The Crab and Lobster Inn Reviews Summary

Location

Pros:

• "Superb location, parking available."
• "Such a beautiful setting."
• "Location is excellent what with a stunning beach as well and holiday camps not far away."
• "Excellent find with outside area with good views."
• "Location offers a fine view over the Solent with mainland distant to left."
• "Great location and terrific views."
• "Location is nicely tucked away, peaceful with a spectacular view."

Cons:

• "Location was out of the way but that's not necessarily a bad thing."
• "The location is situated in a private housing estate, car park is small, but there are some spaces around the housing estate."
• "Limited views of the coastline."
• "Sadly, erosion of the foreshore means you have to divert through a housing estate to reach it now."
• "The location is tucked away & very serene."
• "Nice location but epic fail on the food and service."
• "The car park is very small for the number of tables and can be tricky to park at, as well as a very narrow road to get to it."

Service

Pros:

• "The staff are welcoming, friendly, helpful and indominatibly cheerful."
• "The service was really good and the staff were very friendly and made sure we had everything we needed."
• "Staff really friendly and all the food we had was amazing."
• "Both the staff and locals were extremely friendly."
• "Hannah, our waitress was really lovely, she arranged the refund & gave us some Christmas crackers, she was the star of last night, bright, friendly & very helpful."
• "Staff were great. Master waiter knew his rum advising us of a particular nice one."
• "Staff were friendly and attentive."

Cons:

• "38 minutes waiting for service on our pre booked table, no drinks or condiments offered."
• "Disappointingly, due to a lack of staff, we and many others that day were denied a walk-in lunch."
• "Service was slow and food was poor quality."
• "The service was a little on the flakey side."
• "Staff was often seen chatting around rather than waiting tables."
• "Waited ages for drinks and so did tables around us because there was no one at the bar."
• "Staff just standing around took 45 mins to take our order only after we complained."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The food is a little expensive but was plentiful and tasty."
• "Food is piping hot & delicious, excellent service, could not fault anything at all of our visit."
• "Hot sea food platter was delicious."
• "The sea bass tasted great also the king prawns."
• "The food was fantastic but I was disappointed with the prawns."
• "Both were delicious."
• "The food was delicious, we had fish cakes and mackerel filets."

Cons:

• "Food is mediocre at best."
• "The value for money and lack of flavour for a vegan polenta meal at £17 was not what it should be."
• "Cold Prawns (still had veins in & no flavours added, so basically just defrosted)."
• "4 of us had the mussels and they were very disappointing, tiny, overcooked and smashed to pieces."
• "The lobster was missing 2/3 of its meat."
• "The vegetarian option that we chose was described as soya cottage pie with roasted cauliflower which unfortunately arrived as soys mince topped with a sweet potato mash and again was cold."
• "The 'signature' crab gratin was a sloppy brown goo."

Value for Money

Pros:

• "The food and drinks are good and well priced, for a gastro pub."
• "Prices are very reasonable for the quality of food."
• "Not a bad price."
• "Portion sizes were incredible and well priced."
• "Went for Sunday lunch, lovely staff, food was great! I had the beef roast.... beautiful!! 😍 good amount of meat and different veg, definitely recommend! Good price."
• "For those who don't like fish, they do other options like chicken and accommodate to all dietary needs."
• "A very warm welcome and good quality pub food at a reasonable price."

Cons:

• "Overpriced and overrated."
• "Prices are ridiculous (£30 for a bottle of Proscecco)."
• "All priced at more premium end too, £15+."
• "Utterly disappointing. Took my fiance here for her 50th... So £100 and a very upset fiance later I had to stop and get a McDonald's on the way home."
• "It was stupidly expensive too."
• "Very very overrated! £11 for a charcuterie board which consisted of meat out of a packet that you would find from Aldi."
• "Little on the expensive side but the views are picturesque and worth it!"

Ambiance and Decor

Pros:

• "Cracking little pub with great views over the solent."
• "It is a fantastic place to go for a drink looking at the ships and or a fabulous place to dine."
• "Lovely rustic nautical decor."
• "The view from my room was beautiful and I saw the most amazing sunrise."
• "Inside a characterful pub."
• "Inside the pub they had an open fire with a table for 2 right in front."
• "The tables were set beautifully with a candle."

Cons:

• "The themed room we had booked into was a big disappointment."
• "The interior was dirty with dust on the bedside tables and a couple of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling."
• "The whole feel of the place was rather dirty."
• "The room was sadly a bit lacking with the view being the chimney of the kitchen with a slight fried smell hanging in the room."
• "The venue felt grubby - table sticky, glassware lipstick-stained."
• "Annoying noise from clunky paving slabs as waiters customers walked constantly!"
• "The decor is charming and well done."