Old Plough — Restaurant in Lewes

Discovered on a Monday meals are half price if pre-booked. So left the building, went outside and pre-booked. To me that's stupid - just make it 50% off and be done with it. Mondays are obviously quiet so an incentive to bring in the customers.

So we stood waiting at the "wait here to be served" sign for around 7 minutes and eventually a member of staff said sit anywhere. So we sat, no menus were given to us - we had to grab a passing member of staff eventually.

We all opted for the Rib-eye steak, (1 medium rare, 1, medium and 1 well done), with chips, onion rings, a mushroom, and half-a-tomato. After waiting 10 mins our order was taken. For a place that was almost empty except for a party of say 11 on one table the wait was ridiculous. We then waited 40 minutes for our meals. Yes 40 minutes - we timed it.

The meals turned up and my steak was not medium-rare. My friends were both medium but they accepted them. I looked around for a server to send back my steak and waited 5 - 6 minutes. My meal was taken away and 10 mins later my plate was returned with a medium rare steak. So far so good with this, however, even the medium rare the steak was tough as old boots. One friend said his was also tough and my other friend said her's was ok.

The onions were a joke - I mean who serves onion rings looking like the photos I provide here - they were awful. If I had to work out percentage of onion to the ring part, I'd say 1% onion and 99% stuff which was indescribable and tasted, dare I say it disgusting. The chips were fantastic - so that's your one star for the chips. Tomato and mushroom were also good.

My pinot grigio was not good and at the price charged should be half-decent. My friend had a Chard which he said was awful. He ordered a named lager in the end - which was good.

I always say a restaurant or pub really should look at what the customers leave on their plates to decide how good or not they are. Well - my photo says it all.

The photos reflect what we left, and a photo of the indescribable onion ring - dear oh dear. The 3rd photo is of chewed meat that my friend could not swallow and had to put back on the plate - not nice I know, but that's how bad it was.

I do have to say that the staff were very nice, but run off their feet with the large table, they simply couldn't cope with 3 or 4 tables (one of which had say 11 people on it)

Will never ever visit this pub again. ...

Stopped here again with the wife for a meal, ordered and waited, the service from the waitresses was great but not so from the kitchen, the place was relatively quiet but we had to wait 40 mins for our food fish and chips and chicken burger and fries. When the meals finally arrived the fish looked like it had been under a heat lamp for ages was overcooked and dry as were the chips, the chicken burger was a hard dry breaded piece of chicken and the bun was soggy and failing apart and the chips were hard suspect these had been sitting under a heat lamp. We felt sorry for the waiting staff as they were fantastic it must be horrible to front food cooked in this kitchen. We left without eating the food. This is the second time of trying this establishment we won't return untill we see things have changed. Great for a drink but avoid the food! It's such a shame as it's a lovely venue with great staff. 7 months previous...... Stopped of for a bite to eat and to grab a drink after a long drive to the coast. Interesting place on multiple levels, lots of little rooms with steps between them garden area is much the same with many tables to chose from. Clearly the building has lots of history. Staff are very pleasant and helpful service was quick and efficient. Bar is small but service was quick, we ordered food from the menu, quite a typical standard menu. I had the steak which was cooked as requested and accompanying extras were ok, but the pepper sauce was starting to split, but still edible. Wife had mushroom wellington huge puff pastry but not much filling and she didn't enjoy the mushroom filling as it was too spiced, but I think that's personal taste I think a vegetarian may enjoy the additional flavours, the roast parsnips and carrot were good but the potatoes appeared to have been multiple fried and were not good they were not eaten. Good place to stop for a beer and a chat with a good atmosphere, they are dog friendly with bowls out for the dog. Parking is on the surrounding roads and parking spaces are limited. Not a place to go if you are not able to...

Went in today 12/11/24 to buy a large bourbon to go with my cigar and sit in their beer garden.

First thing the bartender had no idea what a bourbon was, so I ran through some brands Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve, Jim Beam still no idea what I was talking about, I spotted a bottle of Bullet Rye Whiskey and said that would do ,asked for a dble dble with coke served in a tall glass no ice, the bartender explained she couldn't serve two dble's in the same glass has to be in two separate glasses, no issues with that is is a legal thing , bartender then explains has to charge me for a full glass of coke not a splash, that I do have a issue with as it is against the law to charge for a full measure but only supply a partial measure in licenced premises, bartender says it is company policy and for stock reasons, the stock reason is horse manure it comes out of a gun not a bottle and company policy dose not override the law . Anyway I declined and asked for the company email address, bartender did not know what it was or where to find , went to find the manager, manager turns up ,no introduction, no asking what the issue was just hands me a scrap of paper and walks off . So basically, the old plough staff have zero product knowledge, and the management has zero customer skills and Stonegate are happy to steal from their customers and break the law . I suggest you go to The Wellington or The Old Boot and the Kings Head where the staff do know the products they sell and the manager will introduce themselves if you have a...