please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Not been here for a while but came last Sunday for a family meal which wasn't my choice.
Shocked, Great service by a lady who seemed to do it all ( Sarah i think ) food was better than i expected having experienced Vintage cuisine and a generally well kept pub/restaurant with a decent vibe.
The waitress was one in a million and deserves a well done as too many people (myself included) are all too easy to criticize.
A much better option than The Star which has declined over the past year, give this a try
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After 20 visits to The Star over the years (which shows how good it was once upon a time) I've switched my allegiance to The Shy Horse. Here the car park's neatly surfaced and the whole outside is landscaped (The Star, with its muddy car park, is a disgrace). Here there are plenty of tables to choose from (at The Star you have to perch on a high bar stool if you haven't "booked"). Here the staff are polite (at The Star they're indifferent). Here the inside is very clean (on my last visit to The Star my stool was covered with crumbs and my table soaked with beer). The Shy Horse is cheaper too. It isn't perfect - but it's got my custom.
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It's a very pleasant location especially the garden at the back, a country style pub in Gtr London (just). Beer is nothing hugely out of the oridinary but at least it does change every so often, the most exotic I've seen being Caledonians brews, Deuchars and Schiellian. It can vary from being deadly quiet to utterly deafening, though hardly suprising as Chessington World of Adventures and the M25 are just down the road. Thankfully they are far enough away without being heard.
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We found this pub to be very pleasant, Good beer at very reasonable prices. The service was excellent. A good menu and we thought the food was well above average and not overpriced. Overall it was friendly with a nice atmosphere.
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This roadside, family friendly, dining pub is close to Chessington World of Adventures and appears to be popular with both locals and visitors alike although it is certainly more geared towards the diners. The interior appears to be largely recreated in a farmhouse style although there are a couple of warming open fires that appear to be original. The layout is sufficient to cater for reasonable sized groups and there are a few screened off sections and snugs for couples or smaller families. I have dined here with my wife and mother on a few occasions (most recently yesterday) and certainly never had any major problem that warranted such detailed and pedantic negativity as the 2 previous UKPiglet reviews (the fact that her BITE activity is limited to 2 attacks on the same pub suggests that someone has a large and slightly undercooked chip on the shoulder). I am all for a bit of constructive criticism and I have no reason to doubt her experiences but without any other balanced reviews, I would take her comments with a large pinch of salt. For the record, in my experiences the food here has always been fine (this is a pubco chain, not Gordon Ramsay), service attentive and prices more than reasonable. As for the beers, a subject lacking in previous reviews, 3 Ales albeit a rather mainstream choice but excellent prices for Surrey (Green King IPA �2.40, London Pride �2.60 and Bombadier �2.80) and the Pride was of very good quality as well, certainly worthy of their Cask Marque status. A meal here won�t change your life in the same way a trip to a Harvester is not a gastronomic highlight but the place has no pretences and I always walk away full up and with change in my pocket. Oh, but do have the profiteroles � scrummy.
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I went to this pub on Saturday 1st November 2008. It was the worst visit I have made to any pub.
My husband and I run pubs and restaurants and this shocked us both! Our food took ages to come even though we ordered very quickly and there were not that many people in the place. My chicken Forestiere was burnt and well over done to the extent that I could not cut the bottom breast. I sent it back. 20 minutes later I got a replacement and the chicken was great.....but I could not cut the mushrooms in the sauce with my knife or teeth, so ended up just having the sauce with the chicken and leaving the mushrooms! I was too hungry to return it and wait even longer.
Then I went to the toilet to change my daughter and the fan in the disabled toilet is really LOUD and scared my daughter who lay there the whole time I was changing her with her hands over her ears terrified!! But it was clean.
My dessert was the profiteroles. The cream in the middle tasted watery and in my opinion was off, but they claim it was flavoured with white chocolate! This was not mentioned on the menu and I am still not convinced! My trip to the toilets left me reeling! Out of 4 cubicles I could only use 1 as the others were either "stained" had a flood NOT from the toilet or there was no loo roll. When this was mentioned to the staff, they lady claimed that this could only have happened since they had been open! But they must have really messy customers as they had only been open for 1 and a half hours!
This said there were not enough staff front of house to cope with the number of customers they had. Thoroughly disappointed as we had been recommended to go there.
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My wife and I popped into the Shy Horse on the way back from a funeral.
