The Boat Inn in Rugby

First time here. Lovely legs flat carpark. Food excellent and staff very friendly. Definitely a place I will revisit.

Ooooh dear. I'm really sorry but my first time at this establishment and I'm afraid my last. First the good bits. What a location! Next to the canal and in the Summer I bet the place is rocking but at midday on a damp and miserable Friday in November, not so much. Arrived at 11.45 for a 12.00 table and were left in the car park until 12.00 when doors were opened by the lovely Jasmine. We chose to sit in the bar area but in the hour or so we were there the place resembled a furniture exhibition ie empty and devoid of any attempt to create an atmosphere. We got told which items on the menu were off which necessitated a quick re think. First course edible , but uneventful, it's hard to screw up whitebait but they came close. Main course arrived and the only thing missing was the word 'Fido' on the bowls our main course was served in. Look I'm not saying it was awful, it wasn't and had it have been, I would have had a conversation with the lovely Jasmine but I'm 65 and a trained butcher and know how to cut up a pork chop - sorry, pork t bone. I didn't expect it to arrive in x3 peices. It looked like the aftermath of an autopsy. But as I said perfectly edible. I do hope we visited on an off day and would love to go back to give them a return match but for a place that purports to serve a varied menu to have no de caff anything is a poor show, so doubt if I will. Anyway, a swing and a miss on this occasion Team Boat. Sorry. M Clarke Rugby, November 2024

Fantastic motorhome stop-over. Next to canal and very quiet A road. Very friendly and accommodating staff. Excellent steak meal.

Great place for a meal. Friendly staff. Excellent food. Unforgettable

Great place and lovely location next to the canal. Had the kebab speciality’s which were so nice. Highly recommend this place…stayed overnight in our campervan in their car park with electric hookup. Very quiet at night and would do this again.

service and quality of food below average. disgusting cold chicken wings. Even microvave wasn't used properly.

Popped in for lunch, friendly welcome, offered a table in restaurant or bar. Dogs welcome in bar. Also, plenty of outside seating weather permitting. The menu was much better than normal pub grub. Our food arrived promptly and was wonderfully tasty, we had the pan-fried salmon, just wonderful. I would highly recommend

Just had the worst dinner experience. Bbq chicken wings cold and tasted rough. Calamari rings overcooked and same halloumi cheese. Walked off feeling sick. Partner ordered steak which had to be medium cooked but it was undercooked with bits of rare parts of fat. The sauce itself possibly was cooked from powder. Sorry, but never return again.

Disappointing. One of us enjoyed our lunch, the other had some rather dry salmon. Wilting flowers on the table. The server who looked after us was personable and well presented. We were neglected once a course was served. The pleasant bottle of wine was put down on the table unopened. Suspect the problem is a lack of training.

Popped in for some nibbles and was absolutely incredible, great atmosphere and great food.

We visited as a family of 8 on a Sunday for a birthday celebration roast dinner. First of all we arrived to find that the table was only set for 6. We had to arrange an extra seat and baby chair ourselves (despite booking well in advance). The baby chair was broken and the table was dirty. We had to go to the bar for drinks (in fact - we didn’t give a single drinks order to a waiter our entire visit), which meant a lot of back and forth to the bar and a lot of queuing. Clearly we would rather spend time talking together rather than at the bar, but the service was slow and inattentive. Starters were served within 30 mins, however it took 20 mins for plates to be cleared, followed by another 1hr 20 min wait for our mains. As we had all ordered roast dinners we had assumed that everything would be quick to serve (as it was with the tables around us). We had to chase twice, the first time after an hour to which we were told ‘we’re just plating your meals up now’. I chased again 30 mins later where I had told the staff we would be leaving if our food wasn’t served in the next 10 mins. Then, miraculously, our food appeared. Despite arriving at 1.30pm, as we weren’t actually served until after 4pm our food had the feel of an ‘end of day’ roast - rock solid potatoes, burnt pork, solid stuffing, overcooked carrots. Two of our party had to leave before the birthday cake was brought out as the meal had taken so much longer than anticipated. We were so disappointed with our experience that we asked for a discount on our food and we were begrudgingly offered 10% off. There seemed to be no appreciation of how bad the service was and no apology. This was incredibly disappointing and we couldn’t help but leave with a very bad taste about The Boat Inn. We won’t be returning and I’d strongly recommend against coming here.

