Heron — Restaurant in Havant

First time visiting this place despite ot literally being almost opposite to me. We turned up without a booking (call ahead 10 mins before as it wouldn't allow us to do it on line) and they accommodated myself and my friend. The food was actually surprisingly lovely and very reasonably priced. I have a blue light card and they were meant to reduce the food bill by 20% but they didn't which I didn't realise until we got left. The app doesn't support discounts so we have to have table service but we were forced to pay before we received our food. That's ok but it meant I didn't really check the receipt at the moment in time and I'm used to always paying after normally. Neither here or there unless you have a complaint regarding the food or bill. The food itself was really nice! I would go again. After our food was given to us...someone came back 2 minutes later and asked was all OK (didn't really have time to fully say either way as just started but we said yes and actually the food was). Problem being they then never returned after to see if we needed anything and the lady instructed us no less than 3x to only get up if absolutely necessary. My friend was waiting for 40 mins in total with no drink. (We of course had our very first initial drink) but she was so thirsty after our meal being offered another would have been nice. We could not attract the staff for no love nor money and when we did see one staff she wither genuinely didn't see us waving or us both shouting (you know what I mean) or she chose to ignore us. We did feel it was the latter. Anyway, we waited and waited to no avail and after chatting until the school run we left. They wouldn't have even known that for some time after I'm sure. If felt you've paid we don't need to bother you now. This was the second place this happened in the same day. Like people don't want to approach or wait the tables but we are told we can't move either. I would go again as I enjoyed my meal but the service was lacking and I wouldn't have given a tip in...

I have a history of running pubs and bars. And this one is quite good, but needs improvement. The food is pub food, and a bit hit and miss. I ordered a burger & chips (lovely) with onion rings. The onion rings came out soggy, and I asked for them just to be fried for a little longer. And they still came out soggy and not nice at all. The pub itself is great, with loads of screens, machines, pool tables, and darts (fantastic). In my opinion, the thing that lets this place down is 'certain' members of staff. They don't seem to enjoy the job, and kinda puts a downer on the visit. 3 stars is fair I think. ✨️

New Visit

I arrived at the pub for a booking at 16:00. The table that they had provided wasn't really that great (not a problem). I don't believe anyone would sit there unless it was the last table. I waited at the bar for some drinks, two cokes, and a lime & soda, £8.20. OK.

I could not taste the lime in the lime & soda, so I asked for a small top-up of cordial (which is free for staff), and was told that I would have to pay another 95p. Which was really sad as soda is free and therefore they wanted me to pay £3.15 for cordial, (which is the worst price I've come across and I drink it in central London bars). I also overhead a guy asking for a straw, and he was told that if he wants a straw, he would have to buy a 'slush puppy' as they wouldn't give him a straw otherwise.

I believe that the service you receive from some staff members is great, although the rest really look like they don't want to be there. I have given this pub quite a few chances, and I can say that this will be my last visit.

I do not...

Did not accept citizencard of my friend. Paid for pool table and then found we needed a £5 cash deposit for cues. Did not have cash, refused to take phone as a deposit. Pool table is also age restricted. Started playing pool with fists as they couldn't refund the money paid (by card!) for pool, and then got that we couldn't do that, but also couldn't take cues, and also couldn't be refunded.

Edit to respond to the reply supplied by the pub: Firstly, proper verification methods can be taken to ensure that the card is legit and the card itself is approved by the police to be used for this purpose to prevent the loss of a passport, for instance. I appreciate it's the establishment's decision to set the standard of acceptance or not and we respected that, and I bought my friend a Diet Coke so as still to support your establishment, but my review is to inform others in the same situation that they will be rejected on the same premise. We went to a different pub (The Swallow, not too far off) and they were able to do the proper verifications. Secondly, we did not get told that the pool table was in a restricted area that couldn't be accessed without a proper ID until after we had paid for the pool table. Previously we were enjoying the pub garden and I took the alcohol away from my friend when the issue was raised up by your staff. To restate, no ability to have cues without a deposit of cash (in an increasingly cashless society, and when the ability to pay for a pool table is also cashless) and also no refunds...