The Aperfield Inn — Restaurant in London

The Aperfield Inn Pub or Pub / Restaurant? Read on and make your own decision. My wife and I having spent all of the pandemic in our home, apart from hospital visits, my wife decided to overcome her fear of venturing out to book what we believe to be the “Restaurant “at the Aperfield Inn in Biggin Hill” on Friday 9th July 2021. On our arrival we stood in line behind another couple waiting to be seated, this couple were then shown to their seats and we were left standing, despite them being aware of us waiting to be seated. Eventually, my wife having just undergone a full hip replacement decided to take a seat, I stood my ground for a while, but was then forced to join her. We were then directed to our seat, without and an apology for the 10-15 minutes or so we had been waiting. On entering the conservatory, we were directed to a table of 4, where two of the chairs were positioned over the open door to the garden. I made the comment to the waitress.,” If I sit in the chair nearest to the door, I would have blocked the doorway. The waitress and I agreed it would cause less disruption if I seated myself in the seat away from the door, still leaving me subject to the draft of the open door. At no time was we offered an alternative seat, where there was sufficient room to be moved. Having settled, I looked at my cutlery and my first thoughts were that the knife looked dirty, on picking it up, I then became aware it was full of scratches and the metal had started to discolour, I then inspected the spare place settings and these were in much of the same condition, I selected the best of them. We ordered our meal; I choose the pate with toasted rustic bread. However, on its arrival there was no rustic bread and the bread looked as if it had hardy seen the toaster, it was soft? I mention this to the waitress, who informed me it was toasted, but if I wanted it more toasted, she was happy to do so, I said I will try it, at this point I asked for the cutlery for the starter, where I was informed to use the cutlery set for my main meal and she would replace this later. I then asked for some butter, again I was left to use my main course cutlery for both the pate and butter. At this point I asked my wife if this was a Restaurant or simply a pub meal. When the main meal arrived, I asked the waitress how to extracted the salt from the container, as it looked like a grinder at the base and not the top, but there was no twister at the salt end., at this point the waitress said I was spilling salt over the table as I was holding it upside down, whilst I was talking to her, there was no offer to clean the table. We were left with salt covering the table, accepting it was my error. The main course was fine, nothing special, we choose the fish, which was a little small, given the price, there was no fish cutlery it was one knife and folk that was to be used for all courses. It was at this point, my wife was informed by the waitress, which I did not hear, that I could use the knife from one of the other place setting as my, as mine had been taken away with the starter, which left me having to use one of the other well-worn knives. There is not much more we have to say on this. John & Maureen Davis of...

What’s happened to this place?!? We have been here several times a long time ago and we could never fault the food nor the service! But the Sunday lunch we had here last Sunday was diabolical!!!

Service: The lady serving us... why was she even there?!? How is she even employed here? Restaurants survive on the food they serve and the experience the diner has... Our waitress was moody, miserable, unfriendly and inattentive! If she doesn’t want to be there then leave! But you are representing your employers, either you don’t enjoy your work or you have no respect for your employer! But you really shouldn’t be there, get yourself a job in a greasy spoon!

Food: Sunday roast used to be good!!! But today it was a shambles!! The chef on duty was either having a bad day or was simply unbothered! Either way it’s no excuse for what was served!! We all ordered various Sunday roasts... the Yorkshire Puddings were all rubbery, flat and cold... the so called ruffled potatoes were over cooked, oily and burnt and I serious suggest they learn the meaning of ruffled! the carrots were dead and wilted just like the greens! We reordered the Yorkshire puddings and we got a plate full of the same! I ordered the veggie tart! It was flavourless, brittle and dry. If you zoom into the picture you will see how it was served, broken tart with a pointless tomato sauce and a grilled veg on top! You call this a tart? Really?

Atmosphere: This is a lovely place... We thought we would come here as we were entertaining friends from abroad. It was embarrassing considering we spoke so highly of it!!

There were lots of diners arriving and most were aimlessly standing around waiting for someone to approach them! It’s not a nice start for diners to not even be greeted or have their booking acknowledged.

I seriously think the owners need to look at the reviews and seriously look at the food that gets served and how the staff view their jobs! They are clearly unhappy and unbothered! You’re only as good as the...

My partner and I stopped off on impulse at this pub as we were feeling hungry.

The inside is pleasant with a glass and oak-beamed dining room extension at the bsck. It's a shame that it overlooks a cat park.

Judging by the car park, this is a popular venue even on a Wednesday lunch time.

There were two staff waiting on tables, though a waitress seemed to be greeter as well. Service was slow and I think they could do with more staff, though they were very friendly and enthusiastic.

The menu was simple, classic British fare and we opted for the excellent value set lunch my partner went for the gammon steak, triple-cooked chunky chips and peas and I chose the lasagne with garlic ciabatta and side salad.

The portions were generous and everything was perfectly cooked. The chips were a cut above the typical frozen chips served at modest restaurants these days, the gammon was thick, juicy and tasty. I burnt my mouth on the lasagne which was volcanically hot but I'd rather that than not hot enough and am too impatient! I enjoyed the garlic bread and the side salad was very fresh, though the dressing was oddly sweet.

For desert we chose a mini apple and raspberry crumble and custard and a mini chocolate brownie with ice cream, both served with coffee. I couldn't have managed a whole serving of chocolate brownie, firstly because it was so sweet and rich (I'm not complaining!) but also because the calorie count was eyebrow-raising. The portions were not tiny and the perfect finish to our meal as we like a sweet end to a meal but rarely manage a whole portion.

All in all, good value, good quality and although we wood normally prefer more adventurous food, we'll probably stop off again to try some of the other dishes. With a beer and a soft drink, the total bill was £42 plus tip for the poor...