The Bear and Ragged Staff, Romsey

Official site of The Bear and Ragged Staff - www.bear-and-ragged-staff.co.uk

Official site of The Bear and Ragged Staff - www.bear-and-ragged-staff.co.uk

My visit was lunchtime on sunny Sunday afternoon in July, the pub is very handy for Mottisfont Abbey [National Trust], so could be a handy place to eat if fed up with queuing at Mottisfont cafe. Also fairly near Hillier Gardens at Romsey A Fuller's [ex Gales] house, with standard ex Gales Fuller's offering of beers & lagers Very much food orientated, there are no nearby houses, so it has to be a destination pub, and food seems to be the target market Large car park, outside, some paved, seating, loads of it, at trestle tables, with parasols for summer One very large bar area, sub divided, but all take orders for food / drinks General bar is also divided, and does have steps in parts, including up to toilets [one step]. Very much wood & country pub decor I had HSB, companion had coffee, no complaints there. We only had a sandwich, which was a bit pricey [£5 mark], but found the service was efficient and staff helpful & friendly, but did notice those with cooked food seem to have bit of wait, the portions however seemed huge You will find conflicting views about this pub on the web, I think it is Marmite pub, make your own mind up OK if in area, but would not make a special journey here

Good location with reasonable interior, if you are looking for a drink ideal, for eating not recommended. Menu looks good and very reasonalby priced, however quality of food is poor, some food comes under cooked, the curry probably is straight out of a jar, the vegetables - well dreadful is all I can say. They would be be better to reduce their menu by 2/3rds and have a limited range menu that was well prepared and cooked. Very disappointing.