Delicious meal and excellent service. Very friendly. I really enjoyed steak fries and peppercorn sauce. Onion rings were delicious!

Had the most delicious BBQ chicken wings and a lovely Asian pork belly ramen Lovely staff and plenty of space, really liked the whole experience.

Really enjoyed the goats cheese and beetroot salad to start, tasty and not too big. Korean BBQ steak was excellent.

Perfect for summer or winter, drinks or a meal. Great local pub with a great menu which changes frequently!

Amazing as always. Tyler and Lia are an absolute credit to you! A++++++

Great canal side pub, good varied menu and a wide choice of drinks.

No cutlery on the table had to ask while they were serving the food, food was slightly warm, felt rushed, young man was hoovering while we were still eating i felt was rude, staff not very pleasant. I work in a hotel myself and felt the standard was very poor which is a shame as the pub itself is lovley

Very quiet Sunday night so only 4 stars given for atmosphere but the food and service were on point..quite expensive but very good.

A lovely bit of food in a lovely setting with a great atmosphere and super dog friendly.

Great place to hang by the canal :-))) XXXXX

Unfortunately, my husband was not full because he got too small a portion. When we reported this to the staff, we were treated very rudely and he was not given any more food. The waitress picked up the bill and message that we would pay without us saying so.

After a week of Narrow boating we have visited many fantastic pub. The last night we visited The Boat inn in Stockton, one of our worst experiences. We where 6 persons, the food was good but one of us did not get enough food. When we complained, the girl that served us didn't care. She came with the check and didn't ask us if we wanted anything more. If we come back we will never visit this restaurant again.

One of the party got a very small portion and was treated badly when he pointed it out. We had the bill thrown on the table without asking for it. Sad treatment

Gutted just returned from having a Sunday dinner with my daughter so dissapointed had to wait 45 minutes for our food to arrive. On our arrival they couldn't find our booking but said not to worry someone keeps forgetting to put them in the diary.

Met with friends prior to a w/e on a narrow boat. Friendly staff and a good selection of food & drink. Recommended visit.

Don’t bother booking a table here, having sent you a booking confirmation email they just ignore it, they don’t bother actually reserving a table for you, but instead let you waste your time arriving as scheduled then they tell you there is no table, nothing they can do, but you can sit outside on the grass if you like Great management!!

Booked and got confirmation but turned up and said no tables Rude manager

Delicious food, friendly staff, took one star off as we had to wait a while for the food as they were short staffed.

Had a great Saturday evening here staff were wonderful and extremely hard working will definitely return 👏👏

Overnight stopover in motorhome, quality beer and excellent sunday roast best i’ve had for a long time.

Great family meal at the boat inn,friendly helpful staff and the food was excellant and well priced we will be back!!

Went for Sunday roast yesterday and the food was superb . Service was very friendly as always.

This is a very nice pub near the canal which is handy for boaters.

Nice venue near the canal went in for a quick pint and they had Elvis tribute playing. Played some old school tunes . Not many people but I'm sure if it was advertised it would have been packed.

Rang ahead to check if they were still serving roast dinner at 3.30pm, said they were. Turned up, shown to a table (outside at our request), handed menus and asked to place order at the bar. Went to the bar, out of the j20 that we asked for, no turkey roast or cauliflower cheese - which wasn’t said when we were handed menus. Placed order, and waited outside for 45mins. In which time, furniture was being dragged around us and chairs literally thrown into an empty pond right next to us while swearing to his colleague when we had young children with us. After nothing turned up, my husband went to check to be told they forgot to put the order through. Hastily left, won’t be returning. Very unprofessional.

Long wait on arrival to be greeted. Informed 45 min delay on food orders, however we waited for 2 hours! Chased numerous times to see how long food would be as customers who arrived after I did were receiving their food before me. When I decided to cancel the food magically was ready. Under staffed. Would not recommend or return.

