Five of us came for Sunday lunch. Delay to be served after ordering was more than half an hour. Three of the meals were fine, the roast beef was inedible. The serving staff were helpful, but nobody from management came to the table to address the concern. Maybe it was that they were too busy - overall not a good experience at all.
Leah Collins
Totally recommend eating here, service was good and food was beautiful, a perfect ending to a great day.
Richard Moreau-Smith
Special wasn't great or fresh, came out very quick so obviously been pinged in the microwave, but staff really nice.
Rob Stevens
We'd not been to the Puffing Billy for a couple of years, so we were pleased to discover that it was as good as ever.Food, service, and atmosphere were excellent .Dog and kid friendly as which was helpful for us.It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.
James McKiernan
Only 1 staff on tonight but he made it seem like 5. At tentative to everyone's need all night from service start until last order's.Vegetarian options: Every single vegetarian option is offered at least twice fold for every course
Nick Trotman
OK food. Nice to stop for lunch while on a long walk.
m
We were very disappointed in our experience here. We arrived for a booked table for a surprise birthday to find our table wasn't ready and had people eating on it. The waitress got our food order wrong and had to ask us 3x what we ordered to then come back 10 mins later to say one of the dishes wasn't available.The food came out cold and most plates had to be reheated for one of them to come back out cold again where they forgot to heat one. And the veg took so long to come out that the rest of one of the meals was pretty much finished.The extra carrots on the side were so salty we couldn't eat them, and the sauces we asked for to the table got forgotten.It's such a shame. This pub was amazing back in the day. Doesn't seem like they can handle a busy pub.Don't get me wrong. Being busy does add pressure, but if you can't handle it, don't take more bookings.For the price you paid for the food, it was a total rip-off.Won't be going back and won't be recommending to others.Parking: There is a small car park but on a Sunday it was full, on street parking was full, so it was very hard to find somewhere to park.
Barten
Sub par as best really. Came for a meal tonight with a couple of friends. Having previously been here, I knew it was good and it's normally locally talked about as a rather good pub, but it massively fell short today.Fish and chips is what I ordered but you got the option of having it grilled or battered. I asked for grilled and shockingly it came out battered. Friend ordered blue cheese sauce and got peppercorn sauce instead yet the receipt said blue cheese sauce. We both would of complained but we waited I would say 30-40 minutes on food and it really didn't look that busy.Just seemed like there were a lot of short cuts made in our meal. The food wasn't anything special for the price paid. 18£ for fish and chips in my opinion is quite steep and the batter looked a bit burnt as it should be more if a golden colour.Don't think I'll go back unless it's for drinks passing through
Debbie Scott
Lovely friendly welcome. Airy and comfortable. Very decent food and good wines.
Beautiful meal with family. A little expensive but was lively
Diogo Moreira
Second time here. Lovely place but wouldn’t recommend. Always takes more than 1 hour to get served. We asked for some olive oil and bread as a starter. I can tell you now - i’m Portuguese - that was not olive oil… not even sure what oil it was but the taste was awful. Also, I ordered battered haddock with chips, but after 1h30 waiting it finally came with skin on and full of bones. Not very pleasant. My sister in law was giving her 9 months baby some fish… i quickly alerted her to remove all the fish as could choke.
Ian Bethwaite
Really good Xmas lunch, staff fab, only comment re food, portions over
John M
Lovely welcoming traditional English pub. Staff were very helpful, even though we arrived 10 minutes before end of service! Food quality was great, with lots to choose from and service prompt. There’s a playground for the kids across the road and lovely walks down to the river.
amdownes
Christmas Day Lunch 2023. Overall experience was poor. The meal lasted over 3 hours with very long wait times between the 3 courses. It should have been 4 courses but never received the sorbet. Staff were indifferent, nobody checked how we were enjoying our food. The table was not ready although we were told it was when we were seated – 2 Christmas crackers between the 7 of us, and not enough cutlery or glasses. We were offered one round of drinks, this was the one and only time. It was necessary to go to the bar to order wine and coffee. They ran out of wine glasses so drank out of ones intended for water. The napkins looked like small tablecloths that you could almost wrap around you – just all a bit odd. The food for most was OK but the beef but extremely tough so took it home for the dog. The vegetables were uninspiring – certainly not up to the standards of a gastro pub/restaurant. There was a tiny amount of gravy and silly size portions of sauces. We had to wait for refills for which again took an age to arrive. We have eaten at the restaurant a few times before and it has been good. This time it wasn’t and don’t think they should offer Christmas Day Lunch if they really can’t do it properly.
