The Bat and Ball Country Pub and Haywards Restaurant Reviews Summary

Pub Atmosphere and Service

Pros:

• "Cosy and welcoming country pub. We had a delicious lunch there today, including the seafood surfboard and halibut."
• "This is a real gem with beautiful surroundings inside and out, lots of seating options, fab food and excellent service."
• "Welcome from Lisa and Bruno was fabulous 👌.. shame they're going on somewhere else.."
• "A country pub with a great reputation and this reputation is well-deserved."
• "A group from our company visited for a team celebration lunch on a day off, and received fantastic service."
• "Staff were very smartly dressed and courteous from the word go."
• "The service was wonderful, the gardens are beautiful and the food was delicious!!"
• "Cracking country pub next to the famous Fishers Farm kids attraction."

Cons:

• "Visited with large family group for a birthday. Lovely pub, nice setting. Food was good, staff were lovely, but the service was chaotic."
• "Decent food, lovely waitress but totally spoiled by the manager poorly lighting a log fire."
• "Kids meals weren't great. Pizza just had thick tomato paste and cheddar cheese on."
• "Lovely pub with great grounds- really busy Sunday so service a bit slow."
• "George and Louis behind the bar create the theatre, but Richard and his team, Maddie with her Irish charm, need to improve."
• "Service needs improvement - no table ready when we had prebooked via internet and waitresses courteous but cold."
• "Sadly the speed of the food service was poor. Maybe midweek is not a good time for them, or are they just skimping on the staff."
• "Food took over an hour. Half the food on the menu wasn't available."

Camping Experience

Pros:

• "Lovely campsite, fairly small and quiet. Not really one for activities and ball games but on the site of a fantastic pub."
• "We camped and decided to have a meal here. Lovely country pub inside and large beautiful country garden for outside dining."
• "We stayed at the campsite after being let down by our original campsite, phoned up late in the day and was welcomed with open arms."
• "We camped here for one night. The Bat and Ball pub fit 4 of us in for dinner and the food was excellent."

Cons:

• "3 stars is for the camping - we had people on the pitch we had booked but saw there was plenty of space on the road side of the field and as the member of staff told us it wasn’t a busy road we camped there - spent the whole night being woken up regularly by cars speeding past."
• "Camped , but right next to road loads of traffic noise had dinner was a very limited menu but enjoyed the meal the price was a little bit on the high side."
• "If you are looking for a quiet and peace full evening on the adjacent Oakfields Camp site then forget it. The Bat & Ball Pub showed no respect for the camping guests on Saturday the 4th July when they held a private function till midnight with the DJ blaring all over the site."
• "When we got to the pub, they said they were too busy to do food and it looked pretty empty. Didn’t get busy later and it’s a pretty disgusting way to treat a customer, especially as we were using their camping facilities."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "A really lovely menu, catered well for veg/gluten free and staff were nice."
• "The burgers were exceptional and dessert was pretty good too."
• "Our food was perfect. Jess, our server was so attentive. I would highly recommend the roast beef .. done to perfection."
• "The food was fantastic, we had lovely starters and then we got the fish special which was huge!"
• "I had the slow cooked pork belly and it was delicious."
• "The food was brilliant, and those working at the pub were all excellent - efficient and caring hosts."
• "The Restaurant is a must try serving delicious food from an interesting menu, tried the Haywards Sussex Smokie - home smoked Haddock, others went for the Pork Belly and pan fried Cod, all top quality dishes."
• "Utterly delicious food. Louis and the team have nailed everything here."

Cons:

• "I decided to have the plant based burger, £17. When the burger came it looked under cooked and was in fact cold."
• "Kids meals weren't great. The tomato pasta was absolutely disgusting, we all tasted and were in agreement."
• "One of the worst roast dinners I've had. Roast potatoes should be crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle, so why would you use Jersey Royals?"
• "Don't go here if you're coeliac. Had a shockingly poor experience today trying to dine with my coeliac daughter."
• "£16 for a dry chicken burger and £19 for sea bass which was supposed to be accompanied by an olive dressing but instead was just sat on what appeared to be tinned ratouille."
• "Food was average with lengthy waits between courses. Something was wrong with every course, something missing from order etc."
• "Absolutely awful roast the beef was so fatty, roast potatoes reheated, Yorkshire pudding like a tennis ball and veg bland."
• "The duck was over cooked so tough. It had 'shot' in it so was wild but I guess the night before was pretty full on for them."