please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A real mixed bag. From the outside it looks lovely, and the inside is done up in an oldie woldie style that is pleasing to the eye. But there is just not enough space to sit inside really, all the beer while a good selection tastes awful and soapy, and the bar staff are unfriendly. Food is incredibly slow.
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Visited for the first time tonight and it honestly is worse than the generally bad reviews around the internet say. Terrible!
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I think the pint of Firkin Fox I had had turned, I had the two bob bits all the next day. Another drawback the bar maid seemed to vanish for about 5 minutes whilst I was waiting. Poor service and beer.
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Nice pint of Furkin Fox, food was ok and service quick. Does get busy and lots of young families in the beer garden on a nice day,
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No reason to visit - bad, expensive and unfriendly. The picture looks great but the experience is very different
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Mediocre
Can't think why you would visit unless you are local
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I find it strange how, so many posts vanish on this site in relation to this pub. So what if drugs are still rife there. The brewery and local community don't care. It's called the Blazingsmoke for a reason.
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Well the new manager seems a good guy. I guess Hallwood-house took some action after all. Can he turn this pub around? He needs to keep a watchful eye on certain people. They are already talking about him and tried to get people to leave once just before Christmas.
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Only Badger beers and a few lagers, beers seemed flattish, I think they had a cider, poor choice and expensive. Not sure, what this place thinks it is? Pub or restaraunt. Pricey mind and to expensive for me.
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Good assessment Wolvesfan.
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Great pub, excellent food
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After another business trip to Basingstoke, another trip to the Portsmouth Arms for dinner and another fantastic meal I cannot understand the disappointing experiences. Keep up the good work Portsmouth Arms. Too much ice in my coke though !!! :-)
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Was here on a Sunday - pub is fine, big car park so not an issue getting parked. Fursty ferret was very drinkable. Food was okay - have eaten in a few woodhouse pubs - so standard menu - Queens college arms (Tadley way) does the same food but better.
Had a few beers in here on Friday night - not sure if the turn over is too high and the barrels don't have enough time to settle but beer is not as good as it could be - and I am a fan of Badger beers.
(playground is good for the kids on a Sunday)
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good beer and wine, bad food and service!
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Lovely location and nice beer but the food and service was atrocious. After waiting 90 minutes for my main course, the meat (liver) was inedible - overcooked and bone dry. Not a trace of pink on the flesh. My fellow diners complained that their food was cold and 'not very nice'. A requested bottle of still water seemed to have developed gas bubbles on its way to the table and a request for salad dressing was not heeded, making the salad inedible. To be fair, the management did reduce the bill by a reasonable amount but this did not compensate for a ruined evening.
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Really enjoy this pub. The steaks are cooked to perfection and the staff very friendly. Amazing cross-section of clientele, all ages and backgrounds. Quite an achievement these days to create a local neighbourhood pub on a new-build estate.
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This is by far the best pub in basingstoke. No where else can offer such a warm welcome with quality food and service with a smile. I can't understand these previous comments at all. Thank goodness for the portsmouth arms.
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Without a doubt the worst pub i have ever been in. Horrible food, bad beer & rude management. As a Hall & Woodhouse pub i hope they are ashamed of the way this is being run. This has the potential to be the busiest and best pub in Basingstoke
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I must have gone on a really bad night, food awful and when I complained, (in a nice way!), no one was the slightest bit interested!
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Really enjoyed this pub. Good food and quality Badgers beers. Service was very good (surprisingly)considering the age of most of the staff (under 25). Even took our dog which the managment welcome with a big bowl of water and a handfull of biscuits, nice touch...
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Probably the worst pint of lager i have ever had.
Ashey - 29 Oct 2006 20:44 |
I'm converted! Love it now!
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I have to admit, I quite liked it when I went in it last, and enjoyed the Tanglefoot. Also the Badger Best was quite good too. I think the fact I was in there at 1pm and it was very quiet had something to do with it.
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I have visited this pub several times in the past year with it's thatched roof and set in a quiet location although close to town it is perfect for me to take clients for lunch with warm lighting and open fires it has a good combination of clientele, young(over25) and old with a nice selection of real ales(4) lagers(4) if you like quiz nights sunday nights are a must with a lot of competition(15-20 teams)it has everything i look for in a pub thank's Lord Portsmouth.
Brewster - 5 Mar 2004 08:18 |
Since the Pig & Whistle was thankfully razed to the ground, this is where many of the Brighton Hill 'Townies' now go to drink in the evening. The barstaff are even younger, and therefore you can safely bet on being ignored for ages while they chat amongst themselves. Visit at lunchtimes, when the service and food is better and thankfully the suits outnumber the baseball caps and 3-stripe sports wear.
Moz - 24 Feb 2004 22:59 |
Nice ales and good bar people but does tend to attract some boring office types.
ray - 3 Feb 2004 10:42 |
Good Grub, and always a good pint of Tanglefoot available.
Definately in the 'faux-olde-worlde' pile, but as the only pub in Hatch Warren, who can argue?
Russ - 30 Nov 2003 19:29 |
