The Briars in Kettering

We arrived today at 12.15pm (26/02/25) and ordered drinks, found a table and went on to order the food. Fast forward an hour we were still waiting for our food. Just as I was about to chase the food up, it came to the table and whilst one of the meals looked lovely, the other looked absolutely terrible. The sausages were over done, the Peas cold and the mash was like playdough, completely stuck to the plate and I was unable to move it with my knife, like it had been sat under a hot plate for a long period of time and had dried out. I told the server straight away who advised "oh everyone was advised there was a delay on food" to which I replied that we hadn't been told upon ordering. She then sent the lady over who served us our drinks at the bar, and she advised the "food was at spec" and shut me down there and then and went to get me a refund. No apology, not a care in the world just basically take it or leave it! We gave the pub another try, following a long chat with the lovely new manager who we met at Christmas - following previously having had poor service and even worse food. Today was the final straw, we absolutely will not be returning. I'm so disappointed, if the customer is telling you the food is cold and not nice, how dare you come over and advise "the foods at spec". Rude and not customer focused. Don't waste your time or money!

All staff are very helpful, happy and kind. The food was quick hot, delicious and portion size amazing. We all had steak and chicken all cooked to each persons preference perfectly. The puddings were large and amazing A+++.

Great atmosphere. Went for dinner with family. Children enjoyed everything from food, friendly staff and the fact that they have darts!

Food has had an amazing improvement lately, the atmosphere has lifted and things seem to move a lot smoother than previous visits, will deffo come again

Amazing service amazing food :)

There was only 1 bar staff on which was not her fault but took 5 mins to get served, we waited 40mins for our meals. The steaks were very chewy( 1 medium and 1 rare to medium) we ordered chips with our meals but fries came. It's not usually like that but I suppose we all have bad days.

Local M&B house, quick and friendly and local,

Came in and sat at the bar on Saturday, I was served by the loveliest lad, Issac, he knew lots about the pub, giving suggestions and was super chatty and bubbly, will definitely be coming again for his service! Thank you Issac.

Nice pub. Sadly, the pub opened at 12.00 rather than the advertised time (which was 11.30 on Sizzling Pubs website/Google search).

Very friendly atmosphere. People talk to u .food very nice and reasonably cheap.Not like the Beeswing round the corner 😀

Thursday night is quiz night. Great food at sensible prices. Drinks best value in town. Parking good.

Came here yesterday with my two young children, food was outstanding and served piping hot! 100% recommend the chicken skewers, both children finished there plates.. top marks to the chef. Very family friendly, welcoming and overall all a clean warm pub. Staff were extremely friendly and attentive to all needs. Will definitely be returning!

Lovely place to eat. Food was lovely, staff are friendly and helpful. The whole place has a really nice atmosphere and is great value for money. Definitely recommend.

Been a number of times very consistent good food and excellent value for money

My self and friends had attended the Briars this evening (15th january 2025). I had sat down after gathering a round of drinks for my friends and went to order our dinner through the website from the table, however when trying to pay there was some sort of error and the website was only showing drinks and there was no way of getting the food menu to show. I went to the bar and was greeted by a lovely lady called Ali, she helped me through the process and assisted me through the error. Her customer service was extraordinary and she had went above and beyond for my inconvenient error on a busy Wednesday evening. On the bar helping was a lad called Matt and together they were doing an amazing job serving, taking out food and keeping everybody's mood high. They are a true credit to the team and have made a busy Wednesday night rush run effortlessly. Amazing work, I will recommend this pub to my friends and others and will be returning for another meal!

Went this evening 14/1/2025 had a fantastic host Matt even tho we waited longer for our food as there was 2 tables with 20 people Matt was so busy serving there food (and others) he made time for us both letting us know how long our food was going to be all I can say he went above and bejond this evening for us and others what a great asset he is to the briars pub Thankyou Matt we enjoyed our meal and how you coped at such a busy evening and treated my husband and myself fab ty Matt

Food was ok and fair price just a shame they forgot to bring our mains out the kids had finished there’s before we got ours by then II had lost my appetite and left Most of it

We booked for 5 people for xmas dinner,all paid in full by September,than added another person on in November and paid Immediately,the food was OK,not great,but we were satisfied with it.what we didn't appreciate was a member of staff chasing us out into the car park accusing us of not paying!after 10 minutes of us checking bank details to find the payment ,he 'found' our receipts of payment,admittedly he said sorry and explained that another party had left without paying,ludicrous really as the deadline for payment was 1st december.we were extremely embarrassed as people in the pub knew what was going on and even came out to see if we were OK.we will never go back for xmas dinner again, which is a shame. .

