The Golden Pot — Restaurant in Hart

We booked a table for two for their Sunday lunch carvery. We arrived slightly early for the second sitting at 2pm and was shown to our table. We attended the carvery which had a good selection of meat and vegetables and sat down to start our meal. During this time the restaurant very quickly became busy as everyone seemed to arrive at once for the 2pm sitting. Then a lot of people (12 to 15 at a time) started queuing for the carvery but unfortunately for us the queue of people went directly past our table, therefore for pretty much our entire meal we had people standing extremely close and looking over us which made us feel extremely uncomfortable which completely spoilt the occasion. Needless to say we didn't finish our meal as we lost our appetite in the uncomfortable situation. It is now very clear that our table (table 6) was positioned very badly and in my opinion should never be used in a carvery situation where the queue has a direct impact...

I booked a table for 5, we arrived, no table was set for us, they sat us at a very large table that easily sat 8 and the chairs were too low for myself let alone my elderly parents, I asked to be moved and upon looking discovered that large table in fact was a covered pool table! We sat for over an hour before our food arrived, service from the very young bar staff had no pleasantries and could do with being taught customer service skills.. the food was nice although my Monk fish was a tiny portion and my mum's haddock was huge in comparison and although I know monkfish is expensive it looked ridiculous. .. the upside is everyone enjoyed the food and was served on hot plates! There's much to be desired in the decor, it has no ambience, looked very dated and tired, I haven't been to eat at the pub in about 8-10 years and reckon I'll not...

First off the pork belly was the most dried up, disgusting dish imaginable - did they deep fry it or something? Then came the lobster risotto which we asked to be dairy free, sure enough they'd avoided using cream but then smothered it in grated cheese. Hello? Dairy Free? Then they made it again, only when it was served, the rice was only half-cooked - chewy and powdery. Astonishing.

I've read some of the reviews here and I have to say it seems clear to me that some people are easily pleased - few of the dishes around us looked that clever. What a waste - the area could really use a seafood restaurant but this most...