The Pheasant - Mole Valley

We quite often visit other pubs in this chain most often the Fox Revived. We were expecting good things because the other pubs are so good but The Pheasant is average at best. Burger was very average and looked like it had been thrown at the plate. Seafood stew tasty, but just fish swimming in sauce and when I asked for some bread to go with it I was charged an extra £3! Service felt rushed and the manager kept shouting about needing tables freed up. All in all a disappointing experience and I don't think we'd bother going back.

Been to the pheasant quite a few times and it’s been hit and miss. It’s the sister pub of the Haycutter in oxted which we’ve always been happy with. If I’m honest only book the pheasant when we can’t get into the haycutter. No surprise there’s always room at the pheasant. Todays lunch was a total disaster. They got our drinks wrong 3 times. Once is understandable. Twice is disappointing three times is just a joke. Even the head waitress was embarrassed and tried to make a joke out of it. The roasts were dreadful. Pork belly was a skinny bit of ropey fat the beef was too tough to cut even though it was pink and cut really thinly. The wife didn’t even have gravy on hers. In all fairness my cod and chips was tasty. But my wife and elderly mothers roasts were almost inedible. And not wanting to moan about everything but £25 each is blinking steep. I was winding myself up thinking how many joints I could have bought for fifty quid. The place is full of very young staff that to be honest are a bit slow and also don’t give a s about the customers. Sorry about the moaning but had no option but to vent my frustration. To add insult to injury they didn’t even bring me my change. That’s a pet hate of mine. Basically that’s thieving off your customers. To round it up if the haycutter is full I’ll stay at home or go elsewhere. They won’t be seeing my money ever again.

We come here a lot and usually really enjoy it but today unfortunately was a different story. When we arrived we were seated but there was no waitress around for ages so we had to try and catch someone’s attention to get served. We ordered what we usually have to eat but the meal was cold. No one came to ask if everything was alright so when the waitress eventually came to clear the table we told her about the cold meals. She said she would speak to her manager and when she came back with the bill told us that there would be no discount but we could have some extra meal tickets instead. I thought this was a real kick in the teeth, no I don’t want to come back and spend my hard earned cash on a sub standard meal and poor service just so I can have a discount. Unbelievable! The waitress looked really sick so shouldn’t have been serving. I really wish they would stop adding mushrooms to the salad garnish as well, they don’t belong there and make the whole dish smell of them. Anyway I think we will leave returning here for a while and hope they improve the food and service in the meantime.

We always choose this chain of pubs to eat in as they have always offered a gluten free menu. My son is gluten free and it was always lovely that he was offered a menu which was the same as ours but with the things that weren't gluten free taken off. Yesterday we visited our local restaurant, The Pheasant, to find that they no longer do this. He was given an entire menu which was 4 sides of A4 long and detailed every allergen you can possibly think of against every dish. It was long, and laborious to wade through. Also things he had previously ordered were no longer gluten free, the waitress said that some dishes that were always gluten free were now no longer due to them changing ingredients. I remember a few years ago being told by the manager in The Fox Revived that the chain eventually hoped to go fully gluten free. It would appear that they are now heading in the opposite direction. The food we did order was delicious and the service was excellent.

Many thanks again to ELANA for looking after us extremely well, so very polite. She deserves some praise. From Ray,Rosemary, and our dog Susie 12noon on the 17th January.