The Tally Ho — Restaurant in England

Food - Mixed Service - Needs Improvement

11:45am booking on a Sunday (earliest possible).

Upon arrival the young barman explained that the kitchen doesn’t open until 12pm (quite sharply) but we can sit down anyway. No food menus available as they “hadn’t been printed yet”. There was eventually confusion over the menus as some had printed with Sunday Roast and some hadn’t. The lady who was printing them just said “it’s going to be one of those days” when questioned if we had the right menus or not.

After 5/10 mins of being seated we weren’t sure whether to order drinks at table or bar? so we flagged someone down. They came to the table & we ordered drinks.

Drinks arrived promptly and food orders taken at pretty much 12pm on the dot. We must’ve been the 1st/2nd people to order.

Starters arrived about 12:10. Starters were fine although way too much sauce on the side for us all (just a heads up to the restaurant for wastage reasons).

Starters finished about 12:20. By 13:00pm our empty plates hadn’t been cleared and we were still waiting on our mains. Tables around us who arrived significantly after us were being served. By this time we approached a waitress to find out what was happening but she seemed clueless but would check. 5 further minutes passed and she reappeared but only to talk to her colleagues, not to come to our table to explain the reason for the delay. At this point we approached the waitress who was unsure why A) our plates had not been cleared and B) because our plates hadn’t been cleared it apparently meant that our mains were not started in the kitchen.

We eventually received our meals about 70 minutes after initially ordering.

Roast dinners were OK but quite expensive - about £23 each. One vegetarian Wellington that was sadly flavourless and quite dry.

The waitress checked with a manager about our food delay (we didn’t ask for this). For transparency we were initially offered complimentary deserts but as we’d been kept waiting so long this wasn’t appropriate. The waitress went and checked again and we were offered for our drinks to be complimentary - the drinks were all soft drinks so hardly a significant gesture. Maybe a more meaningful gesture would’ve been the starters to be complimentary.

The manager was also nowhere to be seen - evidently far too busy to come See us.

Such a shame as we had a fantastic experience at Xmas 2021 - possibly under new management now?

For a Premium pub experience (prices were premium for a pub!) the service and food standard just wasn’t there sadly.

As a family enjoying a celebratory meal together we’d choose...

Exceptional Country Coaching Inn right on the Hampshire and Berkshire border. Lovely place and has been here for years trading successfully for a long time. It's a lovely spot with plenty of car parking and a fabulous and very well maintained beer garden and outside terraced covered but open seating area. The paved terraced area isn't always in use though. Just be a little careful of the junction as it is a very busy one traffic wise with two immediate right turns if you are coming from the Hampshire side. As for the pub? In an area rich with good hostelries, then the Tally Ho has to be one of if not the "Jewel in the Crown" it's exceptional in all areas. Particular praise should be given to the new manager who is clearly passionate and focused on delivering and maintaining the highest possible standards of food, drink and experience for his customers. I really couldn't fault him or his very polite and sincere team of very able and very presentable staff. My husband is a Guinness drinker with a vast experience of Guinness consumption and he tells me the Guinness at the Tally Ho is knocking on the door of what you'd get in Dublin no less. As for the food a very good variety of dishes on the menu to cater for all palates and appetites for sure. The prices are fair for the location and for the experience, but once you try them you are left with a undeniable feeling of high quality and great value overall. For example the Fish Finger sandwich is fresh strips of filleted fish with the skin on, fried in a super light but crispy and fluffy batter. The ultra white fish as fresh as a daisy and served in hand sliced farmhouse bread clearly baked that day. If that isn't enough as it is (which it is actually) it is served with a small side salad of Rocket, sliced Radish etc and a little pot of Tartar sauce. Absolutely delicious and not just a sandwich but something you'd find Gordon Ramsay couldn't fault. Yes that good! All for under a tenner too! I'd highly recommend this place on every level and look forward to my next visit. I'd be certain you will love it too! Be warned though weekends particularly are super busy from when they open virtually all day. Especially if the weather is good. Try to book if it's for food and enjoy exactly how a Coaching Inn should be. Simply superb and dog...

I arrived today looking forward to a traditional Sunday Roast. I did not expect disappointment in this and have to settle for fish and chips (which I can eat anywhere, any day.

I will not be eating at this restaurant ever again. It's not the staff, it's the chef. The staff are helpful & polite, and very protective towards diners with allergies. The chef ... not so much. He/she ADDS BLACK PEPPER TO ALMOST EVERYTHING.

Basic culinary lesson: Salt ENHANCES flavour, but black pepper only makes food taste of black pepper.

Basic customer service training: Not everyone LIKES black pepper. Not everyone is ABLE to eat it safely (like me).

So adding black pepper in the kitchen to almost everything suggests the chef is so enamoured of the taste that CUSTOMERS' WISHES (& SAFETY) ARE OF NO CONSEQUENCE.

This is not only dangerous for some, it is disrespectful to all. It DENIES CHOICE over which condiments diners add to their meals ... or (like me) avoid altogether. It makes the expensive pepper mills on every table utterly redundant; in fact, said mills only add insult to possible injury.

BLACK PEPPER SHOULD BE THE CUSTOMERS' CHOICE. LET THOSE WHO LIKE PEPPER ADD IT TO THEIR OWN DISHES AT THE TABLE. PLEASE STOP ADDING IT TO 'EVERYTHING' IN THE KITCHEN.

Everyone else on the staff: Excellent job. Keep up the good work.

Respectfully yours,...