Poachers in Shropshire - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Waited a long time to be served at the bar when not overly busy. Queueing system non existent. 4 of us wanted the set menu. Asked if we could decide whether to add the 3rd course later and were told no, we had to decide as we ordered. So, as we didn't know if we'd have room for the 3rd course we opted for the 2. Waited 20 minutes before waitress told us one of the starters was unavailable. Sat outside. Saw 3 tables who ordered their food after us be served before us. Waitress then reappeared to clarify our order. Waited a further half an hour before we asked where our food was. Waited another 20 minutes before it appeared. Hunters chicken and burgers were extremely dry. Peas with fish and chips cold. Presentation very poor overall. Very disappointed! Would like to add that the waitresses were great, pleasant, friendly and running around all over the place. They did all they could to alleviate our problems.

Thank you so much to the team at Poachers for being so brilliant and accommodating for our group. The front of house staff were so lovely and the food was excellent 😊

Lee & Ellen were pleasent, friendly & helpful - great experience, many thanks

Had a lovely evening with family and friends the food was fantastic and the drinks. Very welcoming pub The staff are excellent

We arrived at 3:15pm without having made a reservation. No problem seating us but we were informed that the kitchen was closed for an hour due to staff shortages. It would reopen at 4pm. We decided to hang on. As we had our dog with us we were directed to sit at one of two tables unreserved in the Bar Dining Area. We also learned that table service is not extended to this area! This makes you feel somewhat penalised as it’s offered elsewhere in the pub. Why is that? We are charged the same prices! So at 4pm we ordered at the bar from the lunch menu. We ordered 2 starters and 2 mains. The starters arrived quite quickly and were nicely cooked, marginally overcooked/crunchy but tasty (garlic mushrooms). We both had these. There was no follow up to check on the meals and quite some delay before starters were cleared, which also delayed mains being served. The mains we both chose were the buttermilk chicken tenders. When it came I was astonished to see how small the portions of chicken were! It looked more like a starter that had been shared between two!! Very disappointing. However, the flavours of it were delicious and it was cooked very nicely. So apart from the stingy size of the supposed mains, and the segregation of service, it was a nice late lunch experience.

Great meal as always, Millie our server was friendly and attentive, brilliant atmosphere and tasty food, will be returning

It was good, very busy only complaint is that I paid an extra £1.50 for onion rings and only got three tiny ones. Did take a pic of you want to see.

Fast food well cooked with great beer

First time coming to this pub, it is a lovely pub will definitely be coming back, the staff here are very friendly. Sophie was very friendly and welcoming xx

Whilst on Holiday in the Area we chose to book on a Sunday for our party of 8 (4 adults & 4 children) From the outside it looks very nice. More than enough parking. Play park. But unfortunatley that's where the positives stop. Young staff meant no or little customer service. Barely a smile. Food arrives cold on a blistering hot plate. They missed a drink off the original order and then mixed up our Desserts order. When asked for extra sauce.. we had been charged £2.50 for a small pot of luke warm gravy. Not impressed at all. The roat pork had no crackling or apple sauce as promised. The veg was 1 big carrot. 1 big parsnip.. meaning undercooked. We had to pay for extras like Cauliflower Cheese etc. We have seen better quality at a carvary. Finally - The choccy brownie was more like old dried cake. Sorry but lots of room for improvement.

Well worth the visit, great staff and friendly atmosphere. Loved the food and it was cheaper than I expected.

Absolutely loved our experience at The Poachers! The waitresses were so unbelievably welcoming, warm and attentive. A surprise birthday dessert arrived without us even asking!! Really super.

We can't really fault any of our visit to the Poachers Pocket.

We were on route to Wales and detoured through Chirk, although we hadn't booked a table at The poachers we were greeted by Lee,who. although the restaurant was very busy able to accommodate us efficiently.Millie was our table host and she served us efficiently and had a friendly manner too. The food was delicious and served perfectly. We would like to thank both Lee and Millie for making our first experience at The Poachers very good , we will definitely detour there again.

Under staffed …which caused lack of quality.

