The Shinfield Arms Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The food was brilliant as well."
• "The food was fresh and tasty including a good service together with fair prices."
• "Food was excellent."
• "We all had different main meals and were happy with everything."
• "Still a wonderful venue with great food, reasonably priced, and a decent range of beers if you just want a drink."
• "Food and service have been fantastic."
• "Food was really good."

Cons:

• "There’s a really vast menu but all low quality food."
• "Wetherspoons-style food trying to disguise itself with an up-market hip country pub interior."
• "Unfortunately the food was a disappointment. Two burgers and two sides were all incredibly bland and absolutely not worth the money at ~£20pp."
• "Food here is quite mediocre, not a lot of choice, 3 times I've eaten here and each time I've had the pig and cheese burger, lovely burger."
• "The standard of food does not meet the prices they charge. Not a cheap night out at £40 per head for 2 courses with 2 bottles of wine between 5 people."
• "The cheesy balls and satay chicken were more microwaved Iceland food than gastro pub food."
• "The food is really unfortunate. Low quality ingredients, little thought to flavour."

Service

Pros:

• "The front of house staff recommended a lovely Gin cocktail especially for the occasion, and it hit the spot!"
• "Ashleigh has been one member of staff who on at least 3 occasions provided use with great customer service."
• "The staff are friendly and attentive even when having to rush around."
• "Front of house staff provide great service."
• "The two waitresses were truly excellent."
• "Staff are brilliant - friendly, welcoming and accommodating."
• "Staff were great and always checking to ensure all was fine."

Cons:

• "What lets it down is the service. We waited ages between courses and none of the staff seemed fully engaged with the customers."
• "Service was rather slow and we weren't informed of the ordering procedure we had to keep finding staff to help us out."
• "Most staff were nice with the exception of one sad individual server who was under the impression confronting a table of guests was the appropriate way to put her incorrect point across in an aggressive manner."
• "Seemed short of staff, had to wait for ordering and between courses."
• "After doing our initial orders we were waiting for 25 mins before we decided to go and ask about the drinks."
• "Asked for second drink but waitress went home and it was left on the bar for twelve minutes before I asked again."
• "Our main server was very poor. We were a party of 6 people, in the middle of clearing out plates (2 at a time) I saw him dealing with somebody else."

Ambiance and Decor

Pros:

• "The Black Boy has fairly recently been refurbished and is very nice, it was nice before but now it’s even more homely and relaxing with outside huts to sit in with charging points, heaters, fire pit, blankets, cushions and areas that are covered."
• "Clean and tasteful decor."
• "Cosy old pub not far off the motorway, with a few good ales."
• "The inside decor nice and the outside area massive."
• "A true heritage pub of 500 years, there are booths and couches in the dining space, a welcoming bar and outside seating."
• "Lovely pub/restaurant. The outside seating is covered under a tent style canopy which gives a lovely vibe."
• "Stunning eatery with a traditional pub feel located just outside Reading so you don’t have to deal with Reading traffic."

Cons:

• "It's a far cry from the old black boy, sorry don't waste your time or money! Order a takeaway!"
• "The Black Boy is let down by its car park."
• "The only downside is the acoustics. The last time I went, I was in a corner, which seemed to focus the background noise on to our table."
• "The tables were practically on top of each other and unfortunately we were put next to a very rowdy table."
• "Not necicerly in the service but in the environment that we had been forced to sit in."
• "The bar doesn't have seating around and you'll struggle to get a table on a busy night in winter."
• "Said no tables free for a quick drink in the nonsmoking undercover area despite most of them being empty."

Value for Money

Pros:

• "Very reasonably priced as just over £25.00 per head for a two course meal, a bottle of wine and a couple of beers."
• "The wine list is very good and offers something for every wallet."
• "Prices are not stupid, good value really."
• "I thought pricing was fair."
• "Drinks very reasonably priced."
• "The prices are very reasonable."
• "Food was great and good value for money."

Cons:

• "There was an automatic service charge that I later found out doesn't even go to the servers."
• "Pint of coke for 5 quid..."
• "I have sent my food back a number of times before, not because it was cooked well or that it arrived cold, but simply because I expected more on my plate due to the prices you pay."
• "The standard of food does not meet the prices they charge. Not a cheap night out at £40 per head for 2 courses with 2 bottles of wine between 5 people."
• "Prices are very high for what you get, although I suspect that's the case everywhere now."
• "The service and surroundings were ok but the food was totally overpriced and I'd be reluctant to even pay half the amount of what was being charged."
• "Be warned: the prices here are quite high, but not exceptional for the area."