The Red Lion — Restaurant in Woking

Having looked at a dining comparison website, I found The Red Lion to be the #3 restaurant in Woking, receiving glowing reviews. I booked on the phone with a gent seemingly going down with a mild bronchitis, and suffering from a lack of manners (no apology for subjecting me to his splutters). Despite this, and giving understanding to the poor soul, we attended the meal as arranged. A table for two was book, and disappointingly, without any forewarning, we were sat at a round table for 5. Now anyone that's has ever sat at a table, which is most of us, would know, that dining as a two whilst retaining any level of intimacy with 3 empty chairs is difficult. I ordered a Peroni, which when arrived was poured into an unheld glass, giving me 1cm of beer, and 15cm of froth, then, when that spectical was over, provided me with a mouthful of flat beer. They willingly replaced that for me to correctly pour for myself. For starters, my satay chicken was very nice, if alittle long in the making. Quite tasty and a nice sized portion. For mains, my wife's sandwich and chips (yes a cheap date I know, even though it was her birthday), was apparently quite acceptable. My pie and chips was excellent, the pie wall was as thick as a Yorkshire stone wall, almost like a pork pie texture, lovely, very nice indeed. Having, with full tummies, dodged the puddings, my wife ordered herself a latte. Regreably I couldn't have a coffee, because they don't have any dairy substitutes (soya/rice etc). The waitress did say people have asked before for this, but it's clear that nothing has been done to provide for future customers. Very disappointing that despite past feedback and disappointments, they have no contingencies for people avoiding dairy. Service throughout was just bordering into attentive, but lacked any discernible warmth. Enviroment was nice, cosy and well decorated. A horizontally challenged fellow diner wearing tight spandex cycling shorts and a baggy T-shirt dampened the atmosphere, as to whether a gastro pub should have a dress code to at least look decent, is up for debate. Overall, may go back, one day. The food was fab (drinks a real let down), but returning would only happen if I left it long enough to hope enough would...

After myself and a group of friends went out for a long family/dog walk, we had booked to have Sunday lunch in the pub.

Upon booking the table, the staff emailing had said that dogs aren’t usually allowed, especially on busy Sundays. They said they would allow us in this time... this was then met by a reply from a friend in the group that reminded the pub that we have eaten there before, and had two dogs with us. So that new information was a lie.

Upon arriving, my welcome was cold. I sat at the table were the staff said they would bring over menus. As I was the first of the group to arrive, I didn’t see a menu or get offered a drink order as I waited 10 minutes.

After everyone had arrived I then ordered from the two dishes Sunday menu. I ordered fish cake to start, and roast beef for my main. When our food did arrive, I was shocked to find a metal bolt In my fish cake. This was not a small bolt (see photo). I told the staff, and it was taken away straight away.

The manager did offer me a free drink and said my food orders would be covered by the pub.

The annoying thing is that they seemed to dismiss the seriousness of the situation. If the bolt wasn’t huge in size, myself or someone could have swallowed it, or caused serious damage to their teeth/mouth.

Once the main dishes came out, a member of staff seemed to be annoyed that people are ordering food. He pretty much slammed our main dishes down on the table. He also put down a couple of extremely hot plates right next to the 2 year old at the table. Does the guy not have any common sense? I understand it may be a busy Sunday lunch service, but don’t be an idiot.

Later a staff member came over to ask how our main dishes were and seemed to joke about that we “didn’t find any hidden extras inside your meals”. I definitely think this is highly unprofessional. Especially after what I had found in my meal.

All in all, it was a terrible experience. And a place I wouldn’t want...

In short, GREAT FOOD, a bit pricey, but APPALLING SERVICE. We had booked a table in advance for a Tuesday night. On arrival a member of staff pointed us to our table (whilst others were taken to their tables and given menus and drink orders taken). After waiting some time, we were asked if we were ready to order, and explained that we hadn't been given a menu yet, and it took another 5 minutes for that to arrive. There was very little on the menu for vegetarians and vegans. We soon chose what we wanted, but couldn't catch any of the waiting staff to order it. Then the table next to ours (who arrived at least half an hour after us) were asked if they were ready to order. I called across to the waitress that we were here first and have just been ignored, but she continued to take their order. Eventually, someone else came to take our order for food and drinks, but there was a very long wait for it to arrive. The food was very good, and our plates were removed as soon as we had finished. We waited and waited, but still couldn't attract the attention of passing waiting staff to get the dessert menu. I was about to give up when one went to the next table to see if they were ok. I complained to him about the poor service, and he got us a menu. Again, the food was good, albeit a little on the pricey side. Yet another huge wait to try to get a bill. I almost got up to leave as it seemed that they were not interested in my money! Amazingly though, when I did finally get to ask for the bill, a waiter couldn't have grovelled more if he tried! (purely after a tip). Well, I told him that the only tip I'm giving him is to look after your customers from begining to end. I certainly was not giving gratuities for service as it was...