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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to find "pub grub" in general to be disappointing and over-priced?

72 replies

EmpressJosephine01 · 17/03/2017 10:55

I went out with three friends last night, to a local pub. Same story:
*Pub has restaurant attached;
*Restaurant very nicely decked out and of modern decor - ie restful B&F colour scheme and tasteful ornaments dotted about;
*Extensive menu you see everywhere - a lot of Italian; fish & scampi; steaks; burgers; a little of Indian and ethnic cuisine and the usual suspects on the desert menu.
When the food came, it was so ... average. One friend had ordered roast chicken breast and asked to have extra veg in lieu of the chips offered - and the 'extra veg' turned out to be salad - wait for it - and served with a plate swimming in gravy!
My scampi was ... well I'm not sure if it really is scampi anymore as it didn't taste of much. My chips looked great but tasted as if they'd had some lying around and had simply warmed them up, ie not freshly made.
Sadly, this appears to be the default experience and now meals out seem to cost around £50 for two, am I alone in thinking that dining out is fast becoming a waste of good money?
On the plus side, it did enable the three of us to get together for a good natter without someone having to spend time catering and clearing up.

OP posts:

Porpoiselife · 18/03/2017 21:45

I've been to a few local pubs for pub grab and they've all been crap. The same old freezer stuff but then they are cheap and cheerful 'sticky table' type places.

The only times I've been out for a meal actually and it was actually really nice and not cost the earth have all been in another country!

Mynestisfullofempty · 18/03/2017 21:47

user1484578224 is that supposed to be funny or just insulting?

BackforGood · 18/03/2017 21:53

YABU to generalise from one meal

YABU to pay £25 for a bite to eat in a pub.

We eat out fairly regularly at several diffeent pubs near here, don't pay anything like that, and 99% of the time have lovely meals.

FizzyJapes · 18/03/2017 22:01

mynest, I think user was just being funny fgs, which I think it was!

I went a couple of times to TobyCarvery and its packed to the rafters despite poor service, queues, 2 slices of mostly awful meat, and not even cheap! So I think some people just like going there for reasons other than food is all i can imagine, maybe older people who are past wild sex japes ...

ElinorRigby · 19/03/2017 07:42

Just back from a walking week in Cornwall. On four nights we ate in a couple of local pubs and in the bar of a local hotel. In these places was good - basic dishes but well-prepared and served in a friendly manner in good (not tarted up by decorators) surroundings. On a fifth night some of our group went to Padstow to eat in a Rick Stein place. It was there that people felt ripped off....

daisychain01 · 19/03/2017 07:44

Any eatery where there are either wooden spoons with numbers on, or numbers on little metal discs embedded into the tables or where the customer has to pay for the food at the till before eating, you know you're in for a very rough ride.

Hassled · 19/03/2017 07:47

I think you can judge a pub by the quality of its Sunday roast. Some are wonderful, some are breathtakingly dire. But weirdly it seems to be one extreme or the other - they're hardly ever just average. I'm a bit obsessed with finding the perfect pub roast.

daisychain01 · 19/03/2017 07:51

Elinor, is the place in Padstow still actually run by Stein? I got the impression he had buggered off years ago and they are just capitalising on his name. It kinda reminds me of those Bear Grylls Adventure holidays, no sign of him whatsoever, just his name on the catalogue

sandgrown · 19/03/2017 08:01

DP used to run chain pubs. I used to go down to the kitchen at night to make us something and could put together a pub meal using only the flip charts the staff used and a microwave! No skill required. It amazes me that customers come in for 2 meals for £10 and expect haute cuisine! I have visited some lovely gastro pubs but if paying that amount of money I prefer to go to independent restaurants who specialise in a particular cuisine. I don't even use takeaways that do a mix of Italian,kebabs ,burgers etc. "Jack of all trades and master of none" is my guideline .

ElinorRigby · 19/03/2017 08:03

daisy, I don't know. I am rather anti-Padstow in general and thought that Stein was unlikely to be involved in a day to day way. People came back having paid a lot more than the set price, because of all the things that were extra - and feeling rather disappointed. It wasn't awful. Just paying more for the name and the location and smartness, without the food being that memorable.

engineersthumb · 19/03/2017 08:10

I think most pub grub is rather good and normally quite good value. I may be swayed though as I'm old enough to remember a time when pubs didn't really do food beyond crisps, pork scratchings or the occasional sandwich and going out to eat was an expensive and exceptionally rare thing to do. Having said all of that some pubs are better than others of course.

user1480459555 · 19/03/2017 08:10

Me and DP rarely eat out now because we are almost always disappointed. We both love cooking and, to be honest, our food is as good if not better than most places we have eaten.