Millie did a great job waiting on our table, was friendly and patient as we decided what to order, then asked if all was OK. Manager Lee was also great in finding us a table (we're never organised enough to book places in advance) I'd probably recommend doing that if you want the same great service from Millie 😃

I was disappointed in my last visit, we got there at about 8.50 on a Saturday evening, and was surprised that we could only have one drink because they were cashing up, which I thought was early for a Saturday night.

This is the 2nd visit of the week to this pub,1st visit food good no problems. As for tonight we waited nearly an hour before our food arrived and that was only one meal out of four the rest arrived a good 5-10 minutes later.when my hubby went to complain and say we be been sat for 15mins with dirty plates in front of us the still didn't come to clear them service was appalling

Went for lunch today. Very very disappointed. Waited over an hour after ordering food. First off the drinks were mixed up, then we had to chase our food 3 times. Staff were not aware of any specials, and apparently the pub does not serve diet coke. We were with 2 children and the wait for them was extremely difficult. We ordered lasagne with an extra portion of chips. The lasagne was cold in the middle and burnt on the edges and was obviously microwaved. It said it came with a mixed salad, but it just came with soggy lettuce. We didn't get our extra chips and another dish came incomplete. The children's nuggets and BBQ sauce came without the sauce and were so overcooked. Unacceptable service, food and the restaurant tables felt sticky and unclean. I would avoid for food.

Really improved since our last visit! The food was amazing! And the staff were lovely!! Was no Sunday dinner left. But we had food off the main Menu and it was beautiful! 💜 be returning again soon!

Food good, waited a long time with table service

I have been a number of times and to be honest, the service has no continuity, but they are always helpful and pleasant. However, on this occasion they really messed up with the food. My friends had scampi which had to be re-cooked as it was raw. I had sausage and mash and it was Bisto gravy and I lobbed brown sauce on it so it was okay. We both had sticky toffee pudding, but this was very poor, toffee ice cream had obviously been let to go defrosted at some point because it had ice in it, not a lot of toffee sauce and sponge was rather dry. A little bit disappointing to be honest the food did not represent the quality of the staff , Basics , you can do better than this!

We last visited 9 years ago when family lived nearby. We are on holiday with friends and had booked a table with high expectations and good memories of eating here. Such a massive disappointment. From the point when we entered and despite there being lots of tables empty the manager kept us waiting for ages and another member of staff then seated us. The waitres came over after a long wait and did not ask about allergies or what was not available on the menu. Being a Sunday at 630 we were looking at the menu at the roasts. A neighbouring table told us they had no roasts. We ordered starters and mains. Lots of items unavailable. After 3 hours we were still waiting for Desserts to arrive and when I questioned the 5 staff members at the bar why we were still waiting as there was no one else there- a gobby female from the kitchen asked me what table and shed get them. A few minutes passed and the gobby female came to our table and shouted at my husband saying that your desserts are not sent from the kitchen until the mains are cleared. We did not order desserts until the mains were cleared as we (6 of us) were all still hungry. When desserts came they were unpalatable. Cheesecake with no base! I asked for the manager who said they wasn't working so I asked for the duty manager which was the person we was talking to. Yes I understand that it's a busy time of year and it had been a busy day. They were extraordinary short staffed and the staff they did have were very green. Good service would have rectified lots of the mistakes made. There was 3 other tables sitting in our veiw. 1 left without ordering as nothing was available. The other 2 tables were unhappy with very long waits and incorrect items when it did arrive. We were in the restaurant for 3 1/2 hours and left disappointed and hungry. Terrible start to our narrow boat holiday

Excellent food, friendly service yet again, our fourth visit

Avoid the Poachers at Chirk in Wales. Food and service are disgusting

Great food, plenty of outdoor seating and parking

very nice place to eat and drink food was excellent

Do not stop here drive straight pass this pub that is what I wish I had done I have never in my life been to a place where the staff are so rude and disrespectful. Being talked about and pointed at and being discussed among the staff me and my friend were so shocked by this behaviour of the staff. One girl an older one had a spiked belt on and has a mouth on her. One thing is she definitely doesn’t belong in a restaurant maybe in a biker bar. Thing is the drinks weren’t even good either as I work in a pub I know how they should be made and wow I would be embarrassed to serve what they call cocktails staff can’t even pour a pint right either can they do anything there such a shame old managers have gone they had good staff this place will be closing soon with all the loss it is having shame bring back the old managers and good staff they had.