Amazing place! Atmosphere is really great and food tasty. Place was very busy when I visited but all the staff were friendly and food came out hot. Drinks choice is also very good. Highly recommending this place!

Excellent food good portion, reasonable cost, nice atmosphere

Brilliant night all staff amazing! Big shout out too ally for smashing it!

Great atmosphere and meal will definately be back again

food service was appalling , app didnt except gift voucher, worst pub been in during 2024

I booked my team in here for their Christmas meal (16 of us). The food was great, the service was excellent and everyone had a good time. Thank you so much to all your staff for making this event a success. Communication with you leading up to the event was good and your flexibility to allow the vegetarian's to pick a main course off the main menu was very accommodating. I can't fault anything. Thank you

Friendly and welcoming staff, excellent service and good food. Thank you everyone.

Usually very pleased when eating here.Not today it was a Birthday treat for my brother. Food would have been ok if we had not had to wait 35 mins for sauces ordered with dinner.The waitress service that we received was awful after our meals were served we asked the waitress on more than one occasion about the sauces and she seemed not to be interested and just blamed everyone else.. Reported it to another staff member about the sauces and she was so helpful we gave this young lady a tip for her politeness needless to say the young lady who served us did not receive a tip other than if she was not happy doing her job she should work elsewhere.We eventually received our sauces but our meals were cold when we ate them my daughter and I had the problem. Fortunately my brothers meal was ok but obviously it put a damper on things. We received 2 free puddings. This was a nice jesture. I will hopefully be dining in the Briars in the future and hope we have a better experience. Thank you.

What a brilliant reception from Matt.. I came to look at some work on site and was greeted by Matt... Really warm welcome... Thank you The briars is another stunning example of what should be expected from your local.. it's immaculately clean, fantastic staff, comfy surroundings and very popular with the locals... 12 o'clock opening and a steady stream of hungry regulars.... Must be good !! All the staff on site were very happy to help and food coming from the kitchen looked fresh and beautifully presented... You can tell Chef really takes a pride in his food and his sparkling kitchen. Great job today guys... Thanks for looking after me while I was on site. 👍🙂 (D)

Food was great and server very helpful and friendly

Attended yesterday in a group of 21. They were under staffed 2 on the bar 1 in the kitchen and were told that maybe up to an hour and a half was the place was so busy. Not a spair seat in the place. They did an amazing job. Food was no more than 30 minutes and was perfect. They 2 lady's kept up with everything. Someone was at the bar, and they got served. Someone finished at a table, and it was cleared and cleaned. The 2 female staff had smiles despite being clearly under pressure but made everyone feel welcome and check all was ok. I really do not know how they both managed to stay in good spirits with a non-stop roll off people food and drinks. I can only imagine they are the dream team. Well done, ladies, and well done, chef, everything was perfect.

Very disappointed with the food we had a gammon steak egg peas and chips the gammon was like a piece of shoe leather the egg was solid and the frozen chips were were still hard in the centre the mega grill had by our third party member was not any bette,r all of us left our food. it was our first time to eat at this venue needless to say it will be our last, the service time was to be expected as the pub was busy and there was a convivial atmosphere shame about the food, recommend drinks only if you go.

Went for dinner there last night was very busy waited two hours for our dinner when it came you couldn’t even eat it. I asked him for her to take it away to feed the cat. It was disgusting. They offered us a complimentary drink for having to wait, ordered a Malibu and Coke asked for a dash of Coke they filled it right to the top, will not be returning

Great pub best in Kettering good drinks and great value food

First time visitors. Good atmosphere and friendly staff. Prices very competitive. Meal was delicious. Would definitely recommend

Brought a friend yesterday for a lunch treat and was amazed at the good here, top makes for the chef working. The menu is full of different ultimate plates which are such good value for money and the plates were massive! The staff upon arrival were very friendly and helpful. Will soon be returning for another visit with all the family 😌

Easy to book a table both on line and in person (I have a table booked for seven in November) Table clean and ready for us with utensils and sauces ready to use (No little T spoon's tho) Ordering was easy Meal was fantastic and time passed by fast would liked to have been away from small children but that didn’t spoil the experience Food and atmosphere was fantastic

The restaurant and bar remind me of weather spoons but clean! Everything was ready for our table as soon as we arrived the staff were lovely and got us everything we needed! It was a big burger and a strawberry moose I had DELICIOUS! Drinks are an ok price too! I highly recommend the briars for the service alone everyone is lovely and extremely helpful :)

Stopped in whilst passing through. Having read reviews we thought this might be a nice place to stop. Pub was very busy on arrival at 7pm, lots of locals. We ordered a chicken and beef sizzler and salad bowl with halloumi. The chicken was as dry as old boots and the steak more cooked than required. (After a 45 minute wait) Understandably a salad is cold… but surely, everyone knows not to serve cold halloumi…! Cucumber and lettuce brown. Young girl behind bat very friendly and helpful but the food was shockingly bad. Meh.

