The Bat & Ball Freehouse — Restaurant in Waverley

We had Sunday lunch early March ’25. The roast meat choices were beef and pork. Beef was a bit chewy for me, pinkish but not red. I would have expected it to have more taste with that colour. Broccoli spears were too hard, I don’t mind a little underdone but these were hard work. The rest of the roast was lovely: potatoes parsnips carrots, huge Yorkshire pudding. Gravy was exceptional. There was also some sort of onion with seeds in it. I liked the flavour but there was no mention of it in the description. (I have friends who are intolerant of onions and seeds) Staff were friendly and attentive without being too intrusive. Banoffee pie was very tasty but there was not enough banana. I had about 3 slices a couple of millimetres thick — that’s not even a single bite! I can only guess the kitchen was running low. The pie and cream were exceptional and that’s the hardest part! Apparently the cherry brownie was disappointing (much better than an ordinary pub brownie) but again not enough fruit/sauce to balance the brownie. Execution great but balance of flavours not so. They had run out of decaf coffee, which three of our party of four wanted but did have oat milk, which one of us wanted. That reminds me that one of us was offered dairy free ice cream, then checked with the kitchen staff, who had put ordinary ice cream on a pudding, and got them to do it again. Well done for checking and sorting this out. I would go again in the hope that it might improve but not...

We visited today, believing The B&Ball was going to be our new haunt. Today, was not at all, a good experience. We were first told that the roast beef was only cooked one way and we did not have a choice, for our request for medium rare. After asking that the waiter check with the chef - we did get medium rare beef, but we had to 'push' for it. We then later asked, our very helpful 'second' waiter, if the amaretto liqueur which came with an ice-cream dessert, could be swapped for Tia Maria, because of an allergy to almonds. He went off to ask management who then advised to inform us that we could have Tia Maria, but for an extra £3. A £6 dessert ended up going to cost £9, for just asking for a swap of a liqueur shot! We declined. After spending £80 for our meal/drink, we will not be recommending or revisiting. It is such a shame, when this was our anniversary treat to ourselves. We hardly go out for a meal these days, and like many others, are experiencing the cost of living impact. I believe that this Freehouse made a very short sighted decision. There are so many other pubs which offer a choice of how your roast beef can be cooked without you having to 'push' for confirmation from the chef - and they also understand good customer service. B&Ball - please note that you have lost a customer plus any good...

From the moment we arrived we felt rushed into taking a seat and ordering drinks. I went to the bar to see what ales were available, the bar staff looked at me as if I shouldn't be looking to see what was available. That said the drinks we ordered were probably the best part of our meal ! We ordered Ribs from the specials and the Ceasar chicken burger, our meals were delivered to our table within approx 6-8 minutes which we thought was a bit too quick. The Ribs came with chunky chips and "slaw" which was absolutely disgusting, it was basically chopped little gem lettuce with shredded beetroot smothered in vinegar (un-edible), the chicken burger was not really a burger, this consisted of 3 small pieces of coated chicken in a bun served with skinny fries (kfc) could have done better. To top things off, the menu was changed during service and prices increased (chicken burger went up £1.00). We checked the menu for prices on receipt of the bill, but again we were made to feel that we were doing something wrong. When asked how our meal was I replied "it was ok" and made reference to the slaw, however on returning with our bill, nothing was addressed by the server. Unless there are significant changes, I would not recommend...