Red Lion on it’s last legs?…

Our visit to the Red Lion last night was something of a disappointment.  We have been there several times in the past, the most recent just last year, and have always been impressed with the quality of the food, the choice of ‘guest’ beers and the ambience.  Last night however, there was only one draught beer on, and John Smiths keg.  They had ‘run out’ of draught Guinness, draught cider, and one of the lagers.    The menu was much depleted from last year, and, although the food was okay, it was rather overpriced for what it was.  Rog had a pasta dish which was very tasty, and I had ‘pie of the day’ – gammon and mushroom, which was also okay, but a bit burnt around the pastry edges, and a bit dry around the cut edges – I suspect that it had been heated up in a microwave.  To add to that, although there were more than six tables full of customers (it being Saturday night), there was only one waitress on, a goth with white makeup, who really didn’t seem to care.  She was quite rude to the family of 6 on the next table when they asked for some drinks, and told them curtly that they’d have to get up and go to the bar.  Plates were not cleared after we had all finished our meals, but the waitress didn’t seem to even look at the tables – and it certainly wasn’t because she was rushing around taking orders and delivering food.  After we had sat with our finished dinner plates in front of us for almost half an hour, we decided that we wouldn’t bother waiting for pudding any longer, and paid up and left.  To add insult to injury, there was a 50p surcharge for using a debit card!  Credit card, yes, but we’ve never had to pay a surcharge for using a debit card before. The draught beer ran out as we were paying the bill, and so did a group of customers who had just walked in!  This definitely had the air of a pub about to go belly-up.  And yes, you might all say we should have gone to the Brasenose Arms, and you will be right, but we’ve always liked the Red Lion.

This morning we moved just a mile out of Cropredy and found a nice quiet mooring out in the countryside.

1 mile and 0 locks