We come here every Wednesday. It's a lovely little pub and has improved majorly from a year ago. We ordered from the ultimate plate menu and even though it was busy, with a wait on food, it was delicious and well worth it. A shout out the Chloe!! What she does in that kitchen is amazing, we can always tell when she's in because the food is perfect. Thank you

Great value food, amazing staff, my family loved it and it is well worth diverting off the main road for.,..,............

Fantastic meal everyone really enjoyed their time here and it was so nice to see it so busy again servers were fab drinks deals on cocktails also recommended

Great place for Thursday night pub quiz

I went for a meal here and it was very nice. Issac and Chloe were very helpful and I enjoyed my time here I will come back to the Briars again.

A beautiful little pub that I go to regularly with friends. The staff are attentive and polite with a vast amount of knowledge of the menu. Lovely atmosphere and great food

A lovely local pub with a real Family Atmosphere. Staff are friendly and hospitable.....with good knowledge of the Food and Beverage menu. The pub itself it clean and tidy with good amount of space to move around. A real gem with some brilliant offers on throughout the week !!!! Big shout out to Issac Coles who was on duty on our visit....he ensured everything was to our satisfaction and could recommend good food options. I observed how professional he was with all customers and staff.

This pub is a little gem! it has the local feel but so welcoming, your staff are outstanding and so friendly and helpful. But the food is so good! Its fresh, well cooked, tastes amazing and amazingly priced.

Pub empty so thought it would be quick service, how wrong were we, they seem to prioritise delivery service more than customers waiting for food.

Excellent service, friendly and welcoming staff , food was lovely and reasonable prices. Slight problem with the app but this was resolved quickly with no hesitation from bar staff. Have already recommended this hidden gem to friends and family

It's a nice busy pub. The food is affordable but the service is a bit slow.

Visited there for food, drink, and chat. The atmosphere was very welcoming. Staff were pleasant and helpful. The food was very tasty. Will visit again.

Chloe was very helpful with my gluten allergen and ava was very kind with me and was very friendly with service could not recommend higher with my order amazing service!!

Fantastic meal , friendly staff , would highly recommend

Worst chips EVER, main courses served BEFORE starters, and when eventually served after starters food was Luke warm!!

Went with family for dinner, exceptional service, food was really lovely, catered for allergies with no hesitation and great with the kids

Awesome atmosphere. Quality of food and service is excellent

We went on a Saturday for lunch and it was really good. I had a Caesar salad and my husband had a mixed grill with peppercorn sauce. It was perfectly cooked. The service was also nice as the young girl working was very helpful and fast. Will come again!

The food here is really good and combined with the amazing staff made for a very pleasant lunch. Ally couldn’t help enough with our dietary requirements, which made everything so much easier. Will definitely be back in the near future.

The food and service was great however we felt uncomfortable by a couple of locals who were intoxicated and became over friendly. We would have considered going again but due to our experience that is now out of the question.

It’s one of my favourite pubs. Great food and service. Served by Annabelle, she was lovely and enthusiastic, really made our visit.

The waitress annabel we and was very welcoming and was very quick with our food and drinks

First time visiting here , and I would really recommend. Very friendly clean and welcoming . Loved the sizzling menu , we had a starter , main and pudding . I can not fault the food and the price was very fair . Will deffo be back for another visit.

Food was not as good as people had told me, so was a little disappointed. Staff were friendly.

Couldn't get a breakfast, advertised they do breakfast from 10 am. Arrived 10.08 all locked up no sign of life so went to weatherspoons!

Great place to buy your own house in Brambleside Kettering England 🇬🇧 👍 😀

Went in for a few drinks and the service was excellent. Ally was our server and was polite, efficient and gave genuine customer service. Will definitely be back

Went in for a few drinks and the service was excellent. Ally was our server and was polite, efficient and gave genuine customer service. Will definitely be back

I was served by Kealey and she was really welcoming and pleasant. My children were offered crayons and colouring to keep them occupied.

