The Volunteer

Lovely place sitting outside next to the pond with the fountain was just what we were after. Food was good & staff were polite. Would recommend & we will definitely be going back.

Nice pub. Nice big garden. Good service. Clean loos. Food was average though. Ok but not really great pub food. We had a burger, was expecting more of a lovely juicy burger but was a bit more fast food style.

Food was terrible - dry burger with burnt cheese and overdone chips. Sachets of cheap nasty sauces - all for £14. Criminal really. Will never go again.

I appreciate it is a bank holiday weekend but the service was so slow. When it did turn up my kids meals were inedible with over cooked chips and chicken goujons. The main menu had at least 1/2 the options sold out although my roast pork was nice.

Lovely location with a beautiful garden. Sadly we had to wait quite a long time for our drinks and food to arrive and had to chase a couple of times. I think we were unlucky though as others who arrived after us got their orders before ours. They were very understanding and did their best to resolve it.

Slow service. 35 min wait for 3x sodas and one glass of wine. Food was a 45 min wait and when it arrived only half our party was served. Turned out chips were cold and bacon on burger barely cooked. We didn’t wait for the second half of our meals to arrive. No apologies offered. As our first meal after lockdown this was just poor by any standard.

We were excited to be at the Volunteer as it is in a beautiful position but sadly we had to wait over an hour for our food - simple dishes of burgers and a pizza. With 2 children it was tricky and spoiled the excitement of the experience.

Lovely young girls helping out but sadly the service is very slow. It took 90 minutes to get two burgers served.
The food was sadly average. Coleslaw was dry and old.
It was not busy and all tables were complaining about the time food was taking to arrive.
It is a pity as it used to be a nice place to eat.

It took 45 mins for our first (& only as not asked if wanted any further drinks!) drink to arrive and 1hr 30 mins for the food to finally arrive! Whilst the food itself was tasty and decent portion sizes, having to wait this long for the food ruined the whole experience - especially with 2 children!

Ok so the wait for the food was exceptionally long but the staff were kind and the garden is lovely. The view is gorgeous and, weather allowing, the garden is a lovely place to wait... The food when it arrived was tasty and hot and somehow our moods were largely unaffected because it was fun to be out and the staff kept smiling despite the obvious pressure I’m the kitchen.

Great food and location . Bit slow service but overall didn't matter given the surrounds .

Very disappointed with our time at the Volunteer. We waited an hour to be served our drink, having asked 3 times. Then waited another 1.5 hours for our lunch, which when it arrived was cold!

Great country pub, food is basic but good. Atmosphere was great.

Good experience but some heaters would have made it even better!

nice meal on a sunny saturday afternoon in a beautiful garden

Lovely outdoor seating in a terraced beer garden. The staff worked very hard and were attentive. The kitchen was slow unfortunately and we had to wait an hour for our salads! Tasty food when it arrived though.

Good food, good view and accommodating staff. The pizza was fantastic!

Lovely pub in a beautiful setting. Tables distanced and well spread out around the pleasant garden. Fully appreciate these are difficult times for pubs and restaurants, although most tables were occupied, it wasn’t packed, but still took us an hour to receive our drinks. The food came 15 mins later. Might have stayed longer, but the thought of another hour wait for a desert and drink, did put us off the idea.

Very nice pub staff very freindly service good great place to spend an evening

Unfortunately service was severely lacking, took 45mins for our drink order to be taken and another 15m for the drinks to arrive.

Otherwise staff were lovely and the location beautiful.

Unusual times gave way to unusual poor service . Left waiting for over an hour for food and then the order had not been processed. Normally much much better

We have recently moved into the area and the volunteer is our new local. We were very excited to try it with the reopening after Covid, and because the pub looks lovely. I have heard very good things about the food, and the pub has a large beer garden which is all in the sun. When you enter the pub it has a nice feel. However, after we were seated we were left for over half an hour without even having our drinks order taken. Once we finally flagged someone down to order our drinks and received these, we were then left for a further hour and a half with no further service. We were unable to order any food, despite repeatedly asking staff if they could come and take our order, and being told that they needed to ‘ask’. Our first order of drinks had also ran very dry by this point and we were unable to order any more drinks either. When we finally did get someone come over to take our order, we were informed that we had been given the wrong menus over 1.5 hours ago, and also that the kitchen had ran out of chips (which made up over half of the menu). At this point we decided to give up, as we had already been waiting for 2 hours and dreaded the further wait for our food, and were not really sure of what to order as there wasn’t much that didn’t come with chips, and didn’t want half a dinner. Please note that we did book this table over 3 weeks ago. We told staff that we will just pay for our drinks and leave. The staff member left and when she came back, told us that the drinks were on the house because of our wait. This was very kind and very appreciated, but it was not what we had wanted. We had wanted to come out and support our local pub and had wanted a nice dinner. We ended up costing our local money and still had to go home and cook. The experience was very disappointing, and although we will be coming back as we still wish to support this local pub, which from past reviews clearly used to be very nice, it does make you feel a little hesitant to rebook.

Pleasant Sunday lunch in the garden with the dog.

Lovely views. The ambiance is wonderful. The food was very nice. Some of the younger staff members may need to step up a bit more.

Gorgeous garden, reasonably priced drinks and nice food.

Excellent food - very tasty! Can’t wait to come back again soon. Staff very friendly.

It was pretty cold outside, was hoping there would be a heat lamp or a blanket. Would have stayed longer if I wasn’t so cold. Service was great.

Lovely location. Tables spaced well apart on different levels. Food selection limited with focus on burgers. Food was fresh but came without basics like sauces, salt and pepper. Service was cheerful but haphazard - confusion over food orders (my partners food arrived as I finished eating), no knowledge of what drinks were available, salt and pepper arrived 15 minutes after the food. Hopefully these are just teething problems as it is such a wonderful spot and the pub deserves to do well.

Lovely pub in a beautiful setting. Good beer and good food.

Fantastic service at The Volunteer after a beautiful walk around the Abinger villages.
Very well organised and good food at reasonable prices. Highly recommend the view from the garden if you've never been

Lovely meal in lovely surroundings, we'll be back

We had a lovely meal at the Volunteer on the night before the start of lockdown #2. The food was delicious - we had the butternut squash, Brie and beetroot tart and Cajun Stilton burger. The service was excellent and the pub was very well prepared for COVID-19. We wish we’d discovered the Volunteer sooner.

It's a dark country road to get there at night, but the food is worth the trip

We enjoyed a lovely lunch, the menu is varied with lots to choose from. The service was excellent and the pub is very geared up to sticking to current Coronavirus rules. Will definitely be visiting again!

Good Sunday lunch, dog freindly. NIce place although the car park is a bit tight.

We had a very satisfying lunch in the sunshine - in The Volunteer's beautiful "informal" beer garden amid the Surrey Hills. The food was good, the drinks (Draught Badger Ale/Fursty Ferret), excellent & the service by a super-helpful barman called Josh - was second to none! All Covid protocols observed. Thank you The Volunteer. Highly Recommended.

Roast beef was very good, and the roast potatoes nice and crisp. The staff were very attentive. Distancing, with perspex screens seemed a little over the top, but some would, I’m sure, find that reassuring.

Normally never disappointed but roast lunch was cold and not very tasty

Fab as always, covid secure but not sterile. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch and peaceful chat.

Very good with covid precautions, service was excellent, it was a cold day and some heating would have been nice. The food was OK but not exceptional, It would have been nice to have a home made pie of the day. However, felt safe there so will probably return