We do sometimes go for an indian as neither of us seem to be able to make dosas.

Only1scoop · 19/03/2017 08:13

Sounds grim, we have some great non chain gastro pubs around here though....they don't have scampi on the menu though

ineedbanoffee · 19/03/2017 09:35

'Best' pub food I ever had was sausage and mash. Actually my husband ordered it. It took an hour to come, and when it did, they had put five sausages sticking vertically up out of the mash like fingers. It was like a scene out of Thriller. People across the pub were laughing and taking photos.

Usually I think pub grub is not bad!

zukiecat · 19/03/2017 11:31

daisychain

I don't agree with you, the places where DD and I go are the places with little metal discs in the table, they are part of the Belhaven chain and the food in either is delicious!

I am very fussy, and only ever eat Steak Pie when out, and I am even more fussy when it comes to Steak Pie!

Can't afford to eat out very often so it is a huge treat when we do and I wouldn't waste money on poor food

BarbaraofSeville · 19/03/2017 13:32

Toby Carvery is quite nice compared to a lot of places and cheap especially on days other than Sundays,when it's only £6 for a full roast with fresh cooked veg etc.

Much better than most chain places with supermarket value quality ready meals and badly cooked frozen chips.

I despair of the dominance of chains in the UK, but if people didn't gravitate towards them, they wouldn't be half as successful as they are.

MrsHathaway · 19/03/2017 13:56

Pub chips are a thing of beauty because they do such volume. If they have a five-star hygiene rating then the fryer is properly cleaned every day, and they're using several at a time so they can keep one faithfully vegetarian and one faithfully gluten free.

Elphame · 19/03/2017 13:59

I avoid places with menus like you describe as I know the food will be mediocre at best.

Lots of pubs now serve excellent food now - far more than used to.

Butteredparsnip1ps · 20/03/2017 19:09

I agree with others that trip advisor is your friend. There are great independent pubs amongst the shockers. It's just that you don't always know which is which. Chains can be inconsistent too, a lovely meal in one location can be a real let down in another.

If I have a choice I avoid places with a long menu for the reasons mentioned above. My other rule is not to trust anywhere where their entire menu is just a list of stuff in sauce. It's a sure sign that it's a freezer meal.

zukiecat · 20/03/2017 22:31

I never read TripAdvisor Reviews before visiting a place, If I fancy a place, I'll just go and make my own mind up

I don't go to posh places anyway and for me, if a pub has a good steak pie, then it's a winner

If I do read the reviews, it's always after I've been somewhere

crapfatbanana · 22/03/2017 10:38

YABU to make that assumption based on one experience.

I live in Cornwall (not a tourist bit) and although I don't eat out very often these days I'm thinking of the local pubs where I have eaten and most have been good or excellent. My nearest 'gastro pub' has a very good reputation and is quite pricey. I haven't been for years but it was fantastic the last time I did go. I think they recently got a new chef - someone pretty famous but can't remember who.

I can think of a couple of pubs that are a bit crap at food but they don't sell themselves as 'gastro pubs', more family pubs so I wouldn't expect anything amazing anyway.

I do agree that often the decor is a way of fooling you into thinking you're getting something better than you are. The rubbish food pub near me has a conservatory all nicely decorated but clearly done on the cheap. It's faux posh and the food is overpriced and underwhelming.

LakieLady · 22/03/2017 11:16

We've got some great food pubs round our way, but it's easy to find a crap one too. I agree that independent free houses are almost always best.

Cornwall has some fantastic pubs for food. I'm not going to name them though, as I don't want them getting so popular that we have to book. DP had the best scallops he's ever eaten in one, and got about a dozen of the buggers. We also had fantastic steak (local, 21 day aged and perfectly cooked) in the most unlikely setting of a campsite bar.

There's a certain style of pub decor that often seems to go hand in hand with over-priced, less than brilliant food. DP refers to it as "Farrow and Ballsed-up".

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