Horse & Groom Merrow — Restaurant in Guildford

Really happy with our visit to the Horse & Groom, Merrow

I'd heard from a friend who visited two weeks ago that the Horse & Groom was good, so we thought we'd give it a try as a family visit.

Parking was easy - there were a few spaces in the Pub's own car park, but we found that there was also a car park directly across the road - great if if its a busy, sunny day.

People were in the garden and outside but we decided to eat inside. It was clear that the tables were socially distanced. We waited at the entrance to the Pub for about 30 seconds and a smiling young woman (Emily) greeted us. We were updated on Covid arrangements and taken through to a table which was just right for our family. Emily brought us menus and explained everything - she came back just when she said she would and took our order. The entire place was spotless - and it was clear that when a table was vacated someone immediately cleaned/ sanitised every inch of the table, chairs, benches etc. before any other customers were shown to that table again. We felt very reassured by that.

We had questions about the menus and Emily explained everything - she was very helpful and extremely efficient. The food was absolutely fantastic - freshly cooked, piping hot and really tasty. Just what you always hope for but don't always get in other Pubs!

We were REALLY happy with our visit - we will certainly come again and try some different dishes from the menu. We may come for a Sunday roast at lunchtime, but we also noticed that they have other lighter options too. There is a children's menu so it will be a whole family visit again (they can even cater for the one Vegan in our family). We are hoping for the same level of fantastic service that we had this time.

Well done,...

Dear Sirs

Further to my family booking yesterday. I thought it best to put pen to paper as they say.

The overall experience was sadly disappointing.

To be sat at a table with food on the seat, an old spoon on the floor and a piece of pizza and pees under the chair didn't make a great first impression.

I ordered the roast trio for my lunch and was very disappointed to find very little meat. The menu states the menu may 'not accurately reflect the contents of the dish' Wow I hadn't realised how true that was going to be: no crackling pork, well i've never seen such a small piece of pork and so fatty, almost unable to get the taste of pork stuffing wrapped in bacon, this looked as though it was something that had been dropped on the floor Potatoes and gravy were however very nice Having paid £2 extra over the roast beef price, I had at least thought it was going to be rewarding but I felt very disappointed. Others that had the beef chose the better option Sorry but it really was a disappointing meal. Two of our party of eight, had the same and both of us were of the same view.

For dessert the crumble was flavourless, small in quantity and with a tiny portion of custard. The ice cream that was meant to come with a biscuit, didn't until asked for.

I would have preferred to have been charged a little more and had better quantity. It's always a shame to come away disappointed from any meal that you go out to.

Other minor points were: had to ask for the eighth chair so we could all sit down, had to ask for glasses for the water, and even had to ask for menus, all made the visit less special.

Hopefully the above helps with training and working on the guest...

We’ve lived in the area for a couple of years now and have come to this pub 3 times over this time period. The pub is beautiful, gorgeous decor, clean, HOWEVER each time the service has been terrible.. painfully slow! We’ve given it the benefit of the doubt the first few times as we thought it was a one-off, then we came here recently - this Sunday. We were seated and nobody came to take our order even though staff were wondering past in a near empty restaurant, it got to 30 minutes before I went to the bar to ask if we could have some service. Once we ordered the staff kept coming back to our table to tell us they were out of this, then out of that. Once the food arrived, the chef had forgotten the crackling on 2 pork roasts, the Yorkshire puddings tasted like polystyrene and the potatoes tasted like rubber… we finished our meal then had to get someones attention again after waiting 20 minutes and still having our plates on the table. We promptly asked for the bill and the card machine at the same time as we didn’t want to wait any longer, plates still sat on the table. While paying the waiter made no effort to ask how everything was. It’s such a shame because this restaurant has so much potential but needs refinement. You feel as though you get forgotten about as soon as you’re seated and you don’t have one designated waiter per section. I would understand if the place was heaving, but it wasn’t and having waiters walk past your table countless times, look at your menus laying on the table or your empty plates waiting to be collected and selectively ignore you simply...