Seated us outside in a comfortable area, the pub inside was fully booked for Sunday lunch. Food came really quickly considering how busy it was, all excellent.

Excellent service from Lee, who sorted a quieter table for us, and Nadia at the bar, who apologized twice for keeping me waiting while she was preparing a large drinks order. Excellent meal too, with real green veg, not just salad. Highly recommend.

Staff lvly but had to wait 30mins for food bcos very busy& queus for food& drink-Sunday roast very tasty -price list online different to ensitue -but had promotional voucher so reasonable

Sat outside. Limited choice of empty tables, as full of empty used glasses. Tables dirty. When ordered drinks at the bar, we asked for a cloth to clean our table, We were told someone would come and clear/ wipe it, They didn’t. Old cigarette ends on the floor and chairs/ benches have seen better days. Cat urine smells strong???? No idea why. Shame about the place. Has such potential. Poor management and waiting on staff look sad and stressed.

Just had Sunday lunch not at all impressed. meat dry and cold carrot and parsnip cold and frozen veg.. Mix up with the potatoes as asked for no garlic and got no potatoes at all. Booked for 14.00 got there at 13.55 and ordered at the bar got lunch at 14.50.

Service was slow. Food was ok. But they were very busy?

Really love this place but our visit this time was very disappointing. Camembert starter was tasteless and toast burnt. Seabass main was cold and the plate was mainly veg. Drinks took a while as there was a long queue at the bar and only one person serving. I recommend booking as people were being turned away as the kitchen closed.

£6.15 for a pint of morretti. Sorry that's daylight robbery and there is no explanation for this price.

We had been kayaking all day along the canal 11 miles and we had a delicious meal and a pint at the end in a cosy restaurant had great service and lovely atmosphere would go again when in the area. X

Was a great place really friendly

Fantastic experience we came on a lovely sunny day and had a great meal outside. My fish was amazing. I will definitely be returning everyone we spoke to was lovely

Drinks fine but couldn't have food outside because of steps - health and safety - so disappointing but they're looking after everyone's best interests

Called in for tea as we were moored up quite close. The food was very nice and it had a nice atmosphere. The staff were very friendly and helpful 🙂

Being able to take dogs in is great, but bar service meant a fair wait for drinks and another wait for food. I had the veg curry, which has not hot in either sense, not a lot of curry either. The canal side view was good, but couldn't get food there. Bit disappointed.

Shown to our table straight away - we'd booked. Asked for drinks order almost immediately, shortly followed by 'were we ready to order food' not quite, we couldn't decide! My friend ooted for sirloin steak & myself ribeye & swapped the included chips for mash. We did notice that the sides didn't include any vegetables. Non steak dishes included them which was fine but not the steak - I'm sure if we'd have asked you would have obliged. Have to say the steak was really nice & cooked as requested - the ribeye medium rare & the sirloin medium - not always achieved in other restaurants! Too full for dessert. Overall unexpectedly impressed! I shall be back :) There's no option in the ticklist below to recommend the steak but I definitely would!

Lovely food and friendly service, but had to wait for cutlery and condiments at each stage which was a little odd. Tables were a bit grubby and needed a good clean, and the menus felt really sticky! Super dog friendly

It was OK. Food was fine. We sat in the dog friendly area inside so dogs were whining and barking throughout our meal and their owners appeared oblivious to it. Overall it was alright.

Came in whilst on holiday they luckily had space for 8, bar staff were amazing lots of fun and positivity. Waitress equally as lovely and the food was amazing mains and desserts would recommend for anyone to visit.

Shared a lovely lunch here with bride to be, two bridesmaids and mother of bride to be, great service, friendly staff, great tasting food we had some of the two course menus, some of the three course menus, not all in photos, and mocktails, what else could you want x 😉 🥰

very short staffed and chaotic. Not the staffs fault they were doing their best but they were stressed out and short tempered. Food not impressive and no soft fizzy drinks and had no gas.

always good service and excellent well prepared food

This is a lovely pub by the canal. Dog friendly section, we pre-booked a table. And had a wait at the desk to be seated. But it was a Sunday eve ( probably been a busy day). Food was gorgeous (they'd run out of nut roast) but the cheese pie was hot and hearty ... We will visit again!!

