The Railway Pub and Kitchen — Restaurant in New Forest

Genuinely the worst food I've been served in a long time. Avoid (unless you particularly want a fun-filled day of vomiting and diarrhoea). So disappointing; based on the reviews and the menu I was really excited to try this place out.

The Place: It's a fairly pokey little pub which, generously, might be deliberately going for a Dive Bar look, but in truth probably just needs some TLC. Nice beer garden out the back though. They talk a lot about the Craft Beer selection, but the choice of tap beers was pretty standard for country pubs in this part of the world.

The Food: where to start? Well, lets start with the 'still frozen in the middle' fish goujons. I mean fair enough, I should have expected they might struggle to justify buying fresh fish (although the limited menu and high prices suggest otherwise). But for the love of God, at least cook it. Unfortunately my young son was more than half way through before I noticed. Next, the Bacon Butty. At £5, I was expecting something truly awesome. What I wasn't expecting was a roll toasted to try to disguise the fact that it was stale and 5 slices of streaky. I have never once, in my entire life, been served streaky bacon in a bacon roll. It's practically an affront to Britishness. Maybe the chef was trying to be edgy, maybe the bacon was meticulously reared, hand-sliced and cooked to perfection. Still, it made for a horrible bacon roll. Lastly the Brisket Chilli Taco. The tortilla was enormous - more Fajita than Taco, and the sauce was so watery that by the time it reached the table the tortilla was soaked through, gluey and inedible. The brisket hadn't been slow-cooked long enough, or trimmed enough, and so the meat was chewy and there were large globs of unrendered fat throughout.

Conclusion: The chef is clearly a foodie, passionate about street food. I respect and share that passion. Unfortunately, it seems he or she is also a horrible, horrible cook, unable to deliver even the simplest of dishes (frozen fish, bacon roll) in a way that was safe or enjoyable to eat. If this was my local boozer, I'd be perfectly happy to come down and enjoy a few pints in the beer garden now and then. But I'd never, ever, eat...

Tucked away in the internal regions of Ringwood, on a very unexciting road, is a very exciting pub.

I am not quite the man I ever am after visiting the Railway, because of a three fold factor of positives:

Ridiculously affordable beer in these times of great austerity.

A beer garden of sufficient quality, with those awesome heaters for us smoker pariahs.

The intensely fabulous Levi, who is a Goddess. I'm fairly sure of this now. Having just stared into her beaming smile of innocence and beauty, I ricocheted all the way home in a collapsing system of dewy crumbs. She has brought me to my knees in grand fascination, and her loveliness should be known throughout the expanse of Christendom.

She appeared in her Christmas super human top of a bright flash of red, set aside black trousers of power, and I felt like Jim Carrey in 'The Mask', where his eyes bulge out and his tongue rolls across the table.

Great Scott, is a sabbath likely to be improved in hope filled dreams of gracious wonder, having had a beverage courtesy of this young damsel of extraordinary enticement.

I shall think of her as 'Levi the Biblical'.

Everyone else is fab too. Nice crowd. Good atmosphere, and a chicken dish that is so excitable to the tongue, you'd wish you were a rich man to be able to visit often.

In...

Oh. My. Goodness. I can’t rate this place enough!! 😱 Myself and my partner came down to the new forest for a little getaway and ended up having a little mosey around Ringwood and ended up finding this place for a bit to eat. Let me tell you. The way we have not stopped thinking about the food here since is insane! 😍😮‍💨 The American inspired menu with dishes from different states depending on the menu at that time is brilliant! It’s clear that the chef knows what they’re doing and their execution is excellent! The staff are also so lovely and friendly and easy to have a chat too. Plus the addition of Margot the pub cat coming to chill on my lap may have swayed me to love this place even more 🥰😂 We live 2 hours away and already want to try and plan a trip to come again. No other pub food has lived up to the food we were served here and we wish more pubs would have expertly curated menus and food like this in an environment with such a relaxed friendly...