Crown Inn - North Dorset

The most expensive roast in the area does not live up to its price. For 13.95 for chicken and 18.95 for beef, you only get a small stuffing ball, a carrot, a spoonful of Swede, four tiny potatoes, red cabbage that tastes like vinegar, cold and bland cauliflower cheese, watery gravy, and an okay Yorkshire pudding. The service was also terrible, with a waiter who smelled strongly of smoke and had nicotine stains on his fingers. Overall, a meal to avoid.

My partner and I dined at this restaurant on a Monday evening. We made a reservation, but there were plenty of available tables. I was pleased to find several vegetarian options on the menu, but ultimately decided on the Sunday roast vegetarian version. The prices were reasonable, around £17 for a main course. The service was excellent, with polite and cheerful staff. The pub has a charming thatched roof and a spacious car park. I would not hesitate to recommend this pub for a delicious meal.

My friend and I visited The Crown today for a roast lunch. We were SO disappointed! We both ordered the roast pork and were looking forward to a few succulent slices carved from the joint and some crisp crackling. However, we were presented with a dry looking pork loin steak with thick fat on the edge. Clearly not carved from a joint of pork! We told our waiter this was not what we were expecting and asked to change it for the roast chicken. He was very defensive, but agreed. When the plates were brought back, we had been given a chicken breast portion each, again clearly not carved from a whole roast chicken. The chicken was dry, the roast potatoes appeared to have been reheated, the carrots tasted like they’d come out of a tin, the Yorkshire pudding was soggy, the cauliflower cheese was mushy, there was one small stuffing ball (probably from a frozen pack), the mashed carrot and swede was tasteless, the red cabbage was acidic and rather slimy and the only green items on the plate were a couple of over-cooked spears of broccoli. We agreed the whole thing reminded us of a bad school dinner! We paid our bill and told the member of staff how disappointed we were. Again, she was very defensive and said that they had only had good feedback ‘from everyone’ (implying it was us who had the problem). No attempt to apologise or offer any kind of discount. Needless to say, we won’t be returning. Such a shame, as the Sunday roasts used to be excellent.

Gorgeous food and good service. We will definitely return as this is better than anything back home!

I only come here once a year when visiting a friend, and I've always enjoyed the food. I ordered a meat pie with vegetables and in the past their meat pies looked and tasted home made and came with a selection of freshly cooked vegetables. This time the pie looked and tasted like it was heated up from frozen and the vegetables consisted of some peas mixed in a mash. Also the staff were less attentive they had forgotten that we hadn't yet got our drinks when they later came to take our food order.