The Crown And Thistle

Visited on 4th July in the hope of getting a sandwich and chips whilst on a 2 hour break but ended up with spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread. The lady behind the bar (think her name was Amber?) was fabulous, very cheerful and helpful! Food arrived in a decent amount of time and was lovely sitting in the courtyard. Will be returning.

The pizza here is amazing, the best I ever had. I highly recommend the Napoli forte or the pepperoni pizza. Thank you Tibor !!!( the best pizza chefie)

After visiting several local options, I picked Crown and Thistle for my mum's 90th birthday celebration Afternoon Tea. My previous visits over the years for Sunday lunch, dinner and even bottomless brunch had all been good.
I booked in person a few weeks before, dropped in the day before to check all was ok and to drop off some decorations and told the manager Phill, we were excited for the event.
Family had taken time off work, travelled for 6hr round trip, taken taxis etc, a lot had gone into making this special for my mum.

The day was such a huge disappointment in so many ways......
Staff:
No one ever came to ask if we wanted anything, we constantly had to go to the bar area to wait and ask for things such as drinks, enough cutlery/crockery as there wasn't enough for the number we had booked for, salt, butter and ice.
I asked 3 times for water for the table, on the last request a jug of water sat on the bar area was pointed at and was told there's your water. It seems I was supposed to take it to the table myself. I asked for more water as 1 jug wouldn't be enough for 9 people, the response was a sigh and "more water?".
I went to the bar and said coffee was great, but may I have some more milk for my latte as it was a bit strong, I was met with an eye roll and "does it have to be warmed up or is cold alright" I said cold was fine and thanked him.
In 2 hour session we only had 1 drink, at no point were we asked if we wanted another drink.
No one at any point wished my mum a happy birthday or even checked in to see if we were ok or needed anything.
Food:
2 tray/plates were popped on the table and the member of staff walked off...... I had to check that it was supposed to be for all of us and it didn’t seem much quantity. There were items listed on the Afternoon Tea menu that didn’t exist and things differed from their description. This was the least of my concern as the quality was awful.
The brown bread with chive cream cheese and smoked salmon was dry stale cheap with pre sliced bread, no butter and blob of plain cream cheese with curled up edges.
Mature Farmhouse cheddar with sun dried tomato pesto was dry stale cheap white pre sliced bread with mild economy cheese and a small slice of reformed value wafer thin ham – no butter, no pesto.
Scones were served with marmalade! We ha to ask for more as initially there were only 4 scones provided (no butter).
My brother spoke with a young chap who said he was joint manager and he admitted that he wouldn’t pay almost £150 for what we had been served. The other manager Phil seemed unphased and simply said he’d send a bottle of prosecco to the table while I stood in the bar area sobbing because my mum’s special surprise Afternoon Tea was such a disappointment and is not able to be repeated. We declined the empty gesture, no one in our party was drinking alcohol.
We left, everyone disappointed, no one came to our table to apologise or say goodbye.
I was later accidentally cc into an email saying to organise me a voucher to return for a free dinner – unfortunately still no apology and sadly I wouldn’t wish to return even for a free dinner.
No longer able to recommend the Crown & Thistle restaurant.

We like the menu at the OPO in Wallingford but the service is terrible, 100% better at the Crown & Thistle. Big family birthday dinner. Had to pre order but the online process made that super simple. Food was great, service tip top, thanks Isla. Would definitely recommend.

Lovely lunch in a warm family friendly atmosphere. Staff were very friendly, attentive and accommodating. Food was lovely, good portion sizes - including those for children and the wait for food was not long. Toilets very clean! Would recommend and will be likely to return.