We were very warmly welcomed by the staff especially our waitress Annabel who was a delight.
We found the food to be fantastic and having visited other Vintages found this one to be of a much higher standard.
We would definately recommend to others.
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I've been to the Shy Horse a few times over the past couple of years. It is always busy with a good mix of young and old and is a family friendly pub.
The drink is pretty good and the staff are generally helpful.
However, this evening I went along for a bite to eat to celebrate my partner being promoted. We ordered our food and waited. Now the pub was busy (the manager was walking around telling people to hold off ordering for a few minutes), but this was around 20 minutes after we had ordered. After half an hour our food hadn't turned up so we went to check on it.
This must have hurried them along as 10 minutes later our meals turned up. All seemed fine until I cut into my chicken to find that it was raw in the centre. Actually it wasn't purely in the centre - the majority of the breast was raw. It would appear to have been rushed out.
Naturally I sent this back. Waiting staff apologised and offered us free drinks, which was much appreciated, and informed me that it would take top priority. My partner proceeded to finish her meal as it was getting cold.
Half an hour later I received my second chicken kiev, again with many apologies. Not wishing to make the same mistake I cut straight through the middle of this one to check whether it was cooked through. Amazingly this too was raw in the centre, although it was a much better effort.
The waitress apologised again and took this back saying that she would get my money back, which she did.
I have no issue with the waiting staff, but would just warn people that the food in this pub appears to have fallen short of standards that we had come to expect given earlier visits.
It is understandable to get something like this once in a while, especially during a busy evening of service, but to receive such food twice beggars belief. I look forward to this establishment returning to the heights it achieved in the not too distant past.
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Great food, great drink. If you wanna out of the way and just enjoy a drink this is the place to go. Great staff and attractive too.
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A great little find. Lovely staff and great food! Excellent value for money, highly recomend.
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Its not a bad little place but TBH you better off heading a mile down the Leatherhead Road to The Star, much better food and ale.
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The Picture above must be quite old as the pub looks much better in person (the were replacing all the signage when we arrived). Went in for lunch with friends and found the staff nothing but helpful and extremely friendly. The food was really great and real care had been put into the presentation. We left feeling obligated to tell others of our great find. Highly recommended for a great overall experience.
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It's a Vintage Inn. You get all you deserve.
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My husband and I along with our 19mth old went here for lunch on 15th Feb 2008, wish we hadn't.
The young man behind the bar was very pleasant and cheerful, if a little scruffy though nothing compared to the girl with the ponytail. Obviously new, he didn't know where the disabled toilet key was and pony tail girl was reluctantly helpful to both him and myself and couldn't even raise a smile.
The disabled toilet has the noisiest extractor fan I have ever heard. That combined with the fact that there was NO heating in there made my daughter shake as I put her on the highest change table I have ever used! She was terrified of the noise the fan made and clung to me when I could eventually get her down from it. As a 19mth old, she is not scared of loud noises as we are a noisy household, but I never want to see that look of fear in her eyes again.
Now the food! The starter of breaded mushrooms was fantastic and my husband and I should have had that each with chips instead of sharing one and making the mistake of having a main course too. The chef was yelling for service (we were close to the kitchen and could hear), my beef and mush Guinness pie was burnt on top, and the mash had a skin over it. You can't really muck up the burger my husband had so that was passable, just. The first thing I pulled from my pie after removing the top was a lump of fat and the gravy, far from being rich and flavour-some as you would expect, was just seasoned with pepper.
I know more than most of the restrictions placed on pubs as to how you can order your pre-prepared food from (as it was ready-made make no mistake) but the tasting the food before you serve it is usually recommended.
Also there was no member of management visible and as for being offered "teas, coffees or desserts?" when I have just been given my main course......well, lack of training is what springs to mind. Also being ignored when we were finished our meals and walked out, I know for a fact that that is not in the training programme given to all employees of Mitchells & Butler staff.
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Nice Decor, Efficiant and attentive staff.New menu, well run well done
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Went to the Shy Horse yesterday for lunch, very good service and food, one of our party had the Gammon and chips - said very good, also the fish cakes where good - and two of us had the Filo pastry with red onions and goats cheese which was sickly sweet and the goats cheese was the size of 50p and as thin.
i would say more restaurant than a pub but over all not bad.
Hicup - 20 Nov 2007 11:04 |
Great pub, been here many times, great food and service
Hunters chicken is great.
