The Calleva Arms in Basingstoke and Deane

UPDATE - all credit to restaurant who invited us back with an updated vegetarian menu and complementary meal. The quality was radically different for the mains this time. Both dishes we had were tasty and cooked well. Starter was good as before (this time we had a sharing board). Sat next to the fire which was nice too. Updated my star ratings to reflect this experience, though kept below review for reference. ORIGINAL REVIEW - Really disappointed with our meal yesterday. The menu was limited for a vegetarian, so I went for the Bean burger - it was not home made - likely previously frozen and shop bought - a very thin dry thing. The bun was also dry. Advertised as coming with hummus in the burger but the smallest amount given. Partner’s beef burger was also dry and disappointing. Starter Camembert was good and chips done well so a surprise for both mains to be so poor. Meant we didn’t dare try the dessert offering. Very frustrating to have spent around £70 overall on 2 drinks, 1 starter and 2 disappointing mains. Won’t be returning. Shame as we tried this to branch out from our regular local spots! Atmosphere and service fine however.

We held our works Christmas meal at the Calleva Arms and a great time was had by all! Chris and Ashleigh helped organise the meal and even offered the turkey option although it was not available on the menu. They also made the table look festive with crackers (and the snow fell outside!). All the dishes were lovely and very large portions. We could not have wished for a better lunch. We would all highly recommend the food, friendly service and surroundings.

Stepping into The Calleva Arms is like finding an oasis in the desert of the ordinary. The pints are poured with such precision, it's as if they're crafted by the steady hands of a watchmaker. The atmosphere buzzes with a warmth that could thaw a snowman's heart, and the locals are so friendly, you'll feel like you've been part of the furniture for years. It's the kind of place where the beer tastes like a golden sunset and the memories linger like the froth on your upper lip. A true five-star experience!

One table too many in the restaurant area, could do with some new cutlery, but otherwise lovely food, good service and clean pub.

Great village pub 👍. We went as a family of 4 for a quick pub lunch. A little expensive but the food was good and copious. Friendly and professional staff.

Good food and friendly staff. We came for Sunday roast and our table had a mixture of pork, beef and nut roast and everyone really enjoyed. However, desserts and custard could have been much warmer!

Lovely food of high quality and delicious. Nice atmosphere

Very welcoming. Lovely food. Drinks a little pricey but food excellent

Popped in for a quick drink with my son. Lovely atmosphere with a lovely modern family British vibe. A high class of cliental, was extremely busy for Sunday roasts. Looking forward to bringing the family back for food.

The Sunday roast was excellent. The vegetables were al dente with fantastic flavour and the meat was cooked perfectly. Whilst the service staff were friendly and helpful, they were a little disorganised and it wasn't busy due to eating early afternoon. Our main meals were delivered but we had to wait for the vegetables to be delivered and we had to ask again for the desert menus. It certainly didn't ruin the meal, but the efficiency and organisation could be improved.

Expensive Guinness. Maybe I was in a very expensive area where they must like paying too much for food and drinks l prefer a bit of value. Don't like being ripped off.

Ashlie and Chris are a credit to the village. They haven’t been here very long, but have integrated so well. The Calleva is a lively and welcoming village hub.

Lovely location overlooking the village green, there is a gap in food service from 14:30 - 18:00 but otherwise very welcoming

Very welcoming when we arrived gave us time to settle no pressure We had Sunday lunch roast 2 pork and 2 beef with all the trimmings asked if there was any pork crackling waitress came back with bowl of delicious pork crackling for us which did not seem to be any trouble to supply Drinks and food reasonable price Will book again

Great beer & good food that felt like the right price.... Perfect for a cycling stop for lunch

Great visit, lovely food and friendly staff x

Staff were really friendly but not that attentive once our food and arrived. We would have had more drinks, dessert etc. but was hard to get anyone's attention and in the end we just got the bill. But food was nice and overall we had a nice time.