This spot was genuinely amazing food came out quick looked excellent smelled even better! Would highly recommend for a quick lunch

First visit at the briars today for lunch, food was quick and very good value for money big shout out to kealey and James for a warm bubbly welcome!

Brought my daughter for a birthday lunch was greeted by lovely member of staff Keeley who made the meal extra special by putting candles in my daughters meal after finding out the occasion we ordered of the 2 for £12 menu which is very good value for money and money very high quality

Came her for a spot of lunch today and was greeted by very warm and friendly staff. Haven’t been here for a few months, but was pleasantly surprised with the food and service upon our return. Our food was cooked perfectly and came out in a timely manner, hot and fresh! Will definitely return

Came in to watch the football and have some food, food was top notch (had the steak) the game I wanted on wasn’t being shown so asked at the bar and they were happy to help and put it on one of the TVs. Great service all round

Very welcoming, warm food and well kept beer.

They have gone backwards again. Prioritising regulars at the bar over other patrons. Very miserable looking and rude bar staff. No knowledge of how the reward card works or Blue Light sceme. Shocking service and very overpriced drinks.

Under new management recently and wow, what a difference. Ally has come back and what a difference she makes! Always happy to help and her service is second to none.

Me and my mates come here at least once a week, and have done for years, lovely friendly pub for a meal and a few drinks out.

Friendly staff, good menu, clean throughout, good value

Probably the friendliest pub I been too

Good staff and food was fine but took one and a half hours to cook

Came in with parents. Food was fantastic and service was great too

We had the two for £11 deal. Couldn't fault it. Lovely meals and excellent value for money

Our second time at the Briars, and very impressed. The food is lovely, well cooked and nice and hot. Good value for money. We will definitely be going again.

Stood at the bar completely ignored

We really enjoy coming to this pub, it's a lovely little family pub that has good food. I tried on this occasion the new Party Dessert which was absolutely lovely!!!

Food was great, it didn't take long for it to come out and was good value for money. Staff were friendly and helpful. There were a couple of hiccups with sides missing but these were resolved easily. The only thing i wasn't too overly keen on would have been the placement of the table we sat at. It was right next to the bar, the food window and staff entrance so it was busy and bit loud. The table itself was a good size though and we would go back again.

The food was good and the restaurant was clean.

My wife and I had a meal and we stayed for the entertainment the food was very nice and reasonable price plus the drinks were on special happyhour to 8pm the disco was amazing playing all are favourite from the 70s and 80s playing to the average age of the crowd look forward to the next entertainment night which is a band we will definitely be back can't beat a good food drink and entertainment keep it up

Went to briars today as normal on Fridays but closed for private function so does this mean sod the regulars.

Must visit food excellent staff friendly

Best steak I've had for a long time

All food was really good quality and value for money. We both had desserts which were actually very big and one thing I think you could do is have them a little smaller to reduce on food waste.

Popped in for an early lunch and the friendly welcome I received from my server Ella was fantastic ( I think that is her name ,apologies if I have that wrong) she took the time to explain the menu because I had forgotten my glasses ! Nothing was to much trouble and she seemed genuinely interested in how my day was going . This was customer service at its best ! Well done The Briars !

Everything was excellent as usual. Good service, good timing of food which was hot and cooked as requested.

Had,nt visited The Briers for sometime the pub had been revamp and looked amazing the food was brilliant the wait was quite long was told half an hours wait was almost an hour before the food came out but will still come back for another visit.

Always hit and miss with the food, no consistency. Usually order the fish and chips because the fish is good quality and battered well. This time the food was a real let down, I'd hyped myself up but instead I got a lump of batter with a hint of fish. No dip for the halloumi fries and yet again they're burnt to a crisp. They have a lot of trouble with burning these, almost every time. But when they're not burnt, they are good. It's a shame. I love the food when it's done properly. It's good value for money but wasn't worth it tonight. Wish I'd chosen elsewhere.

Went there for the first time in a long while ordered food they gave mine first and they forgot to bring my partners food food was tasteless chips were like cardboard not enough options for vegetarians has gone down hill not the pub it use to be

Birthday meal with family, excellent service and atmosphere.

Very friendly and a assomadating lovely pub first time visit

Great food and service, always been a great pub (value for money too)

Food was not as good as previous visit, fajita spice on standard fajita not mixed correctly, very strong in parts, unable to catch my breath....hunters chicken was tasty

It's OK for a,cheap meal and a pint