The Farmers Home — Restaurant in Winchester

The Farmers Home was a pub we visited on many occasions but have found things have changed a lot over the years and not for the better our last visit around 4 months ago we went for a meal as my husband has to have gluten free he chose the pork loin chops as in the past he has always had this meal and never been disappointed but unfortunately when meal arrived the chops were not loin they were so thick and had fat on outside, where as in the past they had always been thin chops as that what loin means my husband found them tough to cut and chewy most disappointing can I also point out that the meal had increased by £3 due to price we had paid in the past I get increase but why change the meat to cheaper product ? Anyway we decided to give the pub another try so went last night for a meal 5th NOVEMBER again my husband did order the same Loin pork chops I asked the waitress to ask the chef if chops are thick or loin she said that they are finger thick, so we ordered we also said does the meal still come with vegetables as this always accompanied the meal and were generous portion she replied no you now have to pay extra for these I asked why? She replied because there was to much wastage!! Come on absolutely appalling at the end of day customer pays for this meal and not cheap either so pub decides to remove an item of dish just because the customer may leave some veg ridiculous,when the meal arrived chops were slightly better but no where as good not loin had one mushroom and 2 tomatoes to replace VEG!! Change the description on menu not LOIN chops but fatty thick chops. I ordered lasagne again no where near as good as in the past the portion was smaller salad replace by that stringy lettuce and coleslaw horrible so overall experience we have decided we will not be eating there ever again shame as we loved eating there and to find a good country pub these days is difficult but it has gone down hill food is expensive now and have reduced the quality and presentation and have to pay extra for...

Wednesday 14th September 2016, 4 diners for lunch at this wonderful country Pub, so full of character, plenty of off road parking. Well staffed by very caring customer orientated people. Nicely greeted and showed to a lovely area next to a window. Staff very attentive to our needs, served our drinks promptly and our meals followed a short time later. The food was excellent and arrived at the table hot, most enjoyable. The tables were laid with clean slate table mats, great touch, along with excellent cutlery ( not the type that threatens to bend when you are cutting your food) clean wine glasses etc. All in all a great experience enjoyed by all.

What a difference a year makes, 2nd visit Monday 7 August 2017 and it has all gone pear shaped, initially ignored by the staff after 10 minutes, finally managed to obtain a drink and found a table for 2, tables all tightly packed, could not sit straight at my table as a large beam did not permit the chair proper access to the table, very cramped. The Pub was busy surprisingly for a Monday, My Prawn Thermidor was less than average, made to look attractive by 4 well positioned prawns but in reality they were decoration for really tiny shrimps which made up the bulk of the Thermidor not impressed, quite tasteless the accompanying vegetables were gross, diced carrots, mashed swede and the toughest unchewable savoy cabbage imaginable, ate what we could and left...

Great local pub, nice atmosphere, good food, but we unfortunately had a very disappointing experience with service. We requested mixers with other drinks that we were told were available, then when our drinks arrived they were served with different mixers. When we enquired about it we were told “we don’t have the mixer, but we’ve put a garnish in” (!!!), a comment that came with a bit of attitude and without an apology - we were stunned! When ordering pudding, we requested to swap ice cream with custard, we were told that could be done, but finally all puddings arrived with ice cream. We did not have a chance to question this before they walked away. After hearing us talking about it between us, a lady came back asking “did you order custard with your pudding?”, we said we had indeed but not to worry about it (at that point we had decided to accept the puddings with ice cream, to save us the hassle of returning them). To that, the lady said “oh sorry” and simply walked away. Mistakes do happen and it’s perfectly understandable, but it’s how they’re dealt with that makes a difference for a business. It’s very disappointing for an otherwise lovely dinner experience to be tarnished by the failings of below-par...