The Castle — Restaurant in Waverley

Super disappointed with the Castle. First time visiting after hearing some good reviews and it was so disappointing. They’ve taken out the booths since Raymond Blanc’s restaurant so it’s all open plan and super echoey. Unfortunately for us a table of 4 screaming kids and 4 disinterested parents were right in the middle of the restaurant on a Saturday morning. Kids were even running around and under the table screaming and servers said nothing. Super hard to have a conversation with so much screaming

Orange juice is out of a carton (no juicer or freshly pressed?), it tasted awful and so cheap. They do have vegan options but they consist of regular menu items of which they then just take stuff off the plate, super uninspiring and low effort from the chefs. My vegan breakfast they took off eggs, took off avocado (which they didn’t even tell me about but I noticed when it arrived that it was missing and had to ask to which they then said they’d just ran out), toast was really burnt and dry and they had no vegan butter at all. It’s such poor service to make vegan options which consists of taking things off the plate and not replacing it with anything or adding any extra. Vegan sausages were also out of a packet and not kitchen made. So my plate consisted of one small hash brown, one tiny pot of baked beans, two packet sausages, cold wet spinach and 2 bits of burnt toast. I could have made much better at home!

Rest of the food was unbelievably average. Service was average, waitress unfortunately didn’t know anything about the menu. Also they don’t have a daytime drinks menu, eg for brunch I wanted to see what drinks they had, waitress didn’t know and no menu meant I had to guess off the top of my head! Also they haven’t fixed the toilets since the last restaurant as they’re absolutely freezing and several degrees colder than the main restaurant

The only good thing was the decor is...

Christmas meal with friends, firstly I like this pub, if not a traditional pub in terms of the original site it's on, but always a nice feel to it, the Christmas Dinner, sadly a bit of a fail for me, I'll go straght to the main course if I may and say, if its not broke don't change it too much, a turkey dinner swimming in sauces of variable tastes which just didn't work for me, roasted veg, umm well I found one roasted Brussel sprout, couple of carrots, if that's fine dinning, which it's not by the way, it didn't work, look I'm sure some will say it's nice, not sure how many but the sauces were overpowering and a Christmas dinner for many is a tradition this certainly isn't one, but!!!! The service was good, the starters were OK, prawn cocktail went down well with a few on our table, but again get that wrong you may as well give up, but they didn't so tick ✅. The desserts were decent and saved the meal, sticky toffee pudding was superb, Christmas pudding enough and tasty, the cheese and biscuits no complaints. Look I like this place the vibe is relaxed and welcoming, but if somethings not broke, don't change it too much, a Christmas dinner isn't broke but in this case it's over tweaked. Will I go back, absolutely the staff are...

WOW , WELL THAT WAS GREAT ! we have not been to The Castle since it's re- fit and oh my God , we have we been missing something special. Last night we had dinner to celebrate my wife's birthday and everything was perfect. 1: Service Great service by a really attentive and friendly lady ( Despite having to look after quite a busy room )

2: Food - great menu ,something for everyone

We had the Halloumi Fries ( very nice) and the Calamari starters We also had the Duck ( beautifully cooked with superb beetroot and a great gravy ,, The pork Belly ( soft and succulent with a fantastic outer crisp to it ) and the freshest Fish and Chips ( crispy chips that were fluffy inside ).. ahh indeed Pudding was an easy choice Eton Mess ... wow tart and fruity the best Eton Mess I have had in years

3: Decor Beautifully done, such a lovely building and the trip upstairs to the the bathroom's reveals some very cool private dining rooms that can be hired .. oh I have a party idea already!

Thank you all for a lovely meal and a great evening ... My wife felt very happy as it was her birthday and you really...