Heathy Farm, Crawley

I went to Heathy Farm with a family group for lunch this week. It was very busy and I was told that although the restaurant and bar tables were all fully booked, we could sit at a table outside and eat. As it was a lovely day, this wasn't a problem. The wait to order drinks and then food was very long and the staff (only 2 of them behind the bar) were unfriendly and short with customers. I suppose they are over-worked and under pressure but that is not the customer's fault. They need more people serving at busy times - especially as they seem to have a lot of funeral functions from the crematorium opposite. The food was mediocre which I was surprised about as it had been highly recommended to me. When it came to paying at the bar - another lengthy wait - I mentioned that the service was very slow but the bar person offered a rather uncivil and impatient 'sorry about that'. I do sympathise with their position when they are so pressured but as the pub is making so much money from funeral business, they should put more staff on.

4 Jun 2011 11:31

Hedgehog Inn, Copthorne

Being my nearest local pub, I have been to the Hedgehog a few times. I have also previously had several disappointing meals there. Despite my past experiences, I decided to go for a meal there with a friend last night. It is convenient and I always live in hope that there will have been an improvement. I was encouraged by the fact that there appears to have been a change in management since I was last there in January when I had a miserable re-heated Sunday lunch (late on a Sunday afternoon) which included burnt Yorkshire puddings, leathery meat and very mushy veg. Despite it being a Friday evening, it was not very busy. I ordered a glass of red wine which I returned as it was clearly off. The second glass I was given was also sour-tasting and had come from another bottle which was already opened but had been re-corked. I believe that the second glass of wine was just stale but I didn't want to drink it. The food we ordered was awful - the 'hot' chicken curry was not hot and tasted very strongly of just cumin and nothing else. My pasta 'special' was stodgy, the sauce was horrible and the garlic bread was so hard I couldn't bite into it and it had no garlic flavour at all. The only reason I give this pub a rating of as much as 3 is because our waitress was very good. She was clearly embarrassed and did what she could to give us good service and apologise for the shortcomings. This pub should be a little gold mine - the location is good and the building itself is pleasant - but needs a massive improvement in the food to realise its potential.

4 Jun 2011 11:18