I lovely pub to have a drink.And relax i'm watch the cricket

Lovely pub, with great food and really nice staff.

Ordered a sandwich for a quick lunch snack, unfortunately the bread was a little stale. 3 star as it was editable but maybe next time it will be better. Update on my review, gave them the benefit of the doubt. Absolutely atrocious service and food. We order a little after opening time and they were taking orders, over an hour wait and people coming in well after starting getting their food. Questioned this and they didn’t even start cooking because they forgot !? Never again. If you read this I beg of you to avoid and go down to the rowbarge by the canal.

My partner and I had lunch at The Calleva Arms today and we would definitely go back. The service was very friendly and efficient. Atmosphere and food was also great.

Great service, great food, great atmosphere

Pop in every now and again for lunch, very nice pub food is always very nice, would highly recommend a visit.

Had a nice evening here with the family. Nice traditional country pub with nice seating area for meals. The food was nice and a good size portion. Menu had enough on there to choose from. Main meal was priced slightly more than other equivalent pubs. Only downside was the pudding prices, I found them to be over priced for the size of the portions and other pubs and restaurants. Still tasted nice. Would go back but maybe skip the pudding.

Food good, surroundings good, staff friendly. My only complaint is that they did not have Coke, only Pepsi, and since the sugar tax Pepsi is part sugar, part sweetener and I hate sweetener, so I wish they had other options. But overall very good.

Nice country Fuller's pub - decent enough beer range, and the lunch paninis are incredible. Dog friendly!

Good beer and food in a scenic area of common land with local historic sites. Enjoyed a pint & panini in the pub garden today.

Very friendly welcome and we sat in the lovely back garden. The chef was willing to poach eggs for my daughter instead of fried. All the food was piping hot, generous and delicious.

Homemade pickled eggs! Chef is clearly a legend for putting this behind the bar. One of the best pickle eggs I’ve had! Fish and chips was also elite. A pub that clearly cares about good british good!

Pub lunch after a long walk. Great burger & the pie looked amazing!

Superb food, had to wait an age for the deserts to arrive though…

It's nice that they have non-alcoholic beer on draft

Sooooo expensive...ridiculous for a village pub ... paid more here for a glass of wine than in London

Only popped in for a coffee whilst waiting for friends but had a nice greeting and such a friendly atmosphere. Dogs are allowed too, which is nice to see. Will go back when we have time for a meal

Ale good, well kept. Good atmosphere Sorry didn't eat

Superb place, lovely staff and food. The atmosphere is always great, and locals are amazing

Really good food, simple menu done well. Very friendly waitress who was really busy but still provided excellent service

Disappointed - ordered a roast which took 45 minutes (pub was quiet) and was cold when it arrived (not even warm, infact it felt like it had been refrigerated) Not worth £20. 2/5 alot of room to improve.

Went New Years day but didn't eat. The atmosphere was lovely. Staff were so attentive. Really clean and tidy. Would recommend

Very busy Xmas eve visit. Considering how busy it was the food was hot and quickly served. Loved the 'small appetite ' choices. Dog friendly too!!!

First time visiting this lovely place. Service was very professional and friendly. Food came out quick and tasted amazing. My son said the sausages was the best!! I will definitely be coming back.

Staff were brilliant and the manager was very informative regarding the area .

Beautiful location in a quintessential English village, lovely fire, warm welcome, comfortable & spacious conservatory restaurant. Food was superb - proper raised chicken, leek & bacon pie, steamed veg & perfect chips. Not too pricy either.

Really nice pub situated on a village green. There was a really good selection of beers available alongside other drinks. The food selection was really good too with very large portions on the mains and some lighter bites. There is also a range of lighter options. Service was friendly and the food arrived quickly. We ate in the restaurant area and there were also lots of people in the bar area eating ans drinking on a Saturday lunchtime - nice to see a pub busy. There are tables out the front facing onto the green and also a large garden at the rear. There is a large car park at the rear and parking on the street outside.

