The Haunch Of Venison — Restaurant in Salisbury

I suppose we must just have been unlucky, but our meal was terrible. We waited an hour for our food, and when it arrived, my rare steak might as well have been the sole of a shoe it was so cooked. It had clearly been sat under a heat lamp for quite some time. It was genuinely unpleasant to eat - chewy and tasteless. Rocket had also been piled on top of it, perhaps to try and cover that up. The peppercorn sauce had SO many peppercorns in it, my husband asked how my lentils were, thinking the steak had been served on a bed of them. I like peppercorn sauce, a lot, but I don't want to eat 100+ peppercorns. The seasonal greens consisted of 1 piece of tender stem broccoli with a remainder of creamed cabbage - if I'd wanted creamed cabbage, I would have ordered that from the selection of sides. The whipped goats cheese on toast was delicious except for the fact the toast was burnt (!). I also had no fork to start my meal with once it finally arrived. My husband had the pork belly which he described as fine, and the best he could say afterwards was that he was full. Perhaps the lunch service is the issue? Another table complained about a 40 minute wait between their starters and their mains, and the table behind us waited 15 minutes for 3 cold desserts that should have taken seconds to prepare and deliver to the table - two lemon possets (which will have been made in advance in order to set) and a cheese board. Admittedly we arrived around 1.30pm - but if you don't want to serve food through the afternoon, run two separate lunch and dinner services. I checked with staff downstairs when we arrived that we were okay to come in and eat. Staff also need proper training on handling allergies - they did not ask us about allergies when we were seated, and when my husband asked if there were any nuts in the trio of venison, we were told that they 'thought' there were nuts in the sauce. They did not offer to check this, offer any alternative or the dish without the sauce. Yes, the dining room is old and atmospheric, but it was also dusty - I could see clumps on dust on the metal light sconce where we were seated. We were really disappointed with this meal. The problem was by the time it arrived we were both so starving, complaining and delaying the food any longer wasn't even a possibility! We won't be...

It was the 1st of January 2023 and I was in a new town. I was supposed to go home but postponed it and dropped by this restaurant after my walk.

The Haunch of Venison is a restaurant recommended by almost all the blogs of "things to do in Salisbury". From the outside, the facade looks very old but maintained and the place is huge. Big wooden beams, ambient lighting, leather and vintage furniture/trinkets were inside. Felt very homey yet a little scary because its haunted. 😊 I was sat near the window and asked the lady if it was just me or it feels like I am tilted. She said ita because of how old the building was, the beams were wobbly but guaranteed it was safe. You would notice some warping on the ceiling. 😅 the wood and leather tho 🔥 I wanna drink here on my next visit 😬

For my starter, I had the duck liver pate with onion chutney. This was lush and I enjoyed every bite. The pate was bitter, rich and creamy while the onion chutney was sweet and a little tangy - perfect contrast tastewise and a perfect pair. It was served with 4 thin slices of sourdough -- i was tempted to ask/buy more -- couldnt find it on the menu and I was to shy to ask.

Then, I had the trio of venison (best of all venison worlds in one plate) it had venison sausage, pulled venison and venison steak. It was sitting on a bed of sweet potato mash and had some vuttered vegetables on the side. Now, the started got me almost full but this main dish I still devoured. The pulled venison was my least favorite, i love the snap the venison sausage case had and the venison steak #1. It was cooked thoroughly no pink but it was very tender. I didnt understand 🤯

A couple of men were already drinking at the pub area when I arrived. I looked like little red riding hood because of my raincoat and felt awkward with the stares. 😅 there are more seating upstairs and you can sit in silence in a corner if you are by yourself and enjoy the food 😊

It is along the road (Near the Poultry cross - 2 historic locations in one 😁) They have a loo There are fireplaces inside the restaurant if you want to sit near it They accept card payments The lady was very efficient in taking my plates when I finished every dish

☆Star rating☆ Price 5/5✨️ Food 5/5✨️ Ambiance 5/5✨️ Service...

Utterly abysmal. Walked into the most unwelcoming entrance, barman behind the bar, but no welcome, thus we had to determine where the restaurant was ourselves. We walked upstairs to be "greeted" by a very lacklustre waitress. Our seating was fine, outside of the main restaurant room, but fine. The waiter was equally dull, uninspiring and disappointingly poor at service. He provided us with a bottle of wine, which still had the cork in, he also had to go to get wine glasses (too much to realise you open the wine and return to the table with red wine glasses and an open bottle). The food wasn't too bad, not amazing, but by contrast, far better than the service. Waiting staff in casual hoodies, trainers and casual trousers. No pride in themselves or their appearance. At one point, I thought the waiter's drawstring from his hoody was going to take a quick dip in my wine glass, as he was leaning over us. Simple things like menus being taken away after we've ordered, were not adhered to. The lady next to us asked what the soup of the day was, we heard the waiter confirm it was vegetable soup, with carrots etc. The soup arrived and was onion soup. The waitress was very poor in dealing with this issue and looked to the lady to either eat the onion soup or come up with another option herself, appalling... It took the waitress far too long to offer something else off of the menu and there was no further offer made to make amends.

We were truly disappointed, as we had high hopes following some other reviews, and the charm of this old pub was very alluring. However a lack of ambience (which could be created from the right staff), poor service and mediocre food failed to achieve such hopes.

The pub itself is delightful, with quaint rooms, exposed beams, wonky staircase, but no wonder the restaurant was quiet in comparison to other pubs we were trying to book.

It felt like we were in a B&B and we had dared to ask if they provided dinner... Most unwelcoming.

Your staff require training in understanding the menu, taking pride in their appearance, welcoming guests and in general, have an effervescent...