The Kingswood Arms, Banstead Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The food was delicious and filling with good sized portions."
• "Great Sunday roast with very generous portions."
• "The scallop starter was fabulous."
• "The Sunday roasts were excellent. The whole roast chicken for two, with yorkshires and multiple veg was huge and tasty."
• "Food was lovely and very well cooked."
• "The fish pie was one of the best I've had."
• "Almost every person ordered a different dish and the food was beautifully presented and absolutely delicious!"

Cons:

• "The ham was clearly reheated and was dry as the Sahara and left an unpleasant after taste."
• "Sorry to say the food was not good not sure if the chef was having a bad day."
• "The majority were not. Smaller than average portions and the turkey roast was dry and chalky."
• "Chicken liver parfait, not nice, it had a sort of tasteless cold custard around it."
• "Food, which always used to be good was mediocre - my vegetable tagine was mainly potato."
• "The food was lukewarm and very salty."
• "The meat was revolting tough and tasteless."

Service

Pros:

• "Everyone was polite and friendly and nothing (extra gravy, horseradish) was too much trouble."
• "Very good food, and the waitress was great."
• "Service from Lynton very good too."
• "Staff were very friendly and helpful."
• "The staff are very personable and extremely good at their job."
• "Service was efficient, quick and friendly."
• "Staff were lovely and helpful. They do live music twice a month."

Cons:

• "Service was poor. We ordered drinks twice, the first time they forgot the order, the second time they brought the wrong drinks."
• "The waitresses seemed to be in a hurry to get rid of us towards the end of our meal."
• "We were ignored by staff who stood around and didn't come over."
• "The service was slow both times."
• "We had to ask where our drinks were, ask how long our food would be and wait a long time throughout."
• "Every time I wanted to order I had to hunt down a waiter."
• "Staff need training. Forgot part of order."

Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Its the little extras, warm and inviting."
• "Sunday roasts are incredible too :)"
• "Very welcoming, great food and a good pint in very comfortable surroundings!"
• "Really good service and well managed COVID measures."
• "Child friendly with outdoor amusements."
• "Lovely ambience."
• "Brilliant pub, lovely atmosphere and the garden is huge and welcoming."

Cons:

• "I was expecting quite a vibrant atmosphere but instead met by maybe a dozen people on the bar area."
• "Plagued by flies due to open windows and no fly killers."
• "The music was worthy of a funeral."
• "Since it changed hands, I'm afraid it's lost all it's character, no atmosphere."
• "Poor acoustics meant it was far noisier than expected."
• "Atmosphere was somewhat marred by screaming babies, but I guess that's a hazard on Sundays."
• "The decor looks like the inside of somebody's shed."

Management and Staff

Pros:

• "The staff were brilliant, providing a high chair for the baby, and serving the boy food that was what he wanted."
• "The staff we're very helpful towards extra things we needed to feed a 1yr old."
• "The two ladies who served us were absolutely lovely and had great customer service skills."
• "However, our waiter was great."
• "Everyone was very friendly and helpful."
• "Lovely owner/manager."
• "The waitress Niamh was very polite and helpful."

Cons:

• "This USED to be such a lovely village pub; sadly the current manager (ex-owners son) is rude and obnoxious."
• "But the hostess was very rude and made us feel unwelcome."
• "The manager got very defensive and rude, rather than apologising for the situation."
• "The treatment of the staff was shocking, racist attack was just a daily basic."
• "Staff more interested in chatting to each other than serving."
• "Service poor watching the staff stuffing their faces in front of guests, through the hatch."
• "The staff did nothing to make the occasion special."

Parking and Accessibility

Pros:

• "There is plenty of parking with disabled parking available and there is an accessible route to the gardens which helps too."
• "Parking not a problem."
• "Great for those with kids."
• "The garden is really big with a smallish children's play area."
• "The pub has its original interior and two large rooms added on the back so there was plenty of space."
• "A really lovely place to spend time. We sat in the gardens which are really well maintained."
• "What an amazing pub! We went for drinks and we really enjoyed the garden."

Cons:

• "Since when did this country pub start charging for parking?!"
• "I received a £100 PCN for the temerity of parking on their premises to have dinner at their pub."
• "CUSTOMERS BEWARE THEY HAVE A TRAP CAR PARK HERE, WHERE YOU GET A TICKET FOR £100 FOR NOT GIVING YOUR REG TO THE BAR."
• "Have just received a letter to say I have a £100 parking fine."
• "In the event I was to park there and get clamped."
• "No positive comments regarding parking."
• "Predatory parking fines."