From Across the Pond — Restaurant in Colleyville

My wife and I recently tried “Across the Pond” for the first time. It’s actually over an hour away from our house. But we are lovers of British and European cuisine. So we looked at the reviews and decided to give it a try. We have been to England, Ireland, & Wales. So we are familiar with authentic British and UK food.

We decided to start off with the Scotch Egg. It took a little while to get it. The eggs themselves (appearance wise) looked really good. But we were instantly turned off by the “jalapeño” ranch that accompanied it. By looking at it, it appeared to be bottled ranch. So we tasted it and sure enough, it was. A homemade ranch would have been a million times better. So I go in for the taste. Cutting into it the egg and sausage was cooked to perfection. Time for the taste, the sausage tasted like breakfast sausage. I.e. Jimmy Dean’s style sausage. Not what I was expecting at all. It was a real turn off. I ate it because I ordered it.

For the entree my wife ordered the Tika Masala and I ordered the bangers and mash. As I have said we have been to the UK and my wife has been to India several times. So I believe we are a little more versed to what the food should taste like than the average person who hasn’t. The “Tika masala” very tomatoey, slightly remnant of tomato soup. The chicken was very dry, almost indelible. The Tika sauce tasted like it didn’t have any spices in it at all. Very bland. Wife said she’s had better “Indian food” on the plane. We took it to go, as wife would not eat it.

As I said, my order was the Bangers and Mash. It wasn’t half bad. The only negative thing I would say about it would be the bangers were cold in comparison of the mash. You couldn’t eat the bangers by themselves. You had to add the mash to get a suitable temperature.

So for dessert, we ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding. Now I can say this. I have had authentic sticky toffee pudding. While this was ok, it was not at all what I expected. “Sticky toffee pudding” tasted like hot gingerbread. Also, the cook must have put it in the microwave too long. Extremely too hot. Ate it because I ordered it and it wouldn't have make our over an hour drive home.

Seems like a “British” restaurant for people who have never been. Food sub par and not like I’ve had in London and Wales at all.

Really disappointed. Really wanted to like this place. Maybe the cook was having an off...

I'd really like to give this place a 4 or 5 rating but I can't. Firstly lets get out that we have to accept there's always going to be some microwaved frozen dishes in any bar menu.

I do like the atmosphere, although it's been a little quite on both occasions we've been, maybe we just haven't found their busy times. Our reason for checking 'From Across the Pond' out was more for the food than the beverages and so we come to the rating of 3: We've ordered the Scotch Egg appetizer on both visits, it's served hot, which is rare in the UK, it's normally served cold with salad for lunch or maybe tea time on a Sunday. I will give a definite thumbs up for the Shepherds Pie, that did bring back fond memories, but I can't recommend the Chicken Tika Marsala, I didn't know Nan bread could be served in such minute pieces , the chicken was dry , the rice nothing special and the sauce completely tasteless; I recommend going to an Indian restaurant if you really want this dish :-). The bangers and mash was ok although nothing special.

I already mentioned the atmosphere was good and the staff friendly and accommodating, I felt like I could make it my local watering hole but would be going somewhere else to eat. The one caveat being that I'd probably stick to beer, it was difficult to detect any noticeable trace of alcohol in either if the cocktails we tried.

This may sound like a brutal review, it's not, I'm just a little critical as a Brit with high expectations, I do recommend you try it for yourself. This venue is pitched in Google Maps as a Gluten free tavern with a British theme, I cannot argue with that description.

Since I moved to the US some years back, there has been a shift in public houses in the UK . Because of tightening drinking and driving laws, pubs have started to focus more on food than drink, so much so that the bar area is more of a pre-dinner waiting area than a place to huddle down for an evening of drinking. Despite this change, the food served in these establishments isn't all that much to write home about, so maybe I was a little hard on 'From...

We were very excited to try this gluten-free restaurant! Apparently this place was recently featured on a Food Network television show so they have increased in customer traffic and do not have the staffing to take care of the increase in customers. We waited quite a while to be greeted and just shy of forever for our food. That said- we both ordered the Sunday only roast w vegetables and Yorkshire pudding. The meat was tough and needed a knife to cut but was surprisingly tasty and the potatoes were great. Portion sizes are large, hardly anyone was finishing their food- they could save some money by shrinking the portion size a bit and no one would complain. They specialize in fish and chips, several people ordered this and we wish that we had as well. It looked delicious and the portion was giant. Couple of things- 1. this restaurant was so cold we saw people putting on sweaters and moving their tables away from the vent to escape cold air- another way to cut cost, raise the temperature two or 3° and your customers will still be comfortable. It is likely the temperature is set to the comfort level of your kitchen staff and not your customer. 2. We observed a female bringing food out of the kitchen and she was wearing open toe slides. This grossed us out as we know this is not approved health code for a restaurant. 3. They had gluten free bread pudding as a dessert and we really wanted to try it, we ordered it and literally waited 20 minutes- it’s apparent no one is managing this kitchen properly- dessert should have been out in 5.. we never intended to spend so much of our afternoon here. I would come back to try the fish and chips but definitely not on a weekend and I need a little time to forget some things about this experience.. they’re trying but some effort needs to be re routed. Also- the female bartender was just super loud.. talking really loud to people causing our experience to be less than enjoyable.. she could tone...