"After reading the previous reviews the I visited the now Red Lion Smokehouse, initial impressions when you walk are good and similar to other smoke houses, unfortunately the food did not live up to any of the previous positive reviews. The restaurant was not busy with a handful of tables so no real excuse. Service was friendly although a bit inconsistent, drinks would be slow then then the next round would be fast and the same with the food, the starters arrived in a reasonable time but the mains took a long time and then only half the order arrived before another 5mins wait for the rest, I don't mind this if the food is worth the wait, unfortunately it was not. I had the Salt and pepper squid to start and it was ok although a little small. the big disappointment was the mains, I had beef brisket and it was the worst i have ever had, so dry and tough with a gravy like sauce, in my opinion i would say this had been oven cooked probably the previous day re heated and a bit of the gravy put on to serve. no smoke rings in the meat not tender at all and not a hint of flavour from it and i could have done with a steak knife to get through it! i had burnt end and mac and cheese on the side, burnt end were not any better and the mac n cheese average at best. to finish i had the pecan pie and it probably came out of a packet. its really frustrating when a restaurant sells itself as a smoke house and is no more than a chain carvery at best! from the four of us dinning all of us agreed we would not go back again."
