written by Blanchardfamily2001 on 06/02/2006
We visited the Hungry Horse in Rugby, also known as the Old Royal Oak. The pub is situated alongside the Oxford Canal. Access is easy and the car park is large. On entering you pass the toilets and through the smoking area and bar to the stairs for the childrens play area.
The indoor childrens play area is for the under 8's. It is down a flight of stairs from the main restaurant and is at canal level, there is an emergency exit onto the canal bank. The play area does not have any supervision, it is up to parents to supervise their children. The play area consists of ball pit, padded climbing frame and is on a small scale compared to some other child friendly pub-restaurants. There was a notice telling parents that the emergency exit was not locked. Although when we visited, some parents were in the bar and restaurant, whilst the children played unsupervised.
The dining area is large and layed out well, with a selection of large tables and smaller tables, thus catering for families of all sizes. You order your food from the bar and can open a tab if required.
The menu appears to be good value, with plenty of choice, although when we visited the mixed grill (18oz of meat) was not available. We ordered a combi starter - enough for 2 adults and 2 children, this was placed in the centre of the table, we did not get given any plates. Our main course of New York Steak and Veggie burgers were adequate. The steak was ordered meduim-well, but when it arrived it was more well done, I think down to the bacon, cheese and bbq sauce that was heated under a grill. The Veggie burger was fine, although a little on the big side. The children had fish pieces in batter, deep fried and tasted greasy. Really the food is nothing special, even if it was quick to arrive at the table,
The toilets were situated in the entrance lobby, to get to them you had to walk past the bar and the area set aside for smokers, the baby change/ disabled toilet had no working lock. however it was clean.
I was surprised that the restaurant allowed smoking in an area, frequented by all those using the restaurtant and pub area.
To sum up the food is average, the indoor childrens play are needs staff (or CCTV) supervision, smoking needs to be segragated from the entrance, so customers have a smoke free entrance and exit. Food needs to match the experience customers are seeking, so a slight improvement in presentation and cooking iinstructions is needed. Overall it is an average pub-restaurant, with average food and average staff.
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Blanchardfamily2001's Response to Blanchardfamily2001's Review
Written on: 09/10/2006
We revisited this restaurant on Saturday 7 October. You still walk through the smokey bar area to get to the restaurant.
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<br/>Most of the veggie menu was not available (you like veggie burgers?). Despite that several meals came on the large 17" plates, with a burger here, chips there and salad over there! Smaller plates would have been sufficient.
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<br/>Our party was well pleased with the food (except my veggie wife and sister-in-law). Puddings were okay, not great - the sticky apple crumble turned out to be apple crumble with toffee sauce drizzled over the top.
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<br/>Being a driver, I chose orange juice and lemonade, this was not mixed.
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<br/>The best bit of the meal was when we watched a member of staff tidy away another table - she used a dirty damp dish cloth and knocked food crumbs on to the floor.