Ferry, The Reviews

The location is super, right on the river, with a great atmosphere, roaring fires and an old world feel. I have also been to The Warren, Wokingham, which is part of the same chain, and was very impressed by the quality of the food at pretty reasonable prices.

I promised to up date after my visit with my French customer. Jean Pierre from Thales Group. We both had a shiraz (250cc @ £4.70 each, large glasses) and Jean thought it was excellent. We both had a Salmon Risotto (@£10.95 each). Jean enjoyed the meal. It wasn't out standing but nor poor. The service was swift and welcome as we had a tight time budget. We sat next to fire which was great as there is some cold that comes off the glass windows. The total cost for two was £31.30 less gratuity. Yes I would take my customers there again.

I have eaten at The Ferry a few times. My friends and I enjoy the atmosphere, and I am now taking French customers to The Ferry. They have given me confidence in their service and food standards, and the wine. The bar service can be a little slow at times but everyone seems occupied. I will post a note after I have taken my French customer there and let you know his honest opinion.

I had an old friend turn up on the doorstep today, went to The Ferry as I had heard good reports. We started off sitting in the restaurant due to no space outside. We ordered our food and a table became available outside so we politely asked if we could move outside, and were told we would have to settle the bill if we wanted to sit outside! I paid the bill and ate the food, all three of us had the spit roast chicken, which was nothing special and at a cost of £10.50 I would have expected a little better. The place has an amazing setting, but I thought the service was a tad un-professional and the food mediocre. I found the bar service slow too.

I have eaten at The Ferry twice. Nice atmosphere, especially the outside terrace, and good food, but the service is very slow.

Visited the Ferry in Jan07, know it well in its previous guises, have been going there since 1980s. Haven't been there for 8 years, so hadn't experienced the current reincarnation before. First the good points; brilliant location on the River Thames at Cookham, great interior, very much what you want to see when you walk through the door. I went there with my wife plus my oldest school mate and his wife, for my 43rd birthday. It started well, we got served on time, drinks came, and we ordered our starters and mains.

The starters arrived and were fine, but it was when the main dish arrived that things began to go wrong. First my friend's wife had ordered a dish that needed you to have select the veggies on the side. She didn't so all she got was a spit chicken - our waitress forgot to remind her. Anyway that was quickly fixed. Then my friend and I realised almost together that bits of our main courses were missing. He'd ordered pasta with smoked herring and spinach ... but the completely white pasta and sauce dish, had no spinach. My noodles with salmon and shrimp with chillies had no chillies, not one. Anyhow we told our waitress and two small bowels of the missing items appeared and were added to the meals. The wine was fine, and the desserts were good. We finished, wanted to pay, but our section of the restaurant was devoid of any staff whatsoever. It took a good 10 minutes to find a waitress to ask for the bill.

Our conclusion on The Ferry is this; great location, good design, but service is poor and the food is pretty average ... you don't feel that there's anything gastronomically special about the menu, and you should. The Ferry has a fantastic potential customer base, but if they continue to serve the quality of food they served us, people won't return. We certainly won't, and I'm annoyed because I wanted to make the Ferry a regular evening out for us.

The Ferry is at an excellent location and in the summer months is a great place to meet up with friends, the service could be improved (weekdays and weekends) a couple of times I have had to go and find service and drinks were not being re-filled etc. Food is great though, and the specials are good too, as usual fish dishes are expensive for the size of the portions.

Very nice atmosphere and good for they do, they have a tendency to try to get the most sittings in an evening so make sure that you get a time when you can be assured of having the table for the whole evening. The Amaretto ice cream is fabulous.

Being blunt, this is an overpriced pizza and pasta parlour which takes full advantage of its stunning location. Wines are distinctly average and, frankly, sold at obscene mark ups! Avoid!