The Taverners — Restaurant in England

My friend had booked a table today for roast dinners at the taverners… well what a mistake that was. It got off to a good start as we were greeted by a smiley face of a tall young lady behind the bar, we were seated by her, given menus and the options of meat for a roast which seemed great. She took our drink order promptly and our food order for a table of a mixture of small and ‘ duo of meats’, which was meant to be larger. When the food came it was a disgrace they even thought they could serve what they were for £19. For a start we couldn’t work out the difference between a small and larger dinner, not that I would even class it as a dinner. The small wasn’t even worth the £10 we were charged. The meat was so thinly sliced that I would compare it to a pack of wafer thin ham… and if that wasn’t bad enough I was reheated/cooked which meant it had shrivelled up to leather slices. The potato’s were pretty much raw, they were solid, as were the parsnips and yorkshires. The veg was cold and we were given not enough to go around as they were sharing bowls and on top of that the gravy was thin and watery. A young girl came back to check back on our food and we explained our issues to which she passed on to the kitchen. Where we sat we could hear the lady in the kitchen moan about our opinion and rather than correct it, she chose to ignore it and say we were wrong, which I cannot see how when all the tables around us felt the same! I could not believe it when a table nearby to us said this lady was the landlady. Her ego seems to be getting in the way of running the place if she’s just got the opinion that all of her customers are wrong….

I felt sorry for the young girls serving especially the girl behind the bar who was so polite in trying to correct the kitchens incompetence and the young girls waitressing as they were getting a lot of rudeness off of customers for something which is completely out of their hands and lies in the blame of any management.

ANYONE THINK OF EATING HERE,...

Having spent time researching somewhere to eat for our first lunch on the Isle of Wight, we were looking forward to experiencing The Taverners – especially having learnt it was under new ownership and had very recently re-opened. Unfortunately, our experience on a quiet Sunday afternoon was very disappointing.

The delays started with ordering our food. Eventually our order was taken – however, we soon noted the tables around us were eating, despite arriving and ordering after us. 40 minutes later, a waitress came over and said our food was coming soon, but there was no apology.

Another 10 minutes passed and still nothing, so we asked a passing waitress where our food was, only to be met with an abrupt, verging on rude, "I'll let you know". Another 15 minutes later there was still no sign of our food, so we ended up asking again and was told to go and speak to the new owner at the bar.

We had been in the pub for almost 90 minutes at this point and everywhere in the village was due to close. The owner explained it was under new ownership, the till system wasn't working and it wasn't the experience she wanted us to have. To which we said we understand, but that should have been communicated when we arrived and while we were waiting. We were offered a discount if we were to come back later, but we had no intention of doing so, and to be honest we were surprised we had to pay for the four Coke Zeros – offering us those for free would have been a better apology than a future discount.

After a disappointing start to our holiday, we then went across the road to Cook and Baker where we had a great experience with both...

Has been my favourite place to eat for many years. But with Covid we had not visited since 2019. It was worrying to hear it changed hands since my last visit but looking at the menu many old favourites where still there in black and white. It was my birthday treat so we gave it a try. The new online bookin system is brilliant and the reminder and check your still coming feature is a nice touch for both parties. We went on a Monday night in Nov many pubs and restaurants are not even open. But i was glad the Teverners didnt let us down. There was a few customers there when we arrived which was reassuring. The welcome was quick and friendly and we where taken to a nice little spot for two. I've always felt the table spacing was just right even pre covid. We had just settled in when the drinks arrived i tried the Taveners Golden Ale which was pretty good and i could have happily drunk that all evening if the mood had suited. I had Pie & Chips "it comes with mash but i fancied the triple cooked chips" my Wife had Fish and Chips. Both meals were just as we remembered. The Suet crust pie is lovely, the rich gravy has flavoured the soft walls of the pie while the outer crust has a wicked crunch and real bite to every mouthful. The Whale and chips was more then my wife could manage. I stole away a bit of fish at the end, it was delicious, thier batter is spot on. After a while we managed desert lemon posset and toffee sponge were also excellent. Finished with coffee and smile. Great service great...