Dragon Review: Sunday Lunch at the King’s Head in Quarry Street

Published on: 17 Apr, 2023
Updated on: 17 Apr, 2023

By Ferenc Hepp

The Kings Head on Quarry Street, next to Guildford Castle, is a very old building with several stories of it being haunted.

It is therfore one of the stops on the very popular Ghost Tour of Guildford.

The pub recently introduced a new Sunday lunch menu, and we had the chance to sample this at the weekend.

The Kings Head in Quarry Street.

We received a very warm welcome and we were shown to our reserved table in the beer garden. Sitting outside was going to be our choice anyway, but the staff also kindly reserved a table for us inside, in case we preferred that option.

The Sunday lunch menu consists of two courses, main and dessert, with one vegetarian main course option available.
We were a little surprised that starters were not on the set menu, but we certainly did not leave hungry.

Beef, tender and well cooked, for Sunday lunch at the King’s Head.

We ordered at the bar with our table number, and our mains were with us within about 20 minutes. We were also offered a proper jug of tap water, which makes a nice difference from the tiny glasses you often get in restaurants.

The dishes looked very well presented, fresh and plentiful. As well as the horseradish sauce for the beef and mint sauce for the lamb, there was also some extra gravy brought out as standard, which was a nice touch.

Brownie was “very elegantly presented and delicious” at the King’s Head.

Both the beef and the lamb were tender and well cooked, perfectly complemented by the roast potatoes, yorkshire pudding, and there were plenty of other sides on the plate. We were not offered salt, pepper or other sauces, but the dishes did not need these anyway.

The offer to move inside was mentioned again, and a member of staff asked us if everything was OK with our meal just at the right time, about half way through our main course.

Our plates were cleared after finishing our mains in a timely manner, and we were asked if we were ready for our dessert, or wanted a bit of time to ‘chill’ before bringing them out, which was a nice touch.

The beer garden at the King’s Head in Quarry Street.

However, we were ready for our puddings! The chocolate brownie with ice cream, and sticky toffee pudding with custard were both very elegantly presented and delicious.

We were glad that there was quite a lot of ice cream and custard on our plates, as without them, the brownie was a little dry and the I prefer my sticky toffee pudding with a tad more sticky toffee sauce, but the custard was warm and sweet.

Having passed on coffee, we left about an hour and a half after the start of our meal, and a very pleasant 90 minutes it was too.

With a two-course menu, it may be worth offering a starter instead of a dessert, as some customers would prefer that, the garden area could do with freshening up, a deep clean and a few repairs, and some padding on the seating area of the benches for extra comfort could improve the experience even more, but we enjoyed ourselves very much and we were very well looked after.

The service was with a smile throughout, and all other guests around us seemed very happy too with the service and attention they received.

With its classic look, central location and parking nearby, I would certainly recommend the Kings Head for a Sunday lunch, either to take a break from a day out, or to visit especially.

Contact the pub via www.thekingsheadpub.co.uk or 01483 575004, this menu is available between noon and 4pm on Sundays.