Five of us came for Sunday lunch. Delay to be served after ordering was more than half an hour. Three of the meals were fine, the roast beef was inedible. The serving staff were helpful, but nobody from management came to the table to address the concern. Maybe it was that they were too busy - overall not a good experience at all.
Totally recommend eating here, service was good and food was beautiful, a perfect ending to a great day.
Special wasn't great or fresh, came out very quick so obviously been pinged in the microwave, but staff really nice.
We'd not been to the Puffing Billy for a couple of years, so we were pleased to discover that it was as good as ever.Food, service, and atmosphere were excellent .Dog and kid friendly as which was helpful for us.It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.
Only 1 staff on tonight but he made it seem like 5. At tentative to everyone's need all night from service start until last order's.Vegetarian options: Every single vegetarian option is offered at least twice fold for every course
OK food. Nice to stop for lunch while on a long walk.
We were very disappointed in our experience here. We arrived for a booked table for a surprise birthday to find our table wasn't ready and had people eating on it. The waitress got our food order wrong and had to ask us 3x what we ordered to then come back 10 mins later to say one of the dishes wasn't available.The food came out cold and most plates had to be reheated for one of them to come back out cold again where they forgot to heat one. And the veg took so long to come out that the rest of one of the meals was pretty much finished.The extra carrots on the side were so salty we couldn't eat them, and the sauces we asked for to the table got forgotten.It's such a shame. This pub was amazing back in the day. Doesn't seem like they can handle a busy pub.Don't get me wrong. Being busy does add pressure, but if you can't handle it, don't take more bookings.For the price you paid for the food, it was a total rip-off.Won't be going back and won't be recommending to others.Parking: There is a small car park but on a Sunday it was full, on street parking was full, so it was very hard to find somewhere to park.
Sub par as best really. Came for a meal tonight with a couple of friends. Having previously been here, I knew it was good and it's normally locally talked about as a rather good pub, but it massively fell short today.Fish and chips is what I ordered but you got the option of having it grilled or battered. I asked for grilled and shockingly it came out battered. Friend ordered blue cheese sauce and got peppercorn sauce instead yet the receipt said blue cheese sauce. We both would of complained but we waited I would say 30-40 minutes on food and it really didn't look that busy.Just seemed like there were a lot of short cuts made in our meal. The food wasn't anything special for the price paid. 18£ for fish and chips in my opinion is quite steep and the batter looked a bit burnt as it should be more if a golden colour.Don't think I'll go back unless it's for drinks passing through
Lovely friendly welcome. Airy and comfortable. Very decent food and good wines.
Food was good quality and staff
Restaurantji Recommends
Beautiful meal with family. A little expensive but was lively
Second time here. Lovely place but wouldn’t recommend. Always takes more than 1 hour to get served. We asked for some olive oil and bread as a starter. I can tell you now - i’m Portuguese - that was not olive oil… not even sure what oil it was but the taste was awful. Also, I ordered battered haddock with chips, but after 1h30 waiting it finally came with skin on and full of bones. Not very pleasant. My sister in law was giving her 9 months baby some fish… i quickly alerted her to remove all the fish as could choke.
Really good Xmas lunch, staff fab, only comment re food, portions over
Lovely welcoming traditional English pub. Staff were very helpful, even though we arrived 10 minutes before end of service! Food quality was great, with lots to choose from and service prompt. There’s a playground for the kids across the road and lovely walks down to the river.
Christmas Day Lunch 2023. Overall experience was poor. The meal lasted over 3 hours with very long wait times between the 3 courses. It should have been 4 courses but never received the sorbet. Staff were indifferent, nobody checked how we were enjoying our food. The table was not ready although we were told it was when we were seated – 2 Christmas crackers between the 7 of us, and not enough cutlery or glasses. We were offered one round of drinks, this was the one and only time. It was necessary to go to the bar to order wine and coffee. They ran out of wine glasses so drank out of ones intended for water. The napkins looked like small tablecloths that you could almost wrap around you – just all a bit odd. The food for most was OK but the beef but extremely tough so took it home for the dog. The vegetables were uninspiring – certainly not up to the standards of a gastro pub/restaurant. There was a tiny amount of gravy and silly size portions of sauces. We had to wait for refills for which again took an age to arrive. We have eaten at the restaurant a few times before and it has been good. This time it wasn’t and don’t think they should offer Christmas Day Lunch if they really can’t do it properly.