The Grand Junction Arms Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Since the refurbishment in 2022 this place has really upped its game. The menu is predominantly seafood based, but is amazing."
• "The food is all cooked fresh to order and was delicious and plentiful."
• "The Smoked Haddock fish cakes, salad, and salted fries were delicious."
• "The specials were amazing, we had the surf and turf and Seabass, which was really fresh and tasty."
• "Crab paté and fish pie were great!"
• "The Pork Belly was cooked to perfection, sausages and fish really tasty and veg cooked just right."
• "The food was delicious and well made, with good portion sizes."

Cons:

• "It’s basic pub food without any thought of being towards gastro."
• "The mains were hugely expensive, over cooked and of poor quality ingredients."
• "Sunday roast is one of the worst I’ve had - dry meat, packet gravy, soggy potato."
• "Over priced, overly salty, poor presentation of food, incomplete food order."
• "Fried eggs where hard burnt and like Frisbees! chips so over cooked you could tell they had been put back in fryer to be reheated."
• "Oysters were not chilled and we’re almost warm…yuk!!!"
• "The steak was overly salty and dry, the fish ‘special’ was very unappealing and the chips were tasteless and mushy."

Service

Pros:

• "Our server was very friendly, polite and did her best to overcome the restaurant shortfallings."
• "All the staff are very friendly and helpful."
• "All the staff were really professional and so welcoming and attentive."
• "Jack, our waiter, was the most attentive and thoughtful waiter I think I have ever come across."
• "The staff team were pleasant, engaging and extremely attentive."
• "Lovely food and brilliant service from Hannah and the rest of the staff who were all really welcoming and couldn’t have been more helpful."
• "The staff were brilliant. Polite, efficient, helpful and all looked the part."

Cons:

• "Lots of staff but hard to find someone who is keen to take your order."
• "Service staff were lovely too - although it was very busy and they did seem stretched."
• "We asked for the bill and to take the food back and we just got the bill dumped at us, no management speaking to us to apologise they left the poor server who was clearly new to deal with the whole thing."
• "The service is quite poor, long waits even when only 5 tables occupied (out of 30+), and food was disappointing for the price you pay."
• "Service very slow paid bill and waited for last round of drinks."
• "Waited over 30 mins for our drinks."
• "The service was shocking, the waiters were running around like headless chickens, and we stood no chance of ordering if we hadn't waived to the waiter ourselves."

Ambiance and Location

Pros:

• "Their set up in the garden is fantastic."
• "Great food, lovely garden."
• "Gorgeous food, relaxing space, accommodating staff and peaceful view."
• "Lovely venue by the canal with outside seating under cover or just out in the sun shine."
• "An amazing looking pub and wonderful outside seating areas, including private booths with charging ports and Bluetooth."
• "The lighting inside and decor are particularly lovely with a contemporary feel blending nicely with the ancient backdrop."
• "Beautiful idyllic place to have a Sunday dinner. Atmosphere is lovely by the canal, plenty of seating areas."

Cons:

• "Booked a table on the deck and didn't get one."
• "Without the coziness of the former, or any quirkiness whatsoever, it manages to have no atmosphere at all."
• "The garden looks like something out of an industrial landscape and all charm & character has been lost."
• "Stank outside of rotten bins."
• "Half the menu was apparently not available however for some reason the table sitting next to us (whose booking started an hour after ours) were able to order things from the menu that we were told were unavailable!"
• "Pity about the fact that lots if people bring their drones here to practice flying- we had two whining overhead whilst trying to have a nice relaxed beer on the garden."
• "However, lacklustre service, filthy and broken outside toilets."

Value for Money

Pros:

• "You get what you pay for so please keep that in mind when they ask for more than £6 for a pint of Peroni..."
• "Good choice of drinks, all served by attentive, friendly and very helpful staff."
• "Very generous portions and friendly service, if stretched at times on a busy Sunday lunchtime. Also top value for money."
• "Food always good value for money."
• "Reasonable prices, lovely location, and the staff were really friendly and helpful."
• "Is this pub restaurant cheap? No. Is it good value for money? Yes."
• "The food was excellent and cooked to exactly how we wanted it."

Cons:

• "If the prices were at the lower end of the scale I'd accept this as getting what you pay for however when a Sticky Toffee Pudding is pushing on £10 and the pudding is smaller than the scoop of ice cream that comes with it, you're left rather underwhelmed to put it mildly."
• "Food was good overall but very over priced, £5.50 for 5 halloumi fries!!!! £15 for a pasta dish."
• "Very expensive for mediocre food. Paid nearly £16 for a very dry courgette on very dry rice."
• "All in all just disappointing for the money we spent, £140 for 2 people."
• "The food is more on the expensive side."
• "£9 for a medium glass of sauvignon blanc is outrageous."
• "£19 for chicken tenders with chips and coleslaw."