The Old Devil Inn

I visited with my family on 13^th August for dinner and was very disappointed with the service and the food.
We have eaten here before and thoroughly enjoyed it hence why we went again, there were a few negative points that spoilt our evening.
Firstly there was no diet coke or bulmers ciderin a pub???
my parents are on a carb free diet and asked for extra vegetable instead of potato with the liver and bacon and the fish pie, my partner asked for the ‘Hot’ Chilli to be extra hot and i ordered lasagne knowing the portions are generally big
The liver and bacon turned up with a huge dollop of mashed potato and the fish pie was more mash pie with a few prawns and barely any fish, when my mum mentioned the mash on her plate to the lady (i presume the owner) we were told ‘you should of said no mash’ we did although it seems that the waiter didn’t pass this on, my lasagne portion was tiny and the ‘HOT’ chilli was not hot.
On paying the waiter made a mistake with the machine and swore in front of us, not what you expect in any kind of service industry, we all found him to be cocky and overly chatty.
All in all although we were disappinted we took it to be an off day but reading these comments it looks like this establishment has gone down hill :(

Visited on Mother Days (April 3^rd) and our experience seemed like something out of Gordon Ramsays Kitchen Nightmares…
Table booked for 2.00pm –finally showed to table at 2.45. 15 min wait for orders to be taken, No wine list — we were given the same story as another reviewer — «we’ve just changed wine merchants… blah. blah». Waiteress taking our orders was disorganised — she was about to leave the tabel and handn’t actually taken my order. I suggested she might like to count up and replay what she had on her order pad but she declined. Starter course took a good 30 mins to appear as did the drinks order (despite reminders). Main course took another 30 mins to arrive — and surprise surprise my order failed to arrive. In the meantime the owner decided that a group on another table had annoyed her by asking when their food was going to be ready — she remonstrated very vocally with them to te extent that the senior lady in the group was quite upset by it all — the atmosphere was quite unpleasant and the general conversation level fell quite markedly in the face of all this.
Anyway still waiting for my order of roast beef (hardly exotic!) and with a further 2 reminders to different waiting staff — eventually it arrived almost as my companions had finished their servings. Imagine my dismay to see that the beef was still oozing blood and was seruously undercooked (I had not been asked «how would you like it cooked»). Ok so another complaint — this time to the owner who then told me «well it says on the menu that it will be cooked rare!» — as luck would have it the menu was still on the table and I challenged this statement as I did not recall seeing these words as I’m quite particular about that kind of thing. Sure enough the menu made no mention of the «rareness»! So with ill grace the beef was taken away to be pan fried. When it arrived the roast potatoes had long given up ther struggle as they had been kept warm for some time.
Verdict: Food — okay but nothing special and not remakably cheap
Service: Appalling — no né person responsible for our table we were served by 4 different staff. No-​one taking responsibility for correcting things — so having misplaced an order, to then not chase up reminders is just guarranteed to upset customers.
Ambience: Arguments with customers in front of others is just not on. Dog wandering around bar and food area. Chef not wearing whites, seen thorugh kitchen door do be swigging away at wine on a regulare basis.
Recommondation: Get Gordon in to sort it out. The Fawlty-​esque display of custmoer service and behaviours was not funny and downright embarassing and spoiled what was intended to be a family celebration. I could not recommend this eatablishment — my concern would be that from other reviews our experiences could not be written off as an isolated incident.

Ate there last thursday was overwhelmed by the enormous menu and multiple specials board, didn’t understand how everything could be made fresh with such a vast menu. Starters were ok, mains were a disaster, tuna special on spicy pasta was awful, raw in the middle, left me very poorly. One guest had the burger which was pure salt he sent it back and the proprieter joked that the chef must have knocked the salt into the mixture but there was no mince left to offer a second burger and by this time it had taken an hour between starters and mains. Another guest ordered the stick beef with jasmine rice, the meet was an unidentifiable cross between pork and beef and basically pure gristle. The portions were huge and virtually inedible, staff were incompetant and propriter was over friendly and repeatedly made jokes about having some of the wine on the table. One word — AWFUL

Recent meal here was disappointing. The venue itself is very pleasant and the staff very friendly. However the impression gained was that volume tried to make up for quality. My wife had liver and bacon and I had a salmon fillet. What spoiled both meals was the huge mound of lumpy mashed potatoes upon which the main ingredient was placed. Most off-​putting and not pleasant to eat. A complaint to the waitress was met with a bland ‘I’ll tell the chef’ with no follow-​up

We usually use this Inn when my wife has a special reason to go somewhere to eat. It is not too far from Reading but it is not easy to find. We go round a bend and suddenly it is there on our right. Perhaps better signboarding could help because at the moment I feel there could be an accident !
It is a lovely Olde style Inn and there is avery old end and a newer end. Most people go to the newer end because the older end is often reserved to private parties.
We sit down and we have the menus delivered quickly. We have time to choose what we want. The food comes piping hot and the wine comes in large glasses.
Pâté tends to be starter of choice but I would have their scallops as a main course, my wife had the steak pie and my son had the sausages and mash.
Very good quantities and when we get home we fall asleep in our chairs !!

Update September 2012: Sadly, the couple running this establishment have moved on and the only expression applicable now seems to be no, not really A shame in a way, BUT fortunately, they can be found just round the corner here:
Old review: The people running this had run another establishment for a while, which we had enjoyed often. A friend told me that they were now here. Calling at short notice, they were very helpful in accommodating us on a Saturday night (as someone else also noted on a local blog). The interior decoration is stylish and interesting and there is a balcony at the back where you can have a fag and overlook the sizable garden and watch Japanese chickens strutting round (they are not on the menu get your Teryaki elsewhere). The staff were very friendly and attentive, taking our order outside. They seemed to be very good at multitasking in an efficent and friendly way. Avocado with coronation chicken and mango. Sounds a little pedestrian, maybe? (Visions of a sad half avo with mayo containing a bit of chicken and crowned with a dollop of mango) But knowing these peoples’ skills, we decided to plod along that pedestrian route. The result? A splendid large platter featuring crisp salad, correctly sliced strips of avocado, lashings of beautifully-​rich coronation chicken and beautifully garnished with strawberries and redcurrants. The wine list was geographically eclectic and had some promising stuff listed. You need not guess for long what we chose, looking at my name above. It was one of those wines that a non-​drinker or alky could also handle with ease, as it would have been sufficient to enjoy a subtle bouquet to die for. However, we chose to drink it as well; a decision that we did not regret. For the main course, I chose Scotch beef fillet steak with Rocquefort sauce. (It’s always interesting to see how well a restaurant copes when you ask for a steak not cooked ‘rare’, ‘medium’ or ‘well-​done’, but rather ‘medium-​rare’). They got it spot on. The chips were good, too, which can be a surprising stumbling block for many. My good lady chose a delicious salmon dish that she sadly did not manage to finish, although she dearly wanted to. Puddings were out of the question by now. Caution? Make sure that you are bloody hungry, look at the size of the starters and give it a bit of thought before pigging out. BTW, They also have some B&B rooms, but I don’t think that category exists on this site.