Monkey Puzzle Brewers Fayre — Restaurant in Rushmoor

We have been here several times and previously been very happy with the food and service, however we went on the 12th September 2021 and were left very disappointed. We had been made aware of the "limited" menu by a friend a week or so ago and over the phone when I confirmed the time.

We arrived early and went to the bar got a drink and went to the garden until we were due to sit down for the meal, no-one was around to show us to our table so I looked on the screen and found where we were allocated and went to sit down, 5 minutes later someone came to the counter and we made them aware what we'd done. We got menus after a short wait and these had changed from the ones in the Premier Inn rooms (2 of the party were staying there) and was extremely limited. We chose our meals and ordered some ordering at the bar as we'd always done before the others ended up doing table service after being then told of the change in procedure. We then found out that the kids menu choices hadn't been changed to the limited menu meaning the 2 children had to choose a different meal.

The beer has gone down hill there, I regularly drink Doom Bar and it's a really nice ale, however it's getting worse in this pub. My burger was worse than a McDonald's burger (I'm not a fan of McDonald's either) and came with no vegetables other than chips, my starter was garlic mushrooms but was more mushrooms in butter with no garlic. The fish batter was very crispy and overdone, although the fish itself was good, from what I was told by the party members. The puddings were very good though.

Towards the end of the meal we overheard someone asking why the limited menu and was it due to the pandemic? They were answered with "it's not due to the pandemic but the lorry driver shortage and change of management of the pub."

I really enjoyed my previous times a the monkey puzzle but the change of management seems to have made the place not a good place to eat, my recommendation would be to return to how it was 2 months ago when it was really good. As it stands I won't be returning in the...

Honestly it was an absolute mess here. Booked a table for large party to celebrate a family birthday. Instantly we were met with delays trying to find which table we had allocated as no one around. Then got the area with the floor so sticky it was like being in a night club. Lonce seated we tried to order drinks but that took a long time, not busy at the bar but everything was very slow. Went to order food, a number of items unavailable. Told a 50 minute wait on food despite the restaurant seemingly very empty. The food had to be entered 3 times into the machine after getting everything mixed up and confused and not being able to put it on the tab, this took easily 15 and more minutes just to order, the staff member kept walking off to find a manager with non seemingly anywhere to be found. And whilst all this was going on a couple of very angry customers came up shouting that they had waited 1.5hrs for food and that it was totally unacceptable, then another table also walked out taking the birthday balloons and cake with them. This created an awful atmosphere and we all felt maybe we shouldn't have come here atall. Food arrived 20/25 minutes later which actually was good for timing, food was basic but edible and everything turned up as it should. The children's meals somehow got ordered twice, apparently a computer error occurred, so we sent them back and not charged. Paid the bill and walked out never to return. Although our experience wasn't as bad as others seemed to have today it was enough to discourage us to return. A real shame as with the play area and garden it has such potential. They seemed massively understaffed and the ones who were there seemed to be very stressed. Highly unimpressed and left feeling slightly sour about the whole afternoon as it was supposed to be...

AVOID.

We got a table at 7.30 on a Tuesday night fairly last minute when everywhere else was fully booked. That was the first clue we missed. When we arrived we were not entirely sure it was open, not a staff member in site, no music playing zero atmosphere or noise, clue number two missed. As we were ordering our drinks and food a couple left and came over to us advising they were leaving because the wait had been ridiculous despite the place being half empty. Clue number three. Starters. Arrived after some time although the food was good but service was insanely slow, we had been seated round the corner out of site of the main bar, shunned from the mainstream if you like and it felt like we were being difficult everytime we ordered a drink, which then took 15 minutes to arrive each time. Two hours to get a prawn cocktail and a chicken burger is utterly disgraceful, we were not in a rush by any means but you feel it dragging when it takes that long. And then having to send it back because it was cold! Shocking! What a kick in the teeth! Between the mopey wait staff that seemed to have as much enthusiasm as a wet dishcloth and the lack of expediting in the kitchen(zero quality control, simple parts of the dish missing on the plate, food that should never have been sent) this was an entirety unpleasant experience. We all understand the changing of circumstances at this moment in time but this was an embarrassing showing all round.

When we begrudgingly settled the bill they shot off without a single word, they knew they had done a number on us.

Judging by the minimal other tables and patrons we could see, we were not alone in our...