The Crab & Anchor Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The food is superb, a real gastro pub experience."
• "All the good we order was made with love and it was delicious."
• "I had the roast beef dinner and it was very Well presented. and tasted lovely meat, cook to perfection."
• "The food was delicious, some of the best I've had."
• "Food: Excellent. It was tasty, fresh and warm. Enjoyed every bit of it."
• "The food is always amazingly good."
• "Our food order came out fresh looking and hot, each course was abundantly portioned and was mouthwatering delicious."

Cons:

• "The food was below average."
• "I had seafood red thai curry...it was a special at £17.50...I think it came from a jar."
• "The chicken burger may as well have been straw it was that dry."
• "But on Christmas day they'd taken mass turnover to a new level, raw unprepared sprouts, raw broccoli, anemic hard roast potatoes, dry stuffing brick and the meat wasn't roasted, it was clearly pre cooked processed meat and then heated back up on the day."
• "The roast meat was poor but we were so hungry we didn’t complain until the end of our meal."
• "Shame about the katsu curry. Everything looked great but the katsu looked like a Birdseye crispy chicken fillet cut up and chucked on top of some standard curry sauce."
• "Just had Christmas Sunday lunch was wondering if hot food is an option as the Turkey dinner should have been served as a salad as the entire meal was served stone COLD."

Service

Pros:

• "The staff are always friendly, you know there good when they keep there staff."
• "The staff cannot do enough for you, especially Boroka."
• "Staff were excellent and very helpful."
• "The staff are efficient and friendly."
• "All the staff were really attentive and so lovely."
• "The serving staff are polite and friendly as well as being knowledgeable about the extensive menu."
• "The service was extraordinary, a lovely friendly waitress who genuinely cares about the customers enjoying themselves."

Cons:

• "Absolute shambles and seems bigger parties are prioritised over the smaller tables."
• "Food always amazing but disappointed that the waitress assumed our 8 pounds change was a tip without returning to us."
• "The waiter took ages to take our order then with that our food took ages to come too."
• "We waited nearly two hours for our food, it took almost an hour for our drinks to arrive."
• "Table booked for 8.15 pm, finally sat down 1 hour later, mains served at 10 pm! Not good."
• "No apologies from the manager, only from the bar staff who chased our order for us."
• "Food was great but the service was not that great. 3 meals ordered but only 2 came."

Value

Pros:

• "Great value and I hadn't been here in years."
• "Best of all, it is excellent value."
• "Big portions, two adults to one starter, very good prices."
• "Really good value for money."
• "Price is reasonable, especially considering the great food."
• "Very good value for money."
• "The menu is varied and the pricing is very reasonable."

Cons:

• "A little pricey.....but food and service excellent."
• "Very expensive ! 2 starters, (@£9:95) 2 mains, 3 pints, £72, I think that's a lot."
• "And it is quite expensive so watch what you order."
• "Very, very overpriced."
• "Overpriced for what it is and very slow service."
• "It was a massively overpriced disappointment."
• "Overpriced drinks (5.20 a pint....how very London) to the food...."

Ambiance

Pros:

• "Nice relaxed family feel about the place."
• "Decor is very nice - calming turquoise colour."
• "Amazing atmosphere and very kind staff."
• "It's nicely tucked away but a treasure to find."
• "The atmosphere is buzzing."
• "Very nice ambiance."
• "Lovely atmosphere and great, tasty food."

Cons:

• "Located less than salubriously behind Morrisons supermarket in Farnborough, the Crab and Anchor is a surprisingly pleasant place to enjoy a relaxed meal with family and friends."
• "It can get quite loud when it is full."
• "Myself and my wife felt so humiliated that I will tell people who have small kids should not never go to this restaurant."
• "Don't come here especially if you have children."
• "It took at least 5 minutes of standing by the 'wait to be seated' area before anyone came over."
• "Wanted something different from The Forresters to mark a special occasion. Really disappointed with our visit."
• "I must admit we were a bit worried when we first arrived as it's just behind a morrisons in the middle of an industrial estate."

Management

Pros:

• "Held my 50th party meal with family here & as always they came up trumps."
• "Our large party over 32 was really well catered for food service excellent friendly and polite."
• "Welcomed at the door with assistance for our guest in a wheelchair - very much appreciated."
• "The manager then ended up being really rude and took a fighting boxer pose to my husband and dad like he wanted to fight them rather than talk."

Cons:

• "Ruined Christmas party, unfortunately money is more important then customer service."
• "I appreciate new people, I was once a waiter myself, however I do feel that training was lacking and this is down to management to sort out."
• "However on the night the pub decided they have increased prices since deposits were taken against the food that was ordered."
• "They have stolen the donation tin from HappyCats Rescue and refusing to return."
• "One of the staff came and told that my child is creating a bit nuisance for the other guests."
• "The staff were very kind and understanding and gave me plenty of water and reassurance before walking me to the table."
• "No apologies from the manager, only from the bar staff who chased our order for us."