The Brickmakers

We came as a group of adults with two small children for lunch on a Saturday at the end of July, based on a recommendation from a friend — and we were bowled over with the place.
Standing along the Chertsey Road between Bagshot and Virginia Water, the Brickmakers is a very well appointed building, with a huge outside seating area and a number of bright, spacious rooms for inside dining.
On arrival, we were warmly greeted and shown to our reserved table (complete with high chairs for the little ones) in a splendid conservatory room and our drinks orders quickly taken.
There was a mini-​beer festival on at the time of our visit, which allowed samples of about a dozen real ales, in pints. halves or thirds — these were all brought to our table with a minimum of fuss.
When it came to the main dishes, these were of a very high quality — roasted back bacon loin with duck fat chips for me, which was spot on, plus the sea bass and homemade burgers for my friends. The soup in a mug and bread seemed to please the oldest of the two children too!
The service was of an excellent standard with our drink orders being taken at the table and then the Summer Fruit Tart (with three spoons!) rounded things off very nicely indeed.
There was a spot of confusion on the bill, as one round of drinks seemed to have been missed off the total, so we owned up to that — possibly caused by two different people taking our orders. That was settled up to our satisfaction.
The Brickmakers is an ideal place — clearly set on very high standards of food, service and presentation, but also without being too pleased with itself or too exclusive either.
Highly recommended — especially when they have another beer festival!

Previously visited for Sunday lunch and would have then agreed with Mr Monochrome’s comments. Yesterday however was a bit of a disappointment.
My salt and pepper calamari with sweet chilli dip looked like out of a bag at first glance, but was actually pretty tasty. Dip was out of a bottle however so OK but not exciting. Looked small on plate.
Mum’s goat’s cheese with fig compote was much more generous, but goat’s cheese was so thick that it had not cooked through just melted on top (perhaps it was meant to be like that) and she enjoyed it.
Her roast beef looked good (well cooked at slightly pink), but 2 slices of beef and a couple of small potatoes looked lonely on a big square white plate. The huge yorkshire that came with however was top notch.
My pheasant breast wrapped in bacon again looked small in a white bowl. It was also tough and still had a feather embedded — no thanks. Decent jus/​gravy.
One small bowl of slightly overcooked veg between us.
Disappointin. When I came before it was the best sunday lunch around. Generous too and a jug of gravy to go with it. There were no fancy plates back then. They seem to be trying to use prettying up now instead of value for money. I should have realised as the food on other days had already gone in that direction.
Service was very pleasant but poorly organised. I asked for a glass of wine when my main arrived and instead of the waitress going to the bar filling a glass and bringing it back, decades passed before eventually another waiter sidled slowly down to our table and deposited it.
Another waiter later offered us the dessert menu, but never returned. Some time later a young waitress who noticed the ivy growing over us asked if we needed anything else. Good initiative from her and its a not a knock at the staff who all make the effort. Just needs a little better managing when it gets busy (as it does on a sunday).
I dare say I’d be happier if I had chosen a different main. Standard roasts seemed better handled than the more ambitious pheasant.
Overall I had a feeling the value had been squeezed however and that’s always enough on its own to make me never want to return somewhere. I never understand why places skimp on a few veg or whatever. The additional cost would be insignificant.
If you’re not as bothered about that, it’s still worth a try.

If your looking for somewhere to go for a really good Sunday lunch then you can’t do much better than The Brickmakers. Always busy so get there early to gaurantee a table, and with prices for a roast that are way below what they could justifiably charge there is nothing to fault this place on. The inside is nicely decorated and roomy enough to give the feeling of space while still retaining a cosy atmosphere. Outside there is a nice big garden with a shady area under a pergola near the door for those elusive hot summer days. Plenty of parking, good selection of beers and top notch food, what more could you want.