Blue Anchor Tadworth — Restaurant in Reigate and Banstead

It was a struggle to review The Blue Anchor fairly. The pub is in a wonderful location and it's well decorated, has the friendliest staff, is very spacious and has a lot of parking. I recently went there for dinner as we'd driven past The Blue Anchor a number of times and really wanted to try it.

My partner and I both ordered starters and they were quite nice. We didn't really have anything to complain about with them. The problem was with the mains.

I ordered the 'Slow Cooked Pork Belly & Cured Pork Cheek with Scallops'. It comes with a potato dauphinoise, crispy prosciutto and green vegetables. The only thing that was palatable on the plate was the vegetables.

The 'Pork Belly' that I was served isn't what you think it is. Usually, pork belly comes to you served in a square, as the chef cuts the belly properly, and can also usually have some crispy crackling served with it. I was served what looked suspiciously like a pork chop. I actually wouldn't have minded if the pork chop I was served was cooked well, but it tasted like it had been blasted for several hours, it was dry and almost tasteless. The scallops were nothing like you'd expect scallops to be. While they were cooked throughout, not rubbery or raw, they were almost boiled. There was no caramelization on them and a lot of the flavour was just lacking.

I think most disappointing for me was the potato dauphinoise. It tasted like it was cooked up that morning, then quartered up and thrown into a microwave upon order. The potatoes tasted watery and were a huge disappointment. They had that taste and texture that you'd get when you throw some takeaway fries into a microwave to warm them up a few hours after ordering them.

My wife ordered a Rump Steak, which she said was actually fairly good. She asked for medium-rare, it came medium, but she did say the peppercorn sauce was delightful. The menu states that the steak comes with twice-cooked chunky chips, but there was nothing twice-cooked about them. We were expecting crispy golden brown chips, soft in the middle with a bit of crunch on the outside. What we received were just mushy potato sticks inside potato skin. It felt like they ordered the wrong kinds of potato (more like jacket potatoes) and then decided to cut them up and use them for chips.

Overall, the starters were alright, the mains were horribly disappointing. I think we probably would have been able to get past all that if we didn't pay almost £40 for the mains alone.

In my opinion, The Blue Anchor wants to be a gastropub with almost 'fine-dining' options, but is restricted by a menu that the kitchen staff is unable to deliver upon, or a chef that is out of their depth. Either way, we will likely not be returning to The Blue Anchor, which is disappointing, because they do so many other...

I don't normally leave reviews like this, and I really don't enjoy doing so, but I really didn't enjoy my time at this establishment. What should've been a lovely meal out with the family for the long weekend, turned out to be an experience spend mostly looking at the exit and wishing for it to be over. Firstly, I was refused an alcoholic drink at nearly 30 years of age whilst having a sit down meal. This is laughable to me. I haven't been ID'ed at a pub outside of London in around 5 years, especially when having a meal, so it hadn't occurred to me to bring it. I certainly don't look anything like an 18 year old. This just felt odd as the server could clearly see that I was of age and actually older than them. Just strange, but i didn't argue it whatsoever. This set the tone for the meal as I just felt it was really odd and strange to be administering a challenge 25 policy on a 30 year old who's eating a meal with his family. Anyway.. the pub element was ruined, what about the food. Extremely mid/average for the price they are in. Halloumi fries were under fried, soft. The prime cheeseburger having "cheese" in its name is laughable considering it contains no actual cheese to note - only a weird, thin sticky cheese sauce which wasn't pleasant. The burger was underseasoned but mostly fine. Chips were bang on but didn't really make up for the previous shortcomings.

The establishment is weird.. aesthetically it's trying to be a trendy, london-esque South London wine bar from this inside .. but portraying itself as a homely village pub from the outside. It's confusing, it doesn't work. This also made for, again, a weird atmosphere. Felt like it didn't know if it was a restaurant or a pub.

Service was fine to be honest.

In conclusion, the experience was extremely underwhelming and did not meet expectations. If you wish to visit here, and are under the age of 40, be sure to bring your biometric identification. If you want a beer with your meal lol. A leafy Surrey pub that feels like a weird wine bar wanna bar with tighter security than a London pub on a Friday night. What a weird place.

Do yourself a favour, go to the Grumpy Mole instead.

Shan't...

This place was recommended to us by a trusted friend so we had high expectations.

We thought it was just ok, by the end of the meal. Although it was a nice experience overall, some of the food was pretty disappointing.

The staff were very nice and welcoming and the place itself is lovely and cosy. The menu is varied and all the drinks were enjoyable. We had some mulled wine and then a couple of cocktails. And my daughter enjoyed her hot chocolate.

Some of the food was the main let down. We had scallops and the crab rillete for starters. The crab rillete was nice the scallops however was just ok, can't workout if it just needed a tad bit more cooking.

The kids mains pasta was a bit lacking in sauce which wasnt very tasty anyway, they doused it in cheese to be able to eat it. The turkey roast main was a major let down. The potatoes were not just hard, they were rubbery hard, not sure how many times they had been cooked but they certainly weren't freshly cooked. Not sure why we had a cold cauliflower puree as part of the trimmings....but not my thing. Everything else on the plate was just ok and didn't redeem the meal. The steak, which we had with potato dauphinoise (instead of chips) was probably the best thing we ordered, cooked just as ordered and the dauphinoise was excellent.

The poached pear for dessert was also pretty tasteless, I guess poached pear is not meant to be sweet but its also not meant to taste like nothing....no flavour whatsoever. The ice cream and raspberry crumb almost saved it....almost.

Would I go again, maybe...it is a nice family time but definitely trying other dishes, maybe I just picked the wrong ones on...