Jez01 - 16 Aug 2007 11:28 |
Another new manager, more new staff who have no idea how to pour a pint, another spate of thefts from the car park. Harvester lite.
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Lovely large and family-friendly traditional pub.
We came here for a traditional Sunday lunch and it was delicious. To my despair, the portions are huge, so I couldn't fit in dessert. The custard puddings looked so homely and tasty!
I didn't read all of the menu as I had my heart set on the Sunday roast. But I do remember the menu was pretty comprehensive, with most of the traditional dishes you'd expect in a pub.
The pub feels cosy and familiar inside, and has large paned windows at the back (french windows perhaps, that open up during the summer months?) which gives lets in a lot of light.
Will definitely come again.
j9gal - 13 Feb 2007 14:45 |
A meticulously maintained pub with a well laid out comfortable lounge. Only 1 cask ale, Fullers London Pride but it was well kept. However it has the feel of a restaurant with a bar rather than vice versa. Not my type of pub.
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That Posh and Becks eat at Vintage Inns says a lot about Posh and Becks.
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This pub is a great improvement on how it used to be many years back, as the Fox and Hounds...my brother worked there in the late 60s!!!!
Food is usually ok and in my experience consistent, and the menu is changed regularly. Greeat if you want a quick snack lunchtime and one bonus is you don't have to book a table!
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I think this place must have changed hands because i have eaten there 3 times in the last 3 months and every time the food has been excellent, staff friendly, atmosphere good, plenty of choices on the menu etc and very good prices. The place is always very full so get there early. :)
loopy - 19 Aug 2005 19:16 |
This is my local pub and although the lighting is very orange, they regularly update their menu, the garden is gorgeous in the summer, the music has been chnaged and Posh and Becks ate there this summer. not bad for a quiet local.
Emma Houlden - 19 Oct 2004 13:35 |
Usual Vintage Inn mediocrity
Nick - 19 Jul 2004 13:15 |
Used to be very good but has gone downhill over the past few months.
They seem to be understaffed these days.
Brian - 4 Jul 2004 19:11 |
Went there for lunch and it was diabolical!! Ordered various things from a gammon and chips to lamb cutlets with vegetables - the chips were soggy, vegetables overdone and tasteless. Also ordered onion rings and garlic bread and both of them were lukewarm, overpriced for �1.50+ we received three minute onion rings and two small pieces of onion rings!! Used to a wonderful place. Sadly, there was no management to even complain to, and the poor girl was running the restaurant, the bar and the beer garden. The only saving grace was the wine - good selection and quite good value. On the other hand, the soft drinks were crammed with far too much ice, even though, we asked for one or two cubes. All in all, very disappointing and I won't be going there in the near future, food awful, service not much better and the place was EMPTY at 1PM!
Deano D. - 20 May 2004 13:34 |
Took an elderly relative there for Sunday lunch. Food was good, but not as well presented at some other pubs in this chain (M&B). Service was very slow and out of sequence (e.g. drinks did not arrive until middle of main course).
Richard - 18 May 2004 19:30 |
Took an elderly disabled lady there for a meal, quick service, good food and when my friend wanted a biscuit with her coffee they got some for her from the flat upstairs. You'll struggle to get a better and more courteous service anywhere.
razor - 25 Apr 2004 18:39 |
Could keep their Beer better.
ChrisL - 23 Apr 2004 14:53 |
Very nice pub - good food and relaxing atmosphere. Much better than the Star pub further down the road.
Alan - 9 Jan 2004 17:24 |
This place has without doubt the worst background music I have ever heard.Food was O.K. though.
John W - 2 Sep 2003 16:16 |
Standard "Vintage Inn" fare, so guaranteed quality. Not the nicest one around though - prefer the Derby Arms on Epsom Downs
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It seems to be run by accountants, not for the benefit of customers! On my visit last night, I was able to purchase a pint of beer, but they would not serve my companion with a pint of Pepsi, only a 14oz glass. The Pepsi is not pre bottled, but only "well" syrup/carbonated water. As pint glasses are obviously available, this is plainly ridiculous. When "mine host" won't serve something a customer wants that he clearly can supply, you do not feel very welcome.
Geoff - 18 Jul 2003 10:03 |
Very nice but a bit expensive
Tom - 2 Jun 2003 15:22 |
Great little place to have a drink or nice meal.
Steve - 19 Nov 2002 15:45 |
