Red Lion Swanage Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "food was amazing."
• "We love this pub Friday night steak deal and we had beef madras curry Saturday it was amazing definitely not a microwave curry it was better than my own."
• "Luck turned our way after being turned away from two pubs looking for food, we struck gold with this place. Fish pie and ribs, both mega tasty, good portions."
• "Food served is hot and attractive to look at and tasty to eat."
• "quality of food first class and cooked to perfection."
• "The best meal I’ve had since I’ve been in Swanage."
• "Food was brilliant."

Cons:

• "Balti veg curry? I've had better out of a tin!"
• "Food was filling but bland."
• "Fish pie was flavourless, no seasoning and tasted earthy so would not order that again."
• "Utterly tasteless and bland."
• "Spend your money elsewhere- unseasoned and tasteless food."
• "Food a disappointment. Fish OK chips to well done."
• "The food was something of a let down."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Freindly fun pub went for steak night great value meal decor vintage but this is a proper local excellent choice of beers and had good laugh with staff & locals this is what pub's used to be like will be going back."
• "Waitress was pleasant and helpful."
• "staff were brilliant."
• "staff were happy and polite."
• "Staff very welcoming, efficient and friendly."
• "The staff were very friendly and efficient."
• "All staff were very pleasant and great customer service."

Cons:

• "Manager/Landlady, rude and moody."
• "bar staff having arguments in front of clients is a bit of a business no no."
• "The professionalism could also be improved, would not visit again."
• "Waitress had attitude and was quite rude."
• "Really poor customer service. Very unprofessional, left waiting for service with staff not interested in taking orders and spoke very rude when asking questions."
• "But the waitress serving us was very rude perhaps needs more customer service training?"
• "I’ve never meet a bartender who wanted to sever me less."

Atmosphere and Locale

Pros:

• "Probably the best pub in all of England."
• "Lovely pub, went for Swanage folk festival and was welcomed by the staff. Friendly, efficient and hard working."
• "Nice pub, good atmosphere and great selection of beers / ciders."
• "Brilliant friendly little pub serving delicious fresh local produced food at a very reasonable price."
• "Cosy 16th/17th century coach house vibe."
• "A very atmospheric Pub."
• "Great little pub with friendly staff. Lively public bar with locals enjoying a darts match."

Cons:

• "The cleanliness is nowhere near impressive and there is a pool table near the dining area so it can get quite noisy when it’s busy with regular pub goers."
• "The pub itself is OK inside and the food's alright too."
• "starting to look a bit tired and in need of a facelift."
• "Tatty outside and reflected in everything we could see inside."
• "It is a standard British pub, the food is nothing exceptional. The ambiance is pretty average of a British pub."
• "Could do with a lick of paint and a tidy up."
• "Now they are playing awful racket."

Value and Pricing

Pros:

• "Freindly fun pub went for steak night great value meal."
• "Food absolutely lovely and good value too."
• "Very tasty fresh food very well cooked."
• "Excellent quality pub grub at really good price."
• "The price was average, but very good value."
• "Good menu selection and excellent quality pub grub at really good price."
• "Food is very tasty and the portions were great."

Cons:

• "Poor range of ales compared with how it use to be, biggest problem is the rip off prices.....pint of pretty average Adnams Ghost Ship, £4.40 !! Pint of Hopback GFB, only 3.5%, £4.30, I thought lower ABV beers had less tax......rip off, we won't go back to this shabby pub that charges London prices !!"
• "We always make a point of visiting The Red Lion this time we went in on Saturday night and will not be going back. Plastic glasses ? The excuse was they had ran out of glasses. Poor."
• "Food not so good, had ribeye steak but it wasn't (thinnest ribeye I've ever seen), asked for med/rare it wasn't and very chewy, plates very small so everything rolling off the plate, wouldn't recommend having a steak here."
• "I echo what other people have experienced in the last 6 months. My family have been coming to Swanage for over 20 years and have been to the Red Lion every year. We have had 2 incidents in the last week, where we booked a table 4 weeks in advance and they messed up our booking on both occasions."
• "The food was mediocre. I had a very bland Thai curry."
• "Probably the worst meal we've ever had."
• "Food we has was pretty ropey."