The Yew Tree Inn — Restaurant in Havant

Dining on a Budget.

If you are looking for no thrills eating and a big plateful of food at reasonable prices, then you need not look any further than here. When it comes to quality, that's a different story...

On our visit the place was packed and as we had not booked we were lucky to get a table. People were even sitting in chairs with plates on their knees. The staff were welcoming and friendly as they worked their way through the mass of people ordering and trying to get tables. The ease at which they did this showed how use they were to feeding large numbers at a time.

There is a large comprehensive menu of traditional pup grub, including an adult plate of fish fingers and chips! The speed at which the meals came out of the kitchen and onto the table gave away the secret of how they cope with the crowds, microwave..

Everything had been reheated in a microwave and that was a real shame. I bet those steak and kidney puddings had really been something fresh out of the oven, even warmed through for a second time in the oven they would have been special. Unfortunately, while they had good flavour, the filling had lost all texture and the casing had turned to chewy rubber. They were totally packed full of filling though. The half chicken didn't fair much better, but everyone's chips were awesome.

So why five stars? If you don't mind microwaved food, you're in for a gut busting portion of pub grub for less cost than a meal deal in...

Bad start from me...

When I called, by telephonic services... The lady, cheerfully opened our dialogue with the scripted greetings of, "Good afternoon, You Tree how can I help you?"

I then accused her of calling me a tree as an insult. English isn't my 1st language. I persisted in my petulant manner to not understand why I had made the obvious mistake and was I unwilling to listen to the polite lady.

She then fetched her immediate superior for the shift pattern she had been allocated from her management team and this nice chap, gave me the similar greeting, "Hello, You Tree, how may I be of service to you today" Wow! Very Nice and pleasant. Butt... I'm a Tree!?

So confused was I, I decided to come down and give the staff a right seeing too. I arrived and was shocked to learn the pub was The Yew Tree and not The Ship, I thought I was calling.

Great staff and the...

If your idea of fun is a dark, dingy pub with cobwebs and chamber pots hanging on the wall then look no further. The toilets are disgusting, which many people say your kitchen is only as clean as your toilets - so god forbid what their kitchen may look like. The portion was large, yes, but frozen potatoes, light green peas from the bain marie water soaking the life out of them and the roast beef slices were as thin as wallpaper. Don’t even bother booking, because they won’t bother with you. Booked a table for Sunday lunch and did we have a reserved sign on the table or any sign of life for our reservation for family lunch? Of course not - we had to wait nearly half an hour. Next time, as usual I’ll happily drive past this pub and hope to never go in there...