Smoke House Robin Hill — Restaurant in Isle of Wight

What a disappointment. After enjoying Heron in Ryde and Braai we were excited to try Heron Groups latest addition to the Islands Food scene. Set in the middle of Robin Hill Country Park in the old insect/jungle house it feels slightly odd sitting outside while park goers wander past but there's plenty of inside seating if you'd rather. Inside is a cavernous space reminiscent of a church hall youth club, shoddily fitted out with lots of painted ply, exposed pipes and fittings, blackboards and scruffy tables. This shouldn't matter, we don't go to these places for their appearance but when everything else is a let down it just adds to the list. Inside or outside you have a choice, flys inside or wasps outside....pick your posion. The open kitchen is cool to see as is the smoker area, big red standing proudly looking over the stunning valley. We had starters of chicken tenders, a misnomer if ever there was one, dry chargrilled chicken strips with a smear of sauce. Smokey BBQ bacon bites were tough and smokey to the point of being acrid and left a taste that lingered throughout the meal. Mains we tried included ribs, again tough and dry, a very small portion of pulled pork, shredded lamb atop a pile of dry commercial tortilla chips and a pulled brisket which sits on top of an average naan bread. It was a story of style over substance each meat being dry, very little purity of flavour and sadly whether it was lamb, pork or beef largely indistinguishable from each other. Fries were fine but we've had better mac and cheese from the supermarket. The kitchen clearly has an excess of pea shoots as they are liberally chucked over every dish that came out. The Smokehouse promised so much, and like Braai maybe its just some teething problems. Unlike its sister tho this place lacks its atmosphere and quality of food. This was an opportunity to make the most of that big smoker, get some sliced brisket, hot links, pulled pork, tender ribs on sharing BBQ Plates with delicious sides in a unqiue setting. The 5 of us left not angry, just...

I have seen some bad reviews on here but I can only share the experience we had today.

So my family and myself went to Robin Hill for a day out and we had booked the Heron Smokehouse for some dinner at around 12:30. We rocked up a little early at around 12:15 but wasn’t an issue. We sat outside as the weather was lovely and we ordered the garlic naan for starter and the pulled pork and pulled brisket for main while the kids shared a chicken nuggets and chips.

I can honestly say it was the nicest meal I have had in a long time as the meat was tender and everything was just packed full of flavour however it isn’t cheap but you get what you pay for.

The plates went back empty and we decided to order dessert. We had eton mess, chocolate Sunday for the kids and a banana split and I can honestly say the presentation was really good and the taste was even better. It was that nice that we ordered another banana split.

The atmosphere was really chilled outside and it felt the same inside when I went to order. The smoker outside wasn’t blowing in our direction so we never had any issues with the smoke but I imagine it could blow towards you on a bad day which to some people could be a nightmare. The service from the staff was spot on and I couldn’t fault anything they did as they were really helpful.

Overall we had a...

Visited during our recent holiday. The only feeling I got of smoke was that my money had gone up in smoke when I received my meal! Seriously overpriced for what you get. I love my food and I saw the menu before we visited and was so looking forward to it, but massively disappointed! I had the steak and my wife had the salmon. The last BBQ smoked meal I went to didn't mean minimal portions. Decided to give the puddings a go afterwards, again disappointed. Knickerbocker glory's just overloaded with whipped cream and charged at nearly £7. It was mentioned when we left "please do visit us again". We were on holiday, but even if I did live closer I wouldn't waste my time or money unless the portions were reconsidered. I'm tired of being burned (pun intended) by restaurants who think it's ok to serve small portioned food for what customers are paying. Yes I understand that it's a smokehouse and the experience you're going for, but I didn't leave with a good experience having been had. A restaurant which I and my family have chosen to give our support to should reciprocate that by giving their customers a memorable experience for the good, not a bitter taste of wishing they hadn't gone there for what they got. Nice one Heron. Poor review coming your way for...