The Sportsman on Soi 13

[Evil Penevil]

The Sportsman is a popular UK-style pub and restaurant on Soi 13 that's been in operation for 20 years.   It therefore pains me a bit to write a negative review of the meal I had at such a venerable establishment. I wish I could be more positive, considering The Sportsman's long history in Pattaya.

 

 

I stepped into The Sportsman on a whim Saturday afternoon. It had been at least five years since I'd last been there and I made a snap decision as I walked past to try it again. I was encouraged by the number of customers I saw on the veranda and inside. At least 10 were eating and another five or so were enjoying a drink, watching sports on the TVs or chatting with friends at the bar. Relative to most of its competitors, that's quite a few customers for 5 pm on a weekend afternoon and it raised my hopes the food might be good. The dining area was well-lit, clean and in excellent shape. I saw no indication of the scruffiness that mars too many bars in Pattaya and took it as another propitious sign.

 

 

Unfortunately, my hopes were soon dashed.  A restaurant's popularity and decor/furnishings aren't always accurate predictors of the quality of its food. I choose the special of the day, which was described as, "Homemade Bowmans pie with cheese, onion and potatoes." Branston baked beans and french fries were the sides. I hadn't had a cheese, onion and potato pie since my childhood and I was eager to renew my acquaintance with this traditional British dish. I wondered if "Bowmans" could refer to a regional variation on the pie or even a special type of cheese, but it turns out that "Bowmans" is the brand name of Sportman's own line of sweet and savory pies. They are available in retail shops as well as in the restaurant.

 

 

I'm not a fan of either baked beans or french fries and toyed for moment with asking if I could substitute a  small side order of salad for them. However, I abandoned that idea as specials don't usually allow substitutions and its often difficult to get waitresses to understand requests.  I decided to go with the daily special in standard form. The wait for my meal was a very acceptable 20 minutes.

 

 

It wasn't an exciting plate of food to look at and got even less exciting once I tasted it. The french fries were lukewarm, soft and soggy, inedible in my book. They were U.S.-style fries that had only gone once, not twice, into the deep fryer, then been left to sit too long.  The result was the antithesis of crispