The Carpenters Arms Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Food excellent and service."
• "Nicely presented meals and good beer."
• "The vegan nut roast was excellent."
• "The food was delicious and plentiful."
• "Good choice of reasonably priced, tasty meals."
• "Great value food."
• "The food menu has a good range of choices and the food itself is superb."

Cons:

• "The meat was an insult to the animal that provided it and they should be ashamed of bringing this type of food to a table."
• "The prawn salad starter was a watery mess."
• "Breakfast was a shambles."
• "Found the food to be average and came out lukewarm and also the food overpriced."
• "The meat was rather tough."
• "Tiny cheap burger fried to a crisp."
• "Food was absolutely abysmal."

Accommodation

Pros:

• "The room was very comfortable."
• "The room was well presented and had all of the facilities you would expect."
• "New spacious bedroom with lots of nice character."
• "Lovely rooms and very nice staff, such a shame they were so young and a little too unsure what was going on."
• "Free crisps/cake and coffee for the coffee machine, shower gels and breakfast etc all included."
• "The hotel was very well decorated and taken care of. The level of cleanliness was very high."
• "Rooms are as expected, staff is helpful and very friendly."

Cons:

• "Had an awful night here, not told we were being put in the annex room which whilst not uncomfortable was let down by damp patches and mould in the bathroom and broken tap."
• "Old and very tired garden furniture which should have been on a skip."
• "The accommodation however was filthy. Dust everywhere."
• "Our room was comfortable enough for one night but lacked anywhere to hang anything!"
• "Rooms badly need updating."
• "Only thing that put me off was a communal bathroom and shower with the room I stayed in, which during this time with COVID really put me off using it."
• "No wardrobe just a pole with hangers, very ramshackle no other storage."

Service

Pros:

• "Staff were lovely and attentive."
• "The staff helped get me some light snacks without any hesitation."
• "Maddie the waitress was an articulate, attentive and thoroughly entertaining hostess."
• "Staff were really friendly and welcoming throughout the stay."
• "The staff are fantastic."
• "Friendly welcome from the staff, enjoyed a lovely Sunday lunch, very dog friendly, treats and lots of attention."
• "Served by friendly and efficient staff."

Cons:

• "Really nice pub. However, the dreadful 'music' that is constantly playing in the bar is a real turn off."
• "No point booking, turned up for Sunday lunch but lost booking."
• "We were refused a meal at 14.00 due to a large party and short of staff in the kitchen."
• "After being shown to our table just before 8 we noticed only 4 other tables were occupied and the table beside us was piled high with the dirty plates and glasses of the previous guests."
• "For a Thursday and by no means busy lunchtime we also felt an hour wait for food excessive."
• "Having researched and found this place as what I thought was a great option to meet a friend for lunch on a weekday, I was disgusted to be told abruptly by a member of bar staff 'we're not taking walk-ins today'."
• "Called to make a booking! Girl on phone in the evening extremely rude!!!!"

Location & Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Discovered this place by accident and were very pleasantly surprised at the lovely decor."
• "A generally pleasant place to stay in a picturesque, quiet location."
• "The decoration inside and out made it a lovely visit."
• "The decor and ambience was great."
• "Great atmosphere, family friendly staff."
• "The pub itself is beautiful inside and what we could see look just as pretty outside."
• "The pub has lovely views at the rear and the layout both inside and out is very nice and welcoming."

Cons:

• "The location was a bit far from Newbury - not the easiest to reach."
• "Reaching the location through public transport is difficult though, so I would advise taking a taxi."
• "Only watch out is that Sunday there's no food being served after 4pm, the nearest restaurant is like 5 miles away and gets booked up quickly so without local takeaways you could get stuck for food on Sunday."
• "Watch your postcode. Just drive straight on otherwise."
• "The only drawback was that we were on the lower floor and it was quite creaky with other guests walking around upstairs."
• "Called in here for lunch on Wednesday. The place is 'tatty'."
• "Only thing that put me off was a communal bathroom and shower with the room I stayed in, which during this time with COVID really put me off using it."