Penny Black — Restaurant in Mole Valley

Went to Leatherhead yesterday (a bank holiday) and then went to this pub for food along with my wife, kids and another friend and his family. Total 5 adults and 5 kids. We did not order any starter dishes and just ordered the main course. In terms of drinks, just 3 cider pints a diet coke. I found the Penny black overpriced. Even a burger with chicken katsu flavour costed around 11 pounds. (When I received the burger, it could be hardly called chicken Katsu flavour - just some breaded chicken and some sauce which I would not call very deliciously katsu - unlike one the katsu one finds in even a basic Japanese restaurant).

The service was pathetic, I had to keep chasing them for cutlery, for sauces, for pepper and salt and so on. I had to get the plain water myself. The overpriced burger did not even come with some chips or basic salad or anything on the side. The chicken roast was very hard and kids mentioned it to us. We had to order for additional potato curls (which they did not have and finally gave us chips instead - again overpriced at around 4.5 pounds for a small bowl). Overpriced and bad service. In total we paid altogother (between us) around £110 (or perhaps more) for this basic meal (without starters or desserts or anything fancy) which was certainly not value for money. On the plus side, the waiters were friendly and apologetic for the bad service, bathrooms were clean and the fish and chips (which one adult ordered) seemed good value for money. Would definitely avoid in the future. Go to Epsom and have nice choice in restaurants or go for another...

We came in for Mothers Day 2024 and I’m sorry to say that we were disappointed. It wasn’t at all busy when we arrived, although it picked up a little later and perhaps that should have been a sign. We had booked based on other Google reviews so maybe something has changed recently.

Despite it being the busiest day at most food serving establishments, the kitchen were not at all prepared. No vegan roast dinners had been prepared the night before as they should have been and so I had to order something else or wait an undefined length of time. I was given the option to have a vegan roast with 2 plant burgers instead, which I accepted. My mums roast arrived first but she had no cutlery to start while we waited for our meals which took a little longer. When my vegan meal came (despite me clarifying ahead of time that all accompaniments were vegan) it came with a Yorkshire pudding. I was told this was vegan before asking them to double check and it turns out it wasn’t. I was also only given one burger and so without the Yorkshire (which I gave to my brother rather than waste) I had rather a lacking meal. On the plus side, my mum enjoyed her roast and my brother enjoyed his sausages. The staff were kind and friendly but unfortunately perhaps lacking knowledge in some areas. We were brought over the wrong bottle of wine, had no cutlery to start, some condiments requested were not given and the one dessert ordered took about 20 minutes to arrive. It was a real shame as we don’t get together outside of the house much and my mum is a huge fan of Mothers Day...

Last visited in 2019- 2 Stars. Had a drink but left without having our food order as the chef failed to turn up. We were asked for our details and was promised a voucher for our next visit. Never arrived. However today (23JAN2022) we are going to try again (irrespective of voucher) as we have heard good things. I will update this later after our visit.

Update (24JAN2022) - We went for lunch yesterday, originally two of us but bumped into a friend with their parents-in-law and invited them to join us which they did. Luckily there was space as it was busy but not overly so.

We had an excellent lunch with a good relaxed atmosphere in the pub. The Youngs Special (Bitter) was probably the best pint I have had in years, So I had two! They were busy but it all just worked and the service was good, friendly and helpful.

I have no hesitation in recommending this place and next time we are in Leatherhead we will eat there again. Our unplanned additional guests very much enjoyed there lunch too and would recommend it.

Give it a go for good honest pub food, we did and it was really rather good. Thank you! Until...