Went today for a Sunday roast - arrived at approx 5pm. The guy with the beard and red hair - the host who seated us took an age to see if there was a table for us even though half the restaurant was empty. He walked to the table with the menus without asking us to follow him! Bar staff were really nice and the beers amazing. When the food came there was no stuffing, apple sauce crackling or red cabbage! The roast potatoes were hard as hell - honestly you needed a steak knife to cut them. The meat and everything else on the dish was very nice. Nice pub but a few improvements required.

Defiantly not a place that prides themselves on excellence. From the manager to kitchen it felt shambolic and the food was very poor. I echo another review that a steak knife would be needed for the roast potatoes. Time and time again we order our food for half an hour later to be told they run out, apparently according to the waitress it happens often and it was because they were busy. I think any professional establishment would be embarrassed by how few tables were being served by so many staff with such difficulty.

From arriving at the door the staff were amazing welcoming and very friendly we sat at table 27 (I think) when I went to order the lady who served us was really friendly she made us feel really welcome this is our first visit and the lady made us feel like regulars she her customer service skills are amazing she's a massive asset to your team we ordered 3 x Gammon and 1 lasagne all the food arrived quite quickly and all beautiful and it was piping hot which is always a big bonus for us we'll definitely visit again and will be definitely recommending you to friends, acquaintances and on social media, I hope the staff get the recognition they deserve because you have an amazing team there 😁

After reading all the negative reviews we were very apprehensive about visiting , however we were met with a smiley member of staff she explained they were short staffed but as it happened we didn't have to wait to long for our order to be taken. The food was very nice and the two young waitresses kept asking if everything was OK with our meals. We had a really lovely meal over all and will be back again.

We booked for Sunday lunch and what a disappointing experience. The service was questionable, unhelpful and slow. We ordered starters and waited half an to be told they had run out of the prawn cocktail, this was 1pm. We cha

Wasn't the best experience seem to be discriminationed agaester and get dirty looks and staff pointing and talking

Terrible service. Took a lot of time to be seated despite having a table booked and it not being that busy. Quite a queue building up at the doors of people waiting for a table. Didn’t tell us until after we had ordered that they had run out of several things on the menu so had to reorder starters and desserts. Mains took ages to come. Ordered dessert and waited ages (at least 30 mins) for only 1 out of 4 to arrive (melted and without Biscoff pieces as described on the menu) and then to be told they’d run out of cheesecake (after already having ordered lemon tart previously and told they’d run out of that so reordering the cheesecake)! Other 2 desserts never came. Waitress pulled a face when one of our table asked for a straw for their drink. Overall very poor service and although the food we had was ok it did not make up for the experience. Assistant Manager was not very apologetic and did not offer much in terms of compensation for the experience other than to remove our desserts (which we didn’t even get!) from the bill and offering a small discount. Very disappointed.

Food was not too bad, I had a steak that was cooked nicely my wife had a vegetarian option but a little pricey for what it was. However the table we had was little past it's best, needed varnishing as it's surface was sticky. But most disappointing was that the pub had no real ale, had apparently run out!

A lovely meal out with church family. The whole staff were hugely accommodating, and the food was fantastic! God bless you all 😊

we come here often. Have been put off recently with staff shortages. Went today to find if you in dog friendly area you have to order at bar, nobody told us, waited about 20 mins to be served, when we asked only then were we informed. A sign on the tables would be handy. Also this isnt a great idea when only 1 bar person on doing all drinks and taking food orders! Huge Q, bit silly. Bring back table service! Would be nice if bar outside was open, seems such a waste. Food was good, service slow but I think due to serious lack of staff. Will be a while before we visit again sadly.

The best vegan ice cream I’ve had anywhere! Really interesting flavours like chocolate orange. I look forward to going back next year when I’ll be in the area again. We were a group of 50 and the waiting staff coped really well with the large group.

