Half Moon Inn, Shaftesburyback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
sorry i just looked at my last post and miss something from this line....i find the food fine as it is a public house .... fine
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I have found that sometimes,i love going here when ann marie or the manager or the trainie manager is on duty,as the service is secound to none, but if i go any other time it takes a long time to get served and that the staff talk so long with each other ,they forget that a customer is waiting to either ask for the bill or to order something else,
i find the food fine as it is a public house,and i think the cheffs do a great job. see you all soon,i live in hope that the staff will learn the customer should come first !
one more thing ,i see the look you are going for but the chairs are very Uncomfortable ,there are chair far to small or so hard that you want to leave asap, maybe you could look into that?.
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My God, this place is a disgrace. Another Hall & Woodhouse 'Plastic Managed House'. The menu is the usual 'McDonald's style' junk. Even the 'classic comments' printed on the walls are replicated in all their establishments. The Ales are the normal H&W offerings with the 'Sussex' masquerading as a 'guest ale'. All were in 'drinkable' condition however!! This place is a waste of time. Keep driving to the next one. 1/10 I'm afraid.
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This restaurant is brilliant, if you have a large group of people its very good. the food is cooked to a wonderful standard. the food is priced about right and tastes wonderful, I would recommend this to everyone.
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If you want to visit a pub, don't come here. It isn't one.
It looks like a pub from the outside. However, once you get in, as other posters have commented, the truth is out: its a restaurant! A restaurant that has a bar.
The food is standard pub fare, but the choice on the menu is plentiful, and, having experience the food (0/10) and the bar (0/10) at the "Royal Chase" Hotel over the road (my God-the "Half Moon" must get so many customers from that place, and, compared to their efforts at food and drink, this particular pub, sorry, restaurant with a bar, is Nirvana!), happily supped and ate here for a couple of nights, and it would have been more.
Yes, the decor is a stark and clinical effort to reproduce "olde world"-lots of wood and attempts at atmosphere; those little touches-'oh so amusing' lines of prose on the wall and the like-wooden planks from Homebase made to look like 18C beams, that sort of thing-but it is clean, light, airy, there is plenty of room, and the staff-and however many of them are there, we were served by 5 different people each evening!-are friendly, albeit in that unconvincing manner that comes so easily from Aussies and their Southern Ocean ilk.
I like how they offer smaller servings on some of the meals, so many pubs and restaurants-with-a-bar pack your plate with food piled so high, it has its own gravitational pull, and, even after an hours solid chomping, you seem to have more than you started with-despite this, when the staff come round and ask "everything alright?", you always say, "yes, lovely thankyou" instead of asking them how they have broken the laws of physics by serving organic matter that self repletes itself, however...
...the food is hot, hearty and tasty and the range of beers modest,-but they are there.
One bad, bad mark for the brewery-the bills states, proudly, that "all tips go to our staff", when, infact, they do not-we were told that sums added electronically as a tip is hoovered up by the chain and the staff never see a penny. Not nice and a lie to their customers.
If this place could rediscover a little pub-type energy over the coming months, it would be quite a find. As it is, I suspect the good folk of Shaftesbury will sup elsewhere and leave the "Half Moon" for us folk that '...bain't from round 'ere, is thee?..", which is a shame. But its OK, and, if you are in need of an early evening feast, or do not wish to face the Monkfish at the "Royal Chase", then pop in...
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As BeerEnthusiast says, it is more of a "large restaurant" than a pub. And Hall & Woodhouse (though it may have its fans) is not really the best in fine beers. However, they try to be friendly, have reasonable food and the place is clean and tidy. Nothing special, though, either in the beer or the food line.
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If you're staying in the Royal Chase Hotel opposite you really want to drink in here, but that's not saying much. The Badger ale was ok, nothing more, didn't eat here but looking at the portions people got it looks ok. The Royal Chase Hotel opposite is nice to stay in but the Courage Best was rubbish, and it was an eye-watering �3.30 a pint. Better off walking into Shaftesbury itself than either of these really.
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Visited again recently for an evening meal. Disappointed with the restricted menu and although the scampi and fries was OK, I shan't be going back for dinner again unless they change the menu. They'd run out of the seasonal Lemony Cricket ale, so I'll have to try it some time later. Badger was the only real ale as an alternative and it was in OK too. Service was friendly and efficient.
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Although really a restaurant now, the lunchtime soup was inexpensive and good. The Plump Partridge beer although very good was overpriced compared with other beers elsewhere. Service was good and quick though.
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Clean pub and tidy. Staff's customer service seemed to be one extreme or the other! OK food, nothing exceptional.
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I visited this �pub� on 17 July 2007 (my second visit). It is not really a pub, it is a large restaurant. Their early adoption of a no smoking policy was to be applauded but I feel that this premises has rather lost it�s way. The interior design refurbishment has all the charm of an upmarket McDonalds and it has not even tried to maintain anything of a pub environment. The food and drink prices are top ticket for the area. The food showed no sign of a chef being present and was standard cook chill factory stuff, but O/K for what it is. I quite enjoy Hall & Woodhouse beer. I just wish this was a pub as well.
The serving staff were relatively cheerful.
A big plus is that the place is at least well managed being clean and tidy, including the toilets and car parks. Well done for that.
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i live near the pub but had not been in for about 3 years. i am glad i have now. the place has been converted beyond all recognition. it is a light, totaly non smoking pub although it is a restaurant realy. but the large chap who owns it was more than happy for me to sit anywhere i chose. on a second visit my family ate and were sat buy the boss again who was a smiley chap and the food was really good. we be back throughout the summer. good job keep it up
anonymous - 3 May 2007 12:41 |
oh dear - it had a hall and woodhouse refurb which means now it is no longer a pub - just a restaurant.
No smoking.
every single person I speak to in shaftesbury cannot say one good word about it.
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Food is more popular than the ale but as this is a Hall & Woodhouse pub it would be wouldn't it?
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