The Folly — Restaurant in Test Valley

I was a little worried when we walked in to see lots of dirty tables and lots of tables with dirty plates left on, but figured it was maybe just a busy day, although when we arrived it was quite empty. We struggled to find a table that wasn't sticky. In the end we had to go with the least sticky one. The food menu got stuck to my husband's arm and had to be peeled off. Should've walked out at that point to be honest. We ordered food and drinks via the app which was quick and easy. We took advantage of the BOGOF Friday burger offer. We had "The Gravy One" x3 and a "Kickin Jack" I think it was called. They were good for the price but probably wouldn't have been overly impressed if they weren't BOGOF as there was only a handful of chips. The gravy tasted weird. Like vinegar! They forgot to bring two of our sides out that then took a while to come. The sweet potato fries were bordering on being burnt, as were the onion rings. The food is what's giving this review the two stars. The most awful part which was the worse experience I've ever had in a pub was the glasses! The most basic part of a pub experience! I'd ordered a mini bottle of prosecco which was delivered to the table with a dirty glass. Very visibly dirty. It had lipstick and finger prints on. My husband went to the bar to ask for a clean glass and was told there were no more flute glasses left and was given a wine glass. That would've been fine, but this glass was even dirtier! It was disgusting! Lipstick again, fingerprints again and greasy smears. I can't quite believe we were even given it! It looked like it had just been taken off another table and given to us. So he went back to the bar AGAIN to ask for a clean glass. He also had to ask for a glass and ice to go with the bottle of water I'd ordered because they'd just bought over a glass bottle of water with no glass. I'd also ordered sparkling water and was given still but I didn't notice until it was open. He came back from the bar with no wine glass. Apparently none left in the whole (quiet) pub. The glass he came back with for my water was just as disgusting as the first two. Yet again lipstick, fingerprints and smears. But this time it had something else. Something stuck to the inside of it that could've either been a bit of dried on food, or a bogey!!!! It was vile!!! So after THREE attempts to get one clean glass I had to give up and drink my prosecco out of the glass bottle!!!! And my water! Ridiculous! I just don't understand why getting a clean glass was such an issue. It's the basics! They were very, very clearly filthy too so I don't understand how the bar staff could even have thought it was OK to hand them out! We'd just been to my dad's cremation and were looking for somewhere to go to raise a glass to him. Turns out the most basic of things was not to be. Would never...

Super disappointed after our visit. The place was really unclean and we had nothing but trouble from start to finish with our food. Firstly we had requested for some changes on our food and was offered the choice to additional eggs to our main which I paid for and agreed which was in fact actually only one egg despite being advertised as eggs plural. The drinks advertised directly on the soda pump at the bar state you can 'add a splash of flavour to any soda'. We requested this and was looked at like we stupid as apparently they don't do them despite advertising it. We ended up with what tasted like very watered down lemonade instead. Eventually our starter arrived. Cheesy garlic ciabatta. However it wasn't a Ciabatta at all. It was 2 small burnt pieces of garlic baguette slices. Our mains then arrived and despite taking ages to rectify the changes, they still delivered the meal all wrong and the waitress said 'oh did they tell you we don't have any onion rings?'. No, we weren't informed. So the plate was sent back and didn't come back out for over another 10 mins. When it did arrive, it was still missing an egg, the burger was dry, the bacon in the burger was the smallest piece I've ever seen, there were about 10 chips which weren't even hot, the chicken wings were soggy and undercooked, and the steak was cooked well-done despite asking for medium. We had to go and search for our own cutlery, the service was poor. And when I tried to bring it up to a member of staff at the bar I waited for a long time whilst only 2 members of staff were on laughing and chatting with punters at the bar, and was met with a sarcastic, unapologetic member of staff when I was finally served. Every table around us was also bouncing complaints and disappointment. We won't be coming back again, they really need to sort this place out. It could be really great if they put the effort in and had a great...

So I'm the first to admit I'm a bit of a London w*nker... but when you have to spend £4k/month on rent, you do acclimatise to a certain living quality. I had a friend who told me when you're young you're fussy, when you're older you're discerning, and I feel like at 35 I'm inching into discerning territory.

For me, this isn't a place you'd actively choose to go to for the experience. I wouldn't even call it a pub, personally. It's a Greene King chain with chain pub food choices. The wine they serve is 19 Crimes and Echo Falls, which I think frankly should should be relegated to corner shops, not sold at profit. I'm pretty upset to not get a basic French or Italian, but I can admit I'm a wino so that's what I go to pubs and bars to get.

The menu is all very 101 options. It really depends how much you enjoy pleasure and if eating is a perfunctory road stop. My partner likes fast food and loved the Korean burger. I gotta say, for a chain burger they didn't do a bad job. My chicken looked a wee bit anemic but that's my only mild criticism, it was well cooked aside for the soft pale skin, neither were the sweet potato fries bad eituer- they were crispy. Baby loves nachos and didn't love these ones- they tortilla was great but you just can't use a cheese sauce on that, it does ruin it. You just don't do that.

I'm gonna reiterate I'm fussy when it comes to ambience and food quality, but to summatise; as a road trip pit stop, it was exactly what you'd expect from a Greene King pub in Adover. I feel OK leaving mediocre reviews for chain restaurants but I'm aware these guys actually read them, so please don't take it too seriously, unless you're looking for a quality family lunch or a...