Lovely location just along the canal and not too far from Chirk.. Easily accessible by road or canal.. Very beautiful pub / restaurant.. with a fantastic beer garden and play area for the kids.. Inside the restaurant is nicely decorated and has a great friendly atmosphere.. The food menu is varied and caters to all tastes. We opted for the Wednesday special of steak pie and a pint for £14.25.. Thursday is steak and a pint.... We were not disappointed it was piping hot and delicious... portions were such we could not eat it all... So excellent value for money... Service was great and the staff are very friendly and welcoming.. But a little hap hazard..our waitress was clearly inexperienced. please don't worry about it.. we would be happy to visit again and be served by the young lady who waited on our table...

Fairly satisfied. Frustrating wait for dessert. Table need to be cleaned after every using.

Went for food service was brilliant floor staff was brilliant food was out quick and was well priced. Would recommend to friends.

Fantastic pub, lovely wine, chatty friendly staff. Walked along canal to the poachers enjoyed couple of bottles of wine some chips and halloumi fries. Sat and watched the boats go by

Dog friendly, next to canal, nice place

Until recently the service was very slow and food very average. Now they seem to have improved the food but it comes at a premium! Very expensive for what it is in my opinion. Food was nice enough but for the price could go somewhere much better.

Always nice, friendly staff, great food, plenty of variety of drinks..

Awesome food, and friendly staff :)

Popped in for lunch on Wednesday. Second visit this year as we pass by on route to Anglesey. Lovely food and great service. Will definitely drop in again.

Poor service poor food Sunday lunches

Absolutely amazing place, great place for the whole family. Staff are very accomodating and the food is beautifully cooked, could not ask for anything better

Some of the food (chicken) was dry and tough, like it was reheated in a microwave. One of our group had a burger and that was burned on one side. It's pretty basic, like wetherspoons quality but twice the price.

Nice experience this afternoon!

Great location. Good food. Friendly helpful staff.

Very good food. We had a dog with us so we had to order at the bar but table was in a good position and service was good. Not top notch but I think they were busy. Certainly worth stopping our boat for.

Edit - no longer welcomes dogs into the restaurant. This was the biggest selling point to many. Oh well - we won’t be back

Unfortunately, a good location and atmosphere marred by an overwhelmed staff that can't manage adhoc requests without writing it down...yet not carrying writing utensils with them. The drinks are probably more reliable than the food. Unless you're close, give this place a miss.

Very nice food... good menu (pub classics) very friendly staff

Excellent all around. Lovely steak sandwiches. Thanks for looking after our party of 12 at lunch time.

We ordered a 10 oz stake 1st was over cooked after asking for blue to rare and stake was undersized the stake pie dish was I piece of sweet potato small scoop of mash was more kids portion. Gammon was not cooked properly. Only nice meal was the hunter chicken. Spent over £90 on food you could probably get from a cafe

Great meal as always, highly recommended

Absolutely amazing food, cooked to perfection. The staff was lovely & very helpful when needed. I can not recommend this place more. Thank you

Excellent food and service,the staff were lovely and would definitely recommend because the food was delicious ,the only gripe I have which I didn't notice until I got home which is 40 miles from pub so couldn't go back was that they overcharged me for my meals,I asked for the set menu and on receipt they charged me individually for each item instead of set menu which was a tad disappointing but wouldn't stop me visiting again I would double check bill before paying in the future.

Good pub just outside the campsite with a nice beer garden dogs welcome inside or out.

Excellent food, large meals, quick friendly service

This is a real gem of s find. It’s a big place with plenty of seats, indoors and out. They have gluten-free options and are really careful. I really like the way they ask. Are there any intolerances fisrt. You can book online if you want. This is a child and dog friendly pub with plenty of free parking. They have a great chef as the food was excellent. There is a great choice of starters and mains. You're bound to find something nice. Staff are helpful and friendly. There is a play area outside, it's an ideal stop if uour heading to Llandudno

Staff were friendly and advised we would have a 60 minute wait for food. We are on holiday so that wasn’t a problem. However the food arrived in 25 minutes and was delicious.

