Whale and Ale - CLARKSON

Great place to catch up with family & friends, great ambience, with a log fire, fabulous food & service.

Had a nice family lunch, good food, polite and friendly staff and all in all very good except for one thing.FLOODED AREA . This is the second time we have been here for lunch after rain this winter and when you bring young children "which they encourage" then the Manager should make sure that puddles of water should be swept away so kids dont get soaking wet. AND NO it did not rain whlist we were there on both occasions. If someone was to slip then it would cost the slack management thousands in compensation and could cost someone pain and suffering for many years.

Popped in for Sunday lunch without a booking. Asked for a table for for 7 so we could see the youngest grandchild .playing in the play area. This was done with a pleasant smile and I found the service and food much better than the previous reviews. Been here before and will go again

Have been many times before and always great. Has this business changed management or chef??? Drinks were horrible. My husband has been drinking bacardi and coke for many years and he says this one was not bacardi and coke - it tasted completely different. My daughter and I had gin and tonic - don't know what type of gin it was but certainly not good. I finished mine because I was thirsty, my daughter left hers half finished.Food: Entree of calamari was good and cooked well. The aioli was drizzled on the plate under the food and very little of it. I prefer to dip and get as much or little as I want. Main course: 1 x Garlic Prawns with scented rice and green veg - no taste of garlic - just oil. Rice was also tasteless. 1 x Pan seared Gnocchi with mushroom sauce. The flavour was good but the gnocchi wasn't just pan seared - it was burnt and hard and barely edible. 1 x Crispy salmon with sweet potato mash, asparagus and blood orange hollandaise sauce. Salmon was cooked well. Barely any sauce - i had to ask for more. Shouldn't have bothered as it had no taste anyway. The 2 sticks of asparagus were good. The sweet potato mash was nice but way too much of it compared to other components. There was also some other type of paste on the plate - don't know what it was but it was very tasty.Told the waitress of our complaints and she passed it to the senior staff member but we didn't hear anything from her until we went to pay and mentioned our complaints again. She argued that the drink was bacardi and that she would mention the food complaints to the chef. No apology or discount offered. After going there for several years, we won't be back. Not just because of the food/drink issues but combined with the "don't care" attitude it was just not good enough. BTW we also heard other tables complain about their food.

Monday night dinner and was disappointed.The ribs whilst being a good size serving were fatty and rather tasteless, I've had much better at another local pub in Butler. The pasta dish was also pretty average flavour wise but again a more than ample serve.The entree stuffed mushrooms were nice.Staff pleasant.