The Roebuck - Winchester

Unfortunately we've had a few bad experiences at The Roebuck of late, a real shame as it's local to us and the pub and gardens itself have been done up so well, it has great potential. Sadly though, not while being run by someone so rude and small-minded. We visited on Fathers day to discover they were offering a set menu at £25 per person for a BBQ buffet. For four people we were served 1 burger, half a chicken, 3 sausages and the smallest cut of steak to share. The chips were clearly old oven chips and salad was very uninspiring. The food was horribly overcooked and parts of it in-edible. A total rip off at that price! The pub was almost empty that day too, considering everywhere else was fully booked it should have been a warning sign it had so much availability! We then re-visited last night to watch the football and have some dinner. Upon arrival we were handed menus, however when we went to order at the bar we were then told all we could order was pizza! Absolutely no prior warning for this. The pub was again very quiet, only 4 tables occupied, and yet it still took 45minutes for the pizza to arrive, all of which were horrifically burnt and mainly covered with rocket and not much else! In addition to this we ordered a garlic pizza bread, initially it came out so burnt it was inedible, the second attempt didn't have any garlic on it and the third can speak for itself in the attached photo (clearly also not edible! ... The bloke who supposedly manages the place has absolutely no sense of customer service and was beyond rude to multiple members in the party. Apparently he does really well for himself and doesn't actually need our custom (his words ! I'm not usually one to write reviews, but after two such a poor experiences I felt I needed to warn others to not waste your money here, there are so many better pubs near by that deserve your money more!

Came for a couple of drinks and food. Ordered the hot dog and burger and both were really average. Chips tasted like they had been cooked in old oil. Garden was lovely though.

Had an absolutely terrible experience here today when visiting for a Sunday roast with my wife and two young children. Just to be clear, we are not the type of family that complain. We don’t write negative reviews without good reason. The small minded attitude and simple rudeness and inconsiderate nature of the management in the Roebuck today compelled me to write this review. So my wife has Crohn’s disease. If you don’t know about it, it’s an incurable bowel disease that causes her excruciating pain if she does not eat the right things cooked the right way. She manages it well and knows what she can and cannot have. When placing the order for her chicken roast dinner today I was explicitly clear that the vegetables would need to be cooked properly extremely well. She cannot eat al dente. I explained the importance of this and her condition. They understood and took my order at the bar. Now, we’ve been here before. Places get it wrong and forget. We almost expect it. But this time because we were the first people to order and I could see the message being conveyed to the kitchen staff, I was confident they would get it right. Sadly, they didn’t. My wife was served the solid butt-end of a cabbage which was very lightly cooked, some peas (which she cannot actually eat because of the shells) and some warm but hard carrots. Personally I liked what I was served. So the quality here was not really the issue. We apologised for the inconvenience and asked for the vegetables to be replaced. As I said, we’ve been here before in many places. Sadly there is still a wide-spread lack of consideration and compassion for severe dietary restrictions. She doesn’t want or choose to be this fussy. So…. after a few minutes. Our waitress returned with the plate without carrots, all other vegetables the same. Advising us that they couldn’t do anything about it and this was how it comes. At this point I have almost finished my food. We have two restless toddlers. My wife tried to work out how they might be able to soften up her vegetables, asking how they were cooked, but the waitress didn’t know, only saying that there was nothing they could do. At this point embarrassed and not wanting to cause any further fuss decided to request a refund and said not to worry. We had paid in advance because we were sitting outside. Then several minutes later the waitress returned advising that the manager was refusing to refund as there was nothing wrong with the food. I was obviously quite shocked by this, I actually thought there must have been some confusion. But sadly when asking the manager, he again confirmed his very short sighted and horrifically inconsiderate decision. This guy decided that £12.75 for a meal that my wife didn’t get to eat was more important than our ongoing custom. I want to reiterate, we are not difficult or moany customers. I know reading these reviews it can be easy to think about how pathetic people are…. This is not the case here. It needs to be known that the manager of this establishment today completely let his colleagues and bosses down. He ruined our Sunday, I’m still furious now at the utter disrespect he showed my wife and her condition. Anyway, I sincerely hope this genuine review of a bad experience discourages others from attending. A change of management is needed.

We found this lovely pub while travelling to Stockbridge from Winchester. Friendly efficient staff with a wide choice of fine ales. Looking at the pub 's identity and branding, I have to ask How could they get it so wrong Called the Roebuck and has a picture if a Red Deer. Unbelievable !

What a fabulous pub and the food is wonderful. Settle down with a gin and tonic and a plate of arancini for the night and you're sorted.