Hare and Hounds, Arreton
The Island's (and possibly the world's) only capital punishment theme pub, the Hare and Hounds nestles picturesquely in the shadow of a nearby gallows hill. In the pub it is hard to avoid the gruesome story of child-killer Michal Morey - his reputed skull grins cheekily at you as you enter the bar, and writing on the pub's walls tells the tale of his crime, capture and execution.
Appetites remaining steadfastly in place despite the gory folklore, Matt and Cat wound their way through the pub's many rooms and alcoves to table 13, not quite next to the electronic fly killer but a bit too close to a speaker for comfort. Perusing the extensive menu to the lilt of ubiquitous aural wallpaper artist Phil Collins, Matt and Cat were pleased to see a comprehensive range of food. Apart from the Sunday roast for which this rambling family pub is hugely popular, a daily roast is on offer (pork, on the day your reviewers visited) and, for those who do not want a full cooked meal, some more modest items such as sandwiches, baguettes and salads. The prices were not the cheapest, and the drinks in particular were a little more than expected.
Cat, predictably, chose Cajun chicken, described in the menu as "spicy butterfly chicken gently pan fried and served with salad garnish and chipped potatoes". Matt, too, selected chicken - Hawaiian chicken stack, which proved to be a pile of chicken, bacon and cheese which also came with salad garnish and chips.
M and C had been advised by friends that the service at the Hare and Hounds is a bit on the slow side and, with this in mind, they entertained themselves by reading about the further adventures of Michal Morey. They also were obliged to eavesdrop on the cat-obsessed lady at the next table who chuntered endlessly to her companion about the micro-management of her pet's feeding patterns - with a little more detail than was strictly necessary at dinnertime. She sounded like a very elderly lady and Cat was amazed to hear her say at one point "I can't believe I'm going to be thirty next month". Turning round for a quick glance, Cat was faced with a pretty young woman - doubtless her cat loves her!
After about half an hour, the meals arrived. Cat stared agog at her "gently pan fried chicken" which looked as though it had been cremated.
On further examination, what seemed like a crust of charcoal was in fact the Cajun sauce. The 'garnish' turned out to be a pretty good salad with two types of fruit, plenty of foliage, fresh tomatoes and crunchy strips of red and orange pepper. Matt's Hawaiian stack had a very nice lean piece of bacon, moist chicken, cheese and pineapple which added a pleasing contrast to the meat. Both meals came with a generous portion of chips.
The application of salad dressing, mayonnaise, ketchup and vinegar helped the plentiful dinners go down. Matt and Cat guzzled away and smacked their satisfied chops at the end of the meal.
Expecting to be disappointed in this machine of Sunday lunches and Mothering Sunday capacity crowds, M and C were pleasantly surprised. The wait was a bit long, but not finger-tappingly long, and the food was good; well-presented and fresh. No wonder the skull is smiling.
Visit the website: http://www.hareandhounds-newport.com/default.htm
Published: 11th March 20074719 views
Categories: We like, Pub Grub, Family friendly, Newport, Sandown & Shanklin
17 comments
Also they don't allow dogs and did not look amused when we suggested that they change the name to "The Hare".
bangers and mash - why do they hane to deep fry sausages and use powdered mash potato ???. Not a place to return to in a hurry.
Service of puddings was slow and the attitude of the assistant manager when I made a complaint about my second cold serving of treacle pudding was awful.
The attitude of the manager was even worse.
Would not eat there again and would not recommend to anyone I liked.
Larry
The queue waiting to be served is a little precarious as it is at the top of some steps and I got very worried about a few oldtimers struggling back to their seats with their very full plates! But other than that I would definately recommend it.
I can't believe anyone has written a bad review about this place, maybe they havent been to the SUNDAY carvery? We LOVED it!
We ordered soup and a garlic and herb bread.
We waited for over 35 minutes, the pub was very quiet hardly any customers.
The soup came out in a dessert dish with triangles of supermarket brown coloured white bread, with dobs of hard butter plonked on 2 of the slices.
The soup was cold and even worse it was packet soup, uggggg.
I sent mine back and to be fair the young lady was very polite and gave me the money back.
The garlic bread had very little garlic in it and it was advertised with rocket leaves, they were however baby spinach leaves.
We then were told that it was a Green King pub and they had to serve what they were told.
So folks avoid Green King food outlets unless you are happy to pay for and wait for packet soup!!!
Last Monday we arrived at around 1 p.m. to find an almost empty car park, suprising having passed 5 very busy pubs on the way.
On entering the sparsely populated restaurant, we had plenty of choice of tables to choose from. We sat at one, but instantly realised it was right under a "musac" speaker, so walked across to a far corner to seek some comparative peace:
No luck, speaker over this table also; as it was over that one; and that one; and that one! Right across the place!
Reluctantly therefore we returned to our first choice, a bright sunny table, resolving to "grin and bear it".
Reaching for a menu each we buried our heads in them, but within one minute we just looked at each other; the noise was intrusive, inescapable, and unbearable.
We had no choice but to get up and leave.
What an appalling shame to so plaster your establishment with intrusive speakers everywhere.
We reluctantly trudged off and drove to the next pub on our route home, The Chequers.
There we parked up, locked the car, walked in through the door to be greeted by.......... Music!!!!
BUT here, how different, from a few unabtrusive speakers hidden in the corners, emitting quiet soft soothing sound. Just enough to kill the dead empty sound of a room, soft enough to not intrude on a quiet conversation, totally unlike the "beat your brain to a pulp" of the Hare and Hounds.
(Oh, and the food we then got? Slight wait for it, but a very decent meal which we thoroughly enjoyed)
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