Great building, Staff, beer and food. i think that covers it all, other than it's very HYGIENIC! :-)

Dog friendly and people friendly, brilliant home made food, and attentive service, just a perfect pub for a wet Saturday night

Drinks only, mid-week afternoon - ale not kept well. Welcoming and spacious, non trad more of a gastro pub, probably.

I'd have loved to rated this place for food, but, despite being more than half empty at 12.45 on a Friday lunchtime, we were told that the kitchen was too busy, so we and a host of others were turned away. Thankfully the pop-up cafe in the Village Hall was running, so we were able to get some lunch

The best roast lamb Sunday lunch ever! Even better than mine 😅😉. We will return x

We enjoyed a great lunch at the Calleva Arms. Plentiful and tasty pub grub!

Best Sunday lunch Ive had in ages. Great service by friendly staff

Brilliant service polite staff such a lovely atmosphere. You’ve the choice of a restaurant/bar/garden seating. I always call ahead before I head down there to make sure I get a reservation. Kevin is by far a brilliant chef. The atmosphere is very welcoming from the minute you enter. Outstanding food as well as service.

Poor main course selection. Poor service. My pudding arrived about 20mins after the rest of our table service. Pudding was very nice once I finally received it.

I had a small fish and chips. It was very nice but quite expensive.

Nice local pub with a large dining section. Also a big garden at the back with seating. We had lunch here, which was decent.

Having recently moved to the area, discovering the Calleva has been an absolute pleasure to find, and has become my new local. Ashlie and her team are an absolute pleasure. I cannot fault the food especially the stunning moules mariene I had last night. Peter really knows how to run a great cellar, to date I've never had a bad pint, it's always served at the perfect temperature but also with a lovely welcoming smile from the bar staff. With COVID and recent times, it's so sad to see so many pubs closing, and it's wonderful to see the Calleva thriving. I do hope many others come and enjoy a wonderful experience.

Got to give the brownie a try.. and the Cajun burger is awesome.

Having had a lovely dog walk locally decided to pop into the pub as we’ve eaten in Fullers pubs before, to grab a drink and some lunch. Great pub and good location but the service, I’m afraid, is seriously lacking. Got a drink straight away from the bar, wanted to order a sandwich each but were told we couldn’t order yet, name taken and put on a list, which we would then be notified when we could. The front tables were empty at this point, the rear beer garden had two occupied and the pub itself was about half full. We sat outside and waited, decided to go in and ask after 25 minutes. Told we would have to wait another 15-20 mins probably till we could order. At this point we decided to leave as we had to get home before it was likely the food would arrive. So we would have had to wait 45 mins till we ordered and then waited for the food to arrive. Likely over an hour to get a sandwich is poor and not acceptable. We weren’t offered another drink to apologise for the delay either, which would have been reasonable customer service. The staff were polite and apologetic but it’s simply not good enough and we weren’t given a reason either. Shame as we’ve had excellent meals elsewhere. Sorry but won’t be back.

Beer woz brilliant, never had a bad once

Not sure what's happening at the Calleva, but noticeable on my last two weekend visits that it is a lot quieter than it used to be. My own experience on my last two visits has been average food (Sunday Roast, beef was a bit gristly, though portion size was good, must have noticed when they cut it) and poor service. I may have been unlucky, but on both occasions I thought the HSB wasn't up to previous standards, though not off so I didn't take it back. I had the pleasure of a really good pint elsewhere in between the two visits so it was noticeable. What makes me give such a low score on service was not being offered drinks at the time of being shown to our table (ignored for 5 minutes), followed by an experience when waiting at the bar where I was ignored in favour of a known regular who had literally walked in and was greeted with being asked what he was having. If that is how they treat waiting customers, unsurprising that they are less busy these days.

Food and beer good quality. But stopped serving food at 8pm and coffee machine turned off 10pm!