Stayed at the Boat Inn overnight in our campervan. Good welcome on arrival, fairly level car park, EHU available if required. Had evening meal in the beer garden. Fresly cooked food, good service and reasonably priced. Good range of drinks although I only tried the Madri (several times) which was very good. Nice country pub in a great location on the canal. Quiet stay throughout the night. Will return next time we are in the area.

Sunday lunch was absolutely awful, the cauliflower cheese was watery and had no flavour, the vegetables and stuffing were undercooked.

***under new management*** Had a lovely meal... two 16oz tbone steaks and a "boat burger", all cooked to perfection and the service was great. We'll be back!!!

Booked a last minute Family meal at The Boat and we were not disappointed. The Sunday roast was lovely, plenty of meat, veg and the roasties were gorgeous. Love that you can also order from the bar menu as well on a Sunday as my daughter is not a fan of a roast dinner, so she had the chicken burger and loved it. As well as the food being fab, front of house staff were great, nothing was too much trouble. We will definitely return. Thank you.

Went for a meal with family for Sunday dinner, food was fabulous, Tyler and staff are lovely definitely going back .

Enjoyed a fabulous Sunday roast here yesterday, large group of us, do always chaotic. Food came out piping hot (nothing worse than tepid food!), looked and tasted amazing. Friendly service and nothing was too much trouble.

Lovely Sunday roast throughly recommended

We had a table of 9 for family Sunday roast dinner, the food was amazing, everyone was lovely and friendly great pub highly recommended 😋

Went on a Saturday night, the pub was less than 20% full but we still had a lengthy wait for food. The food was disappointing and not worth the price paid. It would be better to do some more standard pub food and execute better than trying to be fancy and falling far short of the expectations set.

We visited last weekend, and they had issues with staff and food service, but the manager went above and beyond to rectify issues even though he was being pulled in every direction he dealt with the situation very well. So thank you.

Sunday lunch on 21 July 2024 very disappointing after a lengthy wait for two people we was told it would be 45 minutes but ended up being more like an hour and half we eventually got our meals. very average, over priced for what you receive. The pub itself did not seem that busy so I was surprised at lengthy wait. Toilets looked liked they needed a good clean. I had to ask for toilet roll Outside of pub the garden needed a lot of attention lots of weeds. I would not return. A shame as this could be a lovely pub. we would have preferred to have been told they were not serving food than too wait for so long.

A fantastic country pub with a lot of outside seating, both next to the road and the canal, a plenty of restaurant seating inside. The food was excellent, and reasonably priced, and they have a reasonable selection of beers. The staff are very friendly and attentive. Highly recommended and it's definitely worth a visit.

Fabulous Sunday roast with very friendly and accommodating staff.

Enjoyed our meals despite long wait

I recently visited the Boat Inn and had an excellent experience. Tyler's lovely energy and brilliant service made our visit special. Big shout out to Paul the cook for the delicious food. Highly recommend, especially the lemon asparagus pasta!

Friendly place ,food was top drawer jasmine and Tyler are a great team

We did a stopover in our motorhome here, and we were so impressed. Tyler was incrediblehe really took the time to chat to us and made us feel very welcome. Would definitely visit again. Highly recommend.

Rather quiet Monday evening. Food was great, service was great. The pub is located alongside the grand Union canal and offers free campervan parking with EHU

Used to love this pub, was told on Saturday that it’s been taken over by new owners and it’s gone completely down hill , the bill between 4 of us was £180 and we got served oven chips when they used to be real homemade chunky chips, steak was just pure fat, they forgot the starters we ordered , when I got home 3 of us out of the 4 were stuck on the toilet and the following day I was violently sick all day long , extremely over priced for standard pub grub , will not be returning!

Simply awful! Waited nearly an hour for substandard food. Gravy was tasteless water. Small portions served without care. First pint of beer was nice but second was served in a greasy glass so flat, I really had lost the will to live by this point and just wanted to pay and go. I did tell the waiter that we were not happy, but he wasn't bothered. Luckily they had the sense not to ask for a tip as my response would have consisted of several expletives! BOATERS, STAY AWAY and spend your hard earned cash elsewhere.

No longer any food on a Sunday (30/6/24). (Further to your response)...so why did the boy serving behind the bar this evening tell me you no longer serve food on a Sunday? I admit I arrived after 8pm, but the information I was given was wrong.

Great canal side pub for a lazy summer day !

Wonderful place, relatively new management, all staff took the time to chat and make us feel very much wanted and comfortable. Made a fuss of us as well as our dogs ... food was lovely.. lovely location, all round great place, Thankyou. Don't leave many reviews but you definitely deserve this one. Carl and Helen ( big 6 wheeler motorhome/ 2 dogs )

To quote my grandson they are taking forever. This was our first visit since the new management took over. Our waiter explained he was new so we were expecting a few delays however I think we were forgotten because our tile was behind a wall. Our drinks were taken and bought quite quickly then we were left I had to ask another member of the team to take our order. The water returned and our order taken. The starters came out after 20mins when our waiter returned to clear the starters he asked if we would like sweets. I had to inform him that we were still waiting for mains. 2 meals came out, the steak didn't have a steak knife or the peppercorn sauce. Then the other 3 meals came, we were asked if we wanted sauces so informed the waiter we were still waiting for the peppercorn sauce, but would like drinks and ice cream for the little one. The sauce came out 15mins later, my husband had eaten his steak by this time so we sent it back. The other drinks and ice cream didn't make an appearance so we decided to leave. Its a shame about the service because the food was excellent

We visited here for a lunchtime meal following a country walk along the canal. A very pleasant pub with good food and service.

After spending a week on the canal, this was our last stop before returning home,the Boat Inn was the best meal we had all week. Adam was the perfect host, the food was absolutely delicious, restaurant quality, not your usual pub grub, but at a reasonable price. I would highly recommend trying the Boat Inn, if I lived nearby this would be my local!!

Fabulous staff, the food was really nice, the atmosphere was great, although it was rather empty when we were there, which is a real shame.

Went to the boat Inn for a lunch time meal 2 year ago and the food was great. Booked a table today for 5 and the quality of the food was very average for the price,

A warm welcome by front of house Adam and jasmine, with exceptional food cooked by the owners ant and Steph. With well priced beers and exceptional food made by the owners who's attention to taste and detail is high end. If you are in need of a stop with canal views and walks in peaceful countryside then stop at this place. Worth every penny. On our list of middle England pub stop overs. Perfect motohome stop.

Ordered pork belly, no crackling on the pork and the base was chewy. The fondant potatoes were raw in the middle. Were given a new batch of potatoes but were still as bad and looked like they'd not been seared at all. Refused to have a fresh plate to be made as I would be eating alone. The server then wouldn't provide a discount other than one drink taken off the bill. Shrugged their shoulders and said "well they ate the rest of the meal" - the rest of the meal being the pork belly and a sprinkling of greens. Definitely a place that pretends to be more than it is, prices are high for the quality of food and service received. Crispy M&M chefs "special" other than the two crispy M&Ms on the top and the blue dye in the cheesecake, you would not guess that it is supposed to be crispy M&M. Served in a small jar, you are forced to eat it in layers. There was no vanilla ice-cream available for the dessert so I was given a choice of chocolate or strawberry. I had chosen the chocolate ice-cream which was no more than a suggestion of chocolate flavour and was icey/crystalline that had to be crunched - cheap and nasty. Very poor quality and would not come here again and would strongly advise others to avoid.

Just on a cycling tour of the grand union canal and stopped here for lunch. Great food, amazing location and Adam behind the bar couldn’t help enough. 5⭐️Highly recommend

Really lovely canalside pub, good selection of drinks and very tasty food too!

always had a lovely meal here staff are friendly and helpful, the Manager Adam especially so thankyou team @ The Boat

Terrible food and hire underage staff children look the ages 14-16

Fantastic night. Adam and the team were superb as was the food. Can’t recommend it enough.

