Pub website:
Review at a glance:
Would we return: No
Food: Lukewarm, forgettable
Price: Reasonably priced
Ambience: Chatty people, good views
Staff/Service: Both could be better
Anything else: Uncomfortable chairs, wobbly table
Choice of menu: Veggie and vegan options, gluten-free available
You can find Cams Mill just outside of Fareham beside the viaduct, right next to the creek and leading into Portchester. Despite being on a main road it’s a pub with incredible views looking out over the water. If you get it on the right day with the right weather it’s a relaxing place to be.
If you get it on the wrong day it can be frustrating.
While the food at cams Mill was nice enough there were elements that were enough to put taste on the backburner, like temperature and smell (not all vegan cheese smells like feet, guys, maybe go for one of those).
But also, it was an uncomfortable place to sit in. The chairs felt old and like one wrong move would shatter them, the table wobbled this way and that way and then a whole other way. And while we were getting used to all that we were left waiting…
…and waiting…
…and waiting.
Grub’s up – what we had, eventually:
The fussy eater ordered: Flat bread with lemon and oregano chicken
Romesco sauce, charred courgette*, balsamic red onions, cherry tomatoes, rocket
*Fussy eater asked for without this, of course
The flatbread came out cold and rocketless, the chicken was warm but flavourless. Almost as if the chef forgot the chicken skewers were ordered as well and then rushed to get them done, dropping the ball in the process.
The veg looked greasy but when it came to eating that wasn’t the case, in fact mixed with the ever-so-slightly spicy sauce with a tomato tang the veg just popped. It’s a shame the flatbread turned up cold and the chicken had no flavour because it had the makings of a really good dish.
The veggie ordered: English pea ravioli
With heritage tomato, courgette, pea & parsley salad, Parmesan
A fully vegan meal there was a lot to like about this dish. Throughout ran this really rich, moreish flavour that was hard to pinpoint. The ravioli itself was bursting with the sweetness of the pea, but that vegan parmesan ruined the whole thing.
It added a saltiness that was much needed but the texture wasn’t the most appealing and the smell of it was so bad it kind of snuck its way over the whole table so even the fussy eater could smell it. It didn’t help that the dish came out lukewarm either.
Overall
It was a pretty underwhelming experience. We were forgotten as soon as we were seated, then it was obvious the same thing happened to our food (there really is no excuse for lukewarm meals), and then we had to ask for the bill twice.
When the server did turn up she was chatty and happy to talk through gluten-free options should we need them but it wasn’t enough to make up for the rest of the experience. And there were no carbonated drinks available because of an issue with the pumps. Now, that can’t be helped but given everything else that wasn’t good about our time in Cams Mill it felt wrong to not mention it.
Sometimes a place can just have a bad day. And this was a terrible one.
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