The Stag at Walton — Restaurant in England

It’s my local and I’ve had countless roast dinner in the pub. It’s had a recent renovation and change of owner ship and now belongs to priory inn chain. The renovation has improved the tired outdated decor in and and out but the food has deteriorated. So it’s important to note a lot of reviews are still relative to the old Stag menu which in itself had deteriorated prior to the take over. I ordered the Turkey roast on Sunday gone and Honestly it was appalling, I was solo and without a booking and I was hungry and had some place to be. I didn’t make a fuss about the dismissal meal and I ate 2/3 of it. I did though, make a comment about the gravy tasting off and ruining the dinner and the the young sever just responded with “oh ok” and that was the end of the check. I didn’t labour the point and I wasn’t asked again my my unfinished plate was cleared. Here’s the meal. Roast Turkey Sunday roast at £14.95 One slab of reformed thick rounded Turkey in a rind, absolutely not fresh carved from the bird. Tasteless. 2 long stem broccoli so under cooked that even with a saw manoeuvre with the blunt knife I couldn’t cut it. A small portion of allegedly carrot and & swede, completely unseasoned and dried out and tasteless. 3 large halved roast potatoes which were again disappointing and tasteless. One stuffing ball baked to a cannonball with no flavour and exterior of an egg shell. Suspect from deep freezer. But the gravy tho? What was that grey grizzly liquid that further ruined an already terrible plate of food. Every mouthful just tasted of animal fat from cooking a rank piece of meat. Grey bitty sludge, see yourself from the picture. My eyes said no from the off. My eyes were right. Will I mention the Yorkshire pudding ? Ok I will, uniformed shape and reheated from the deep freeze and yes you guessed it, completely tasteless. Did I want to buy pigs in blankets and cauliflower extra ? No I did not because serving a £14.95 plate should really be a substantial meal, cocktail sausage or pig in blanket being a traditional trimming and veg is really an Important part of a traditional roast. Who eats a portion of pig in blanket ? I only wanted one. Hell I just wanted the plate to taste nice. 30 hours on I can still taste the wrongness of that grey gravy. I did note they serve a “doggie dinner” for £3.95 Did I get the doggie dinner ? So sad, this was a well patronised tired old pub but the food on a bad day well surpassed my experience since the takeover and that meal has finished it for me. It used to be packed on a Sunday afternoon. Was empty...

Food was disgusting, my wife ordered a Rump Steak, the off smell was so strong that it was evident in the room as I walked to the table from the bar. The grill had obviously been contaminated by the piece of rancid beef, as my Gammon, and sons Burger also smelled of the same rancid beef odour. Ok, now we eat out at a LOT of places, and I know a cut of bad beef when I smell it. Somehow, the staff and chef tried to say there was nothing wrong with it - apparently "delivered fresh yesterday", I think several staff AND the chef need to re examine customer service, and admit when there's an issue with a meal. This wasn't just a slight tinge, this was absolutely rancid, stunk the room out, and it was clearly obvious to anyone nearby that there was a real issue here. We were offered a replacement, but conveniently persuaded away from another steak "in case we had the same experience of thinking something's wrong with it". More like a bad batch. For gods sake, just OWN IT when you have a problem, apologise, replace, and move on. We were made to feel like the meal was fine, there was no issue with any of the food, and we were in the wrong, but as a goodwill gesture they would replace with something else. NOT good customer service, and definitely NOT how you retain customers. Obviously we won't be going back. How a trained "Chef" can claim that cut was OK is beyond comprehension, disappointed doesn't come near. In 40 years of eating out I've never returned a meal, I wouldn't have fed (or served) that to anyone. To top it off, we paid in cash when leaving, not a word from the staff, not even a thank you, just took the money and turned away. Shocking - and NOT the way to run a...

16th October 2024 ‘Wandering Wednesday’ this week took Hubster Neil and I to ‘The Stag’ at Walton. It’s been a good number of years since we were last there. We decided not to have starters this week as it can make you very full indeed! Neil had Steak in Guinness homemade pie, with chips, garden peas and thick rich gravy…..it was PACKED to the brim with big tender chunks of beef and covered with a light fluffy pastry…… Neil said he would definitely have it again. I had a ‘Big Bird’ burger, a thick buttermilk, butterflied chicken breast, with crispy panko crumbs, it was on a bed of lettuce, the burger had a layer of melted cheese on top, followed by a hash brown, two thick rashers of bacon and BBQ sauce, all sandwiched between a large seeded brioche toasted bun….. held together with a wooded skewer! it also came with a side of homemade coleslaw….. I upgraded my chips to potato Tots, I had mine salt and pepper style with peppers and onions…..it was all very tasty indeed and remained piping hot until the last bite….. I also would have this again. The pub is Olde Worlde and very clean and tidy….. the staff who served us, Laura behind the bar and Wendy who was our server, both were very attentive, extremely polite, friendly but professional…..they are a credit to this establishment…. Thank you Ladies…. Would we return?….. That’s a...