Great pub overlooking the canal. Friendly staff good food and a decent cider or 2.

Anthony and Stephanie are doing a fantastic job. Great service and great food. Lovely location next to the canal .

Great food and atmosphere, staff really friendly.... Would definitely recommend 👍.

Had a superb meal last night in the restaurant. Beautiful food and great service and attention. Lovely space in restaurant and tables laid out beautifully. , Great hygiene ensuring everything is cleaned after each guest leaves. Very friendly staff, would highly recommend a visit - we will certainly return.

I chose this place based on the great looking menu and it did not disappoint. The service was second to none. Hope to return someday.

Good beer (ale), great food and super friendly/efficient staff all in a great canal side location. I can imagine that the place would be buzzing in the summer months (we visited in April).

Lovely Sunday lunch very well presented ,slight issue with the stuffing that was alittle hard but this was rectified straight away by Adam who was lovely. Lovely outside space but in need of a tidy up ,i was told its being sorted this week .

Very nice place by the canal, nice food. Brunch and Sunday roast are very nice.

Tonight, I had a steak at The Boat. Really tasty, well cooked and an enjoyable atmosphere.

Stopped for lunch. Pub quiet. Adam was very helpful.

Great food and drink. The staff were lovely and friendly also the live music was a lovely edition to our night.

Excellent meal, service and live music, could not have asked for more

Pleasant pub. My husband enjoyed his gammon. My pie was disappointing. Only 5 pieces of small cubes of beef in pie. Won't be rushing back

Adam and his staff go above and beyond to insure your experience is great we will definitely return thank you so much for an enjoyable evening 😊

Sadly, have had to adjust my review for now from the previous 5 stars with the previous owners. Hoping to visit again as it’s a lovely restaurant, and hopefully the food will have been improved by then. Front of house staff lovely, let down by the meal which was fairly awful, and a distinct lack of atmosphere… perhaps it was the lack of music, or the place being fairly empty, possibly because it’s no longer possible to book online

Food was so salty, raw potatoes with over cooked potatoes , stuffing was drier than the Sahara dessert. Kids meal chips had so much salt. service was poor, the young lady in there done her best bless her. tables were sticky, beer taps need cleaning. lipstick on wine glass. Cutlery was filthy. No ice bucket for the wine when asked over 3x for 1, last we asked for got told they had no ice. Overall very disappointed. Used to be a really nice meal but since it's closure has hit rock bottom. Will not be returning. Went to McDonald's for dessert. In all fairness would of been better off being at mc Donald's for the whole meal....

Very nice restaurant and very nice inside. Food served great. I recommend.

It was ok 7/10 mums dinner was freezing and most of our veg , loads of potatoes no rhoast, chicken dry no cauliflower cheese or pigs in blankets turned up , , scallop starter tiny real let down , cheese started was Devine ,but lovely waiting staff especially the male with glasses and nice atmosphere, would we go again maybe

Very friendly and welcoming pub. Great food, reasonably priced and excellent service. We stayed overnight in our motorhome and enjoyed a walk along the canal.

Quality food at reasonable price.

I had been eating and drinking in The Boat for nigh on 40 years. I have not been for the last 5 years due to an unpleasant experience. However, I see new management in current reviews, so I guess we take a punt.

Had heard about it being a good pub. They weren't wrong. Service was brilliant looked after. Food was awesome. I had the duo of lamb, which was very nice. Would recommend . The wife had a rump steak I did sneak a bit and it was fantastic. Would visit again and definitely worth it just for the food.

Delicious Sunday roast. Lovely friendly staff and family/pet friendly pub. Perfect for drinks or dinner.

The food looks a and taste beautiful

Amazing view with amazing food, what more can we ask for ? The staff are super friendly too top it off 10/10

Great Sunday roast beef dinner, lovely staff, highly recommended.

Just had the most loveliest new years day meal here very welcoming lovely relaxed atmosphere the staff are lovely we will be back next week try out the Sunday roast xx 😋

Love this place, Sunday lunch was delicious, warmly welcomed by the manager Adam and his team, service was above and beyond, 100% returning, thanks guys!