We went to Poachers Pocket on a Saturday evening whilst staying in our caravan close by for the weekend. I was recommended by the caravan park to book a table earlier in the day. We arrived at the pub and we were greeted by a member of staff who was friendly and helpfull. We were shown to our table and our drinks order was taken. Once decided on our options our food order was taken and our food was served quickly. We were aware that the Poachers serves pub food before we arrived so knew what to expect. The food was good and we both cleared our plates. We then decided to have another drink and sit in the beer garden looking at the canal. The staff at the Poachers were excellent and we enjoyed our visit. When we are near-by again we will definitely be visiting again.

Having had a good experience on a previous visit we returned. Alas we were disappointed this time. Harried, curt staff who had lost our booking, broken cutlery, messy table that hadn't been cleaned until our arrival...We weren't seated at one of the many empty clean tables. In comparison to food pubs at a similar price point the food fell well short of expectations in quality and portion size. On a positive note it was served quickly and the wine was good. It may be an idea to cover the holes in the seating reception desk with a poster or something....

Small problem with food order but resoved promptly in professional manner by the nanager.Food was excellent with good selection of beers will definitely return soon

Toilets filthy. One ladies cubicle was damaged and unusable. Disabled lock not working. Main courses were fine. Service for desserts was slow. Tea and coffee were requested, but we were told there was no milk. Disappointing!

Staff seemed overwhelmed by number of customers despite still having open tables, but food was great! Especially recommend the tikka Marsala! I also liked that garlic bread came out as little cubes that you could break up into smaller pieces.

Awful experience today. Ordered two fish goujons from the lunch-time menu (which is usually quicker) and two drinks. An our later we had finished our drinks and still no food. We questioned where our food was and when it was checked out, they were preparing us sausage and mash & fish & chips?? We had to leave as we had no time. We were refunded in full but were left extremely hungry and having to get back to work. Thank you for the refund but a very poor experience on a busy day...🙁

We have a caravan on Foxtail Holiday Park, chirk and have been regularly visiting The Poachers with my wife since July 2022. The owners Andrea and Craig are excellent hosts & always up for a friendly chat. The waiting staff are really happy & hard working, particularly Emily who always greets us with a smile :) I’d recommend booking in advance as the pub gets really busy and the tables are in demand. However we’ve called in several times ‘on spec’ and Andrea always tries to find us a table, even if it means we sit and have drink whilst waiting for a table to come free. The food is delicious and there’s plenty of choice, I’d have to recommend the steaks that are perfectly cooked to your taste by Ryan. Sitting outside with drinks in the summer months canal side watching the barges go by is really nice pleasant. There’s an outdoor play area to keep the kids happy with plenty of tables & chairs to sit and keep an eye on them. If you’re in the area I’d highly recommend a visit

Back again 30th June, they have changed the managers again, Staff training should be done on quiet days? What's new not alot Sunday lunch served just warm, did not meet up to what they said on the menu. In and out in 20 mins,never got ask if we wanted another drink so gave up and went down the road £48 wasted this time Been back today, some of the staff dressed shocking, Service could be better Food Starter ok Main, shocking rubber steak,chips full of fat I thought with new management it would be better? Not once we we're aaked if the food was OK,£55 down the drain It may look full ,but I think many will not return

Really lovely pub, they've fine an amazing job with the pub garden. It's very dog friendly and perfect positioning at the side of the canal. The food was good, not the best, but very enjoyable overall. Would definitely go back.

Ate here for the first time last week, Sophie on the bar was super friendly, and helped me choose a glass of wine, I dropped a star because the pub was not busy when we went, but waited 30 mins for our dessert, which I had to go ask for in the end, went to pay Sophie asked was all OK, just casually commented on our late dessert, but other than that all was good, she promptly delt with the complaint, with a small discount, which you don't get often, so well done Sophie, will be back.

Ordered meal food was warm even though plates were as they say hot, meal came and the green beans were under cooked and my burger lacked bacon and cheese

Great service staff very friendly and helpful. My husband had the chicken and mushroom pie and I had cauliflower wings and baked feta, and we were more than satisfied with the quality of the food. We will definitely return.