Bell Inn Godstone — Restaurant in Tandridge

Good things The location is great as this was a family gathering with people coming from North of London, suburbs of London and West Sussex. On the day there was plenty of parking. The gardens are spacious with lots of picnic tables with canopies etc. Bad things However our experience on the very nice sunny day was pretty awful so here we go. This was a gathering of 8 adults made up of 3 couples, 2 in their 60's, one in their 30's an expectant mum, mid so's and a single man in his 60's plus a 15 month old. A mixed group. The table was booked for 12.30 and we were all there on time. We didn't, couldn't leave until 3.30 as everything was so slow. It wasn't that we were in a hurry but everything seemed to take ages which wasn't helped when orders were misunderstood and dishes had to be sent back and other ''I'll check with the kitchen' moments. Her are some more specifics; Very poor service. The starters & mains arrived at different times.

Chris’s main was served first; the last main was served 15 minutes later. He asked for ketchup, but they said they would bring it after they had finished serving mains – he had finished by the time it arrived.

Coffee and tea arrived a long time before desserts.

We had to ask the staff to serve desserts, it felt as if they had forgotten us. They gave Chris honey ice cream instead of ginger; when he told them they got it wrong they said they would check what he had ordered !

Quality of food was poor. The food was overpriced.

Goats cheese starter was poor quality. The truffle chips ordered as a main were plain chips.

Gammon was small and tough. Gnocchi had been under a heat lamp for a while which spoiled it and at £16.75 not worth it, Had to ask for a spoon 3 times.

Fishcakes were tiny, and they forgot the salad.

Seabass portion was small and overcooked, it was hard around the edges. The spinach was not creamed; it was wet, tough, and inedible. The 2 scoops of ice cream ordered had melted in the bowl, so they put a fresh scoop on top. She had ordered espresso to pour over the top, but it was cold by the time the ice cream arrived. Had to ask for milk to go with tea. Hake overcooked.

On the plus side Prawn starters were good and the trio of desserts was excellent and good value at £10.50. As you can see this is why I have marked it as a zero chance of us going back or recommending The Bell. This is a shame because I and others in the group have used it in the past and it's been fine and indeed some of the Google reviews have been good so maybe we...

I've delayed posting this review as the stars don't really reflect the issues here, so I will attempt to explain. I visited here for a work Christmas meal of 30ish people.

It's a pleasant pub with a nice interior , seems to have a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.

Service wise staff were really efficient , pleasant and welcoming and did go the extra mile to be genuinely pleasant. A star lost on service because some of the cutlery , especially forks, were dirty on the back of the prongs, issue with the design of the forks maybe. This isn't, however, a big deal to me , it happens in catering .

Food was amazing , can't fault the quality , well cooked, well seasoned HOWEVER the roast turkey dinner was 2 x small slices of turkey, 2 x small roast potatoes, 1 small pig in blanket, 1 tiny stuffing ball. Vegetable wise quarter of a small carrot each, quarter of a small parsnip each and 4 or 5 brussel sprouts . Desert was also on the small side - I expect a whole lot more for £36.00. This is the 1st Christmas style lunch I have had where I had to stop for a meal deal within an hour of leaving . I think there was meant to be one small bowl of veg per person , but we actually ended up with 1 between 2 of us . Maybe I should have brought a ration card !

They also offered a kids meal - i dread to think what the kids would get, probably a plate with crumbs on.

This is by far the smallest portion I have ever seen on a pub plate, let alone for a Christmas style meal.

Lovely place, really good staff, well prepared - completely let down by a complete lack of value for money virging on stinginess. I don't have a huge appetite , so I feel sorry for anyone that does .

Hated writing this review , this establishment deserves a whole lot better than being let down so massively in...

If I was purely rating the food I would have given this 5 stars as the food was that good. However we had a few issues when eating yesterday lunchtime.

Firstly there are not enough staff on the bar. There is only room for 2 staff really as the bar is so small. (hopefully the refurb in October will address this)

Secondly the fixed lunch menu does not accomodate vegans. So we tried to switch a starter of tempura mushrooms to something from vegan menu and were told that we could not as it would not apply the discount in the POS system. So we tried to switch to equivalent priced mushroom dish and the bar guy had to go and ask the kitchen. Which they agreed to do. The mushrooms were delicious by the way. Thirdly We had ordered 2 starters for me and my partner and a main and dessert for my daughter. Whilst we were eating our starters and my daughter had her pizza the waitress brought my daughters dessert out!!! After we finished our main I had to go back to the bar and ask for the dessert. When I told the barmaid what had happened she literally put her head in her hands and apologised and sorted the issue immediately.

Finally the gardener appeared at around 2pm and started trimming the garden with a very noisy hedge trimmer. It took another customer to ask him twice to stop before he did as it was impossible to hear yourself think.

I don't blame the staff as they were all friendly and helpful. I think the bar set up is restrictive and the set lunch menu needs to be reviewed in order to accomodate vegans. The POS system needs to be more flexible as well.

Hopefully the refurb will resolve these issues and that next time we come for the excellent food that the experience will match the food...