Had 2 meals here recently and both were great. Really tasty food and 5 of us all had something different. Always lots of specials, service was very friendly and polite and the pub felt relaxed and welcoming as a whole

Had a couple of pints, tasted OK. Could have been pulled a bit tighter, with the sparkler nozzle attached and tightened. Drinkers preference, but it's nice to be asked.

Had a lager in garden facing village cicket green.

I discovered Caleva ruins back in the 90’s, I took my neighbour there and went to The Caleva Arms for a large cold non alcoholic drink with lots of ice and a slice as it was a sweltering! Been there before after hot days walk!

Really nice pub. Very friendly service. Didnt have any food, but sampled a few drinks on tap and all were superb. Definitely be giving this pub another visit

This was a great pub for many years but it's now looking shabby and is understaffed and, when I visited on 29th May, pretty empty. With a packet of crisps at £1.70 I can see why. If you do drink here it might be an idea to order two rounds at a time so that you get them before closing time.

Very busy at the bar, it was a bank holiday Monday. The kitchens closed about 3.30pm and we probably had the last reservation of the day. The staff were doing their best to cope. They do use a frier for gluten free only, which is very postive.

Unbelievably despicable behaviour. My niece had a birthday celebration booked for 10+ people for Tuesday 9 May. Calleva called today 8 May to cancel her booking saying they are closing Tuesday instead of (the bank holiday) Monday. They must have known this well in advance. Too late to get in anywhere else. Very arrogant to treat customers in this way. I've been a frequent visitor, with friends, to this lovely pub for the last 10+ years and am so angered that I shall never darken their doorstep again.

This is a good pub serving a good selection of drinks. The garden is nice and the location across the road from a children's park makes it ideal for an afternoon out.

Village pub with a cosy atmosphere, decent food and a respectable selection of ales, ciders and liquors. I particularly enjoy this pub after taking a walk around the old Roman town of Caleva, which can be started from the vicinity of the pub. This is also one of the few places in the area where I have been able to find HSB which is a fond favourite ale of mine.

Great food. Amazing staff and perfect atmosphere. A very happy local pub.

Came for dinner for 2, food was average the nachos were ok, out of a packet not home made which is not what I expect for a £9 starter (or almost double for a main). The chicken burgers were deep fried to death, which removed any of their southern flavouring and made them very dry. Have been previously and it was excellent, maybe there has been a staff change but it’s no longer worth the premium prices they are charging.

Stopped for coffee and cake, amazing selection of cakes, would stop here again

Great nearby walk and good selection of beers

Sunday roast meat was. Okay but veg not cooked potatoes over cooked and all a bit of a mess when served, not worth the price

First time I have visited under the new management. Food was excellent. Interesting variation from the usual pub food, with very good specials. Not the cheapest, but will be going back and happy to recommend.

Very nice lunch, nice atmosphere

Lovely food large portions , fast service , reasonably priced.

A cold Thursday lunch time. Pretty quiet. Well kept beer. Waited a long time for food - because, we were told, others had priority. When the food came it was very good - the mushroom risotto got rave reviews from a semi-committed vegetarian. On the basis of beer and food, this should get five stars. BUT the windows were being actively painted inside and the smell of paint was everywhere - is that OK under health and safety rules ? The grumpy bar staff did not improve the feeling of being unwelcome. Ah well. We had a great exploration of the surrounding area - the medieval fish ponds and Elizabethan Manor are even more interesting than Calleva Atrebatum !

Good atmosphere in a busy pub. Beer was up to scratch but we didn't have time to stop for food.

Excellent meal and service. Great beer

Came for a Friday night dinner, both ordered from the specials board, great choices! Sticky Beef was definitely a winner, best meal out in a long time, highly recommend! Staff all very friendly and professional! 5 star experience!

Lovely Sunday lunch. Large portions. Great hospitality. Thanks to Harry & Tom.

Great food with a good selection of beers including decent non-alcoholic beers. Dog friendly. Good idea to book ahead as it gets very busy on weekend lunchtimes. It can take a while for your food to come because it's so busy, but it's really worth the wait.

Visited one lunchtime while in the area with a friend, nice pub, had the vegetarian burger which was lovely, well presented and tasted amazing, the chips were well cooked although a couple of them were cold, maybe they had already been cooked and we're not thrown back in the fryer. Apart from that it was lovely, if I went back I would sit closer to the open fire as on a cold day it is chilly.

Really friendly because i see my watford friends

Lovely Sunday roast. Very generous portions and beautifully cooked food. Along with super efficient friendly service it made a fabulous family lunch out.

Haven’t been to the pub in abt 6 months changed hands staff were friendly food amazing we all had a lovely lunch x

Sorry to say that my meal of sausage and mash was sub standard. The sausages were hot but dry and hard and the mash left much to be desired. I had to abandon my meal unfinished. My first visit to this venue will be my last one!

Lovely pub! Great food. Good atmosphere and friendly staff. Highly recommend!

We had an amazing meal at the Calleva on New Year's Day. There were 16 of us and we were all happy with our food. The roast beef was fantastic. I couldn't eat it all.

Lovely staff, good atmosphere and fab food. Just a little on the cramped side when it's busy but can handle that.

Fantastic food and very friendly staff!

Fabulous food, welcoming staff and a great atmosphere and at a reasonable price. Highly recommended.

Nice country Fuller's pub. Well kept Ales and nice food menu

Got called out by Harry the manager to a sewer leak in the pub. Staff members where handling sewage with no ppe and still serving food before changing clothes. If you are a contractor working for this company be carefull. When they need the service they will give confirmation that they will pay. Unfortunately they do not pay. Head office argues the invoice even though they have authorised it with the pub manager Harry.

Great food. Friendly staff. Lovely setting.

Visited today for lunch and probably wouldn't rush back although I'm aware there's recently been a change in management so maybe a few teething troubles. Messaged via their Facebook page to book a table, no response. Never was a problem in the past. The pub was very cold with no heating at all so we had to keep our coats on. Several tables near us commented the same and all sat with coats on. The coffee machine was out of order so only instant available, which wasn't pleasant. We waited a long time for someone to come and take our food order, in the end I went and found someone. Two of us wanted the steak & ale pie. Only then were we told it wasn't available. The chap said we should've been told when we were given the menus, well it was him that gave them to us! With that he said he'd give us a few minutes to choose something else and walked away. He didn't come back so I had to go and ask to place our order again. At no point did anyone ask if we had any food allergies, which I thought was a requirement these days? The food was really good, credit to the chef; it was well cooked, well presented, large portions and very tasty. We did notice that two other tables waited a very long time for their food and had to chase it up, so glad we ordered when we did. We would have stayed longer and had a dessert but it was so cold we couldn't relax and enjoy it. We were next to radiator and we did ask one of the waiters if it was possible to turn it on and he said he'd see what he could do, which was nothing as it remained stone cold! When our plates were taken we asked for the bill, but it didn't arrive. Eventually a young lady arrived with the card machine and asked us to pay, which we said we'd be delighted to do once we received our bill! When we left we walked past 3 different members of staff, all of whom had waited on our table at some point during our visit. Not one of them made an effort to say thank you or goodbye. There was no warm ambiance or friendly feeling in the pub, it felt cold (literally) and unwelcoming. I also felt that a couple of members of staff waiting on tables looked rather scruffy, none of them wore a logo'd t-shirt which I feel the staff should do as they're representing the pub or brewery. It was difficult to distinguish the staff from the customers!

Emailed to book for Sun. Lunch @ 13:15 but no callback. Rang on Sun. & got table for 2 at 13:45. Food is OK, came hot & tasty, bit slow to arrive; drinks arrived at the bar & I collected them myself without being notified, after they had sat there for 5 mins. Pleasant pub & village, busy I side & out, a nothing special pub...