Queen's Head in Northumberland

Absolutely appalling! But I partly blame our stupidity for not seeing the warning signs and continuing to order at this ‘restaurant’, when everything pointed towards it being a poor experience. Even the lady at the (gorgeous) B&B we were staying at was sending us warning signals. When asked if we had booked somewhere to eat, she looked surprised when we said the Queens Head’ and politely said, ‘well the good thing about the Queens Head is that if there is nothing you like on the menu, they will always rustle you up some sausage and chips’. (Warning sign 1!) We had booked a table here during our short stay in Berwick, based on the website promise of ‘quality’ food and a fine dining experience. When we arrived the waitress did not seem interested, was surprised we had a booking and never even asked our name! She then pointed to the (only) table for 2 in the room, with a chair almost sat on top of a huge fire hydrant and said ‘will that do?’ (warning sign 2!) We should have taken the opportunity at this point to run, but stupidly stayed. The table we sat at had a small laminated piece of paper with photos of ‘sharing nibble plates’ for £2.50 slotted between the salt and pepper pot and immediately screamed ‘cheap food’ and the rest of the menu too should have been a red flag as the daytime snacks at the front, was mostly dirty fries and nachos. ( warning sign 3!) The waitress knowledge of the menu was non-existent and unhelpful when asking questions. When checking what style of the chicken curry was, ( eg mild, hot, jalfrezi, korma?) we were told ‘it’s just chicken!’ And when asking was there any side dishes served with the chicken breast, we were told ‘vegetables’. ‘what vegetables?’ we asked and were abruptly told with a confused shrug, ‘ they are just vegetables!’ (Warning sign 4!) The carrot and coriander soup was probably the best dish we ordered, but the Salmon and Dill Fish cake starter that arrived was an obviously cheap frozen fish cake, deep fried within an inch of its life and had a grey[?] fish less middle! The Vegetable Curry was bland and served so hot it was almost boiling on the plate and a side stack of dried up white rice. The Chicken Breast was cooked ok, but was served on potato stacks that were slightly raw. Most of the food served screamed ‘reheated’. To twist the knife of injustice, this place charges astronomical prices. £10.95 for the cheap fish cake starter! £23.95 for the chicken and £17.95 for the curry were outrageous for such awful quality food. We did not stay for dessert. Our bill came to nearly £70 for 2 courses and 2 drinks and that was the biggest insult. Not one waitress checked if any of our food courses were ok (and on me leaving half of the main course untouched), abruptly said, ‘have you finished’ ? and took our plates. Don’t believe the website boasting a top quality experience and give this place a wide berth.

dropped in for a beer whilst out for a walk with my wife. what a friendly wee place. couple of games of pool and a couple of pints and you would have thought i was a regular. will definitely be back

Baxter the pub dog is the main attraction

Good food, friendly service and an excellent location. Delicious food.