arrived, no one came to take main courses away or ask if we wanted a dessert menu - we decided we wanted to leave eventually as no one was coming to our table, so we got up and paid). We did try to get staff attention 4 times, but to no avail. I had wanted to say that the main course was not good, but I genuinely could not get a member of staff to the table. After trying several times, I really just wanted to pay and leave. It was such a shame because the food looked great, staff were welcoming and smiled a lot, and the pub is lovely inside. The food really lacked flavour and execution - looked great, tasted average to...

Very disappointed, sadly. Not to the standard of food I have had before, very bland and as I and my party were at the end of their, ‘ kitchen open hours , 20:30, arriving at 20:00 and having been assured that was not too late to have fresh cooked food, I felt we got the remnants and rushed push out anything deal. The menu did not reflect the posting on their website, which had been a real attraction for me , but sadly was very limited and not up to what had been advertised. The staff were very good and welcoming and friendly, however, they need a new chef in my opinion. My suet steak and kidney pie, was a dry pastry awful microwave heated lump, the creamy mash I suspected may have been powdered. I booked my table with two children included, no children menu? But I was allowed to have a smaller choice, not smaller price! Two had cheeseburgers, which was a bun sliced and toasted with a burger in between, no salad, the chips were obviously the last if the batch,, and then the dessert at £7:50 each, we had 3 sticky toffee puddings, which in fact were 3 sticky toffee cakes! Our drinks were 4 coke, 1 pint of Guinness and one gin and tonic, and a coffee, total bill for a disappointing meal!! Wait for it,,, £140.35 I will not return, and advise others not to bother, a lovely pub,...