The Castle

A bit disappointed with somewhere that describes itself as a gastro-pub, no starters, nothing but normal (though perfectly nice) pub fare. No table service although we didn’t know and waited for an age at our table before we realised! Shame.

I had lunch with husband and child in family pubs around London and they always supply the little once with paper, colours, sometime even toys, but never found a place like this in Walthamstow.
At the Castle my kid together with a little friend have been told off by staff for playing on the sofas, but what else could they possibly do? We had to rush our lunch (I must say food was nice) but never came back again and/or raccomanded to friends with families.
Want a suggestion? Buy toys, jigsaw puzzles, coloured pencils, even from a second hand shop, put a tv screen in a little corner with cartoons on and we will all come back.
   

Management rude to customers. You should be embracing the community not taking them for granted.
Food portions on the small side.
Walthamstow is crying out for a lovely gastropub, but this isn't it. 

I think its wicked. Good beers, good staff but could do with more maybe, have only been twice for Sunday Roasts, once booked and was lovely, second time walked in at a normal sunday lunch time, 12.30/1pmish, I messed the staff around  a bit, yes i want a chiild seat, no i dont oh yes i do, they were really accommodating. and was promptly served one of the best roasts in East London..definitely better than Victoria Park where I have lived and dined for 5 years. I'm moving here....not the village but close enough....partly because I know I can get a good roast when I need one...and a good beer...I like Darkstar beer btw boss if youre reading this.

My husband and I recently moved to Walthamstow and so far have had a wonderful welcome from the local community and businesses in the village. On Sunday 18th March 2012 we invited two good friends to come and visit us and experience a roast dinner at the Castle-what a disappointment!!! We visited around 17:00 to find a full house…..finally being seated we ordered chicken roast-the only choice remaining. My friend was very unhappy with his dinner-the exploding amount of gravy-dark and the tastelessness of the dish as a whole. After complaining to the manager politely and informing him that it was impossible to eat-he was rudely informed that ‘if you don’t like gravy-u should not have ordered it’ and “nobody else has complained so far”. Both the owner and the manager mentioned that gravy(if you call it that) was written on the menu-it did not!!!! No offering of an apology, no alternative, instead the manager asked for my husband to continue the discussion outside???? If you want to experience awful food, extremely bad customer service and a threat of police intervention if you make a complaint then head to the Castle. It makes me wonder what the four scores on the doors stands for and if it is a good standard to assess the qualities of the establishment. In our opinion they do not deserve that level of merit!!!!!!!!!!

Ok selection of beers. Rubbish customer service. This is labelled as a ‘family friendly’ pub. Far from it. Would have failed on many mystery customer assessment criteria. Staff were rude. Was looking for venue for birthday and christening on the horizon. Won’t be using them. I’d rather sit on a park bench with a can of special brew than this place thanks.

Lovely place!

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself and my sister, Ross and Ria. We are the owners of The Castle in the Village Ltd. (The Castle Gastro Pub). This is the first and last time I will be writing in response to comments regarding The Castle, so I hope what I write will answer any questions.

I love the concept of the review sites. I would love to use constructive criticism from these sites to better my business and give people what they want. If we could use genuine feedback to create and improve our menu and service it would be fantastic. We have received comments in the past and with some I agree, it has helped us grow, thank you. This advice benefits everyone, the community that frequent the pub and us. We have read and heard comments and it has helped us to make the business better and more efficient. The Castle is now a thriving family friendly food pub which is a stark contrast to three years ago, before we took over.

Unfortunately these sites can provide platform for fake, malicious and sometimes ridiculous reviews that are not always the truth. This is a shame. I find it disturbing that anyone would take to a review site to talk about a member of staffs physical appearance, one reviewer mentions ‘the manager with the pretentious awful moustache’. This quite frankly is not acceptable. This reviewer is known to The Castle and was asked to leave due to her drunken behaviour and foul language towards staff.

I am not saying we are always perfect, mistakes happen, but we do strive for excellence and I believe we provide good quality food at a reasonable price. All our meat is free range, our vegetables are delivered daily and our menu is produced by us fresh. Nothing bought in ready made, nothing frozen. Every dish has been designed by our Chefs, from the Burger recipe to the Cheese Sauce on your pasta. We even pipe our own Sausage mix from a recipe our Head Chef James created. How many Gastro pubs could say that?

I would like to advise booking on a Sunday for a roast as it does get extremely busy. We will always try to accommodate anyone that hasn’t pre-booked but we may not always be able to find a table for you immediately. At peak times we can have up to 90 -100 customers in at any one time, so it may take 30-45 minutes from ordering to receive your food. Nothing is precooked the night before and reheated like many other establishments do. We cook our meat to order.

We have recently changed our wet offering, so far these choices seem to have gone down well. Please let us know what you think.

I felt obliged to write this response today out of respect for our staff. The kitchen team especially work extremely long hours and are passionate about getting it right. It’s not on for business rivals and drunken fools to condemn the work they do.

Ross Newham
The Castle

thecastlegastropub.co.uk

Food OK but kitchen tends to get overwhelmed when busy and services disappointing, have tried Sunday lunch here twice and both times after mains was told would have to wait 30 mins before we could think about ordering desserts. Would suggest maybe putting a tag on the wine bottle table markers indicating that tables are reserved rather than the cutlery on the table, we had to move table as did not realise the one we had picked and thought empty was already taken.
Sorry to say I won’t be back again

Nice refurb job done on this pub. Haven’t tried the food but for a few pints on Sunday night was lovely. A nice warm atmosphere and friendly staff!

Really nice pub in Walthamstow, close to the 'Village' area, which is considered to be the posher part of Walthamstow. Set in a residential area, The Castle is a few minutes' walk from Orford Road where there are several shops and restaurants. I used to hate this pub, mainly for it's lack of atmosphere and Ikea furniture, however, the most recent owners have done a great job of making this feel like a proper pub which wouldn't feel out of place in an area like Islington or Primrose Hill. the decor is cosy and art work is displayed on one side of the pub.

I've been twice in the last few weeks. Once on a Monday night and once on a Friday. The Monday was very quiet despite the quiz night that was happening, but the food (we had burgers) was delicious and I can't recommend their chips enough! The menu is small and offers gastro pub style food from what I could tell. Expect to pay around £8-10ish. will definitely try and eat here again soon. the Friday night was a lot busier and we managed to get the last seat left. Seemed to be lots of groups of friends and some couples there, catching up, having meals and generally everyone seemed to be having a good time (the age range was around early twenties - mid-forties).

All in all this is my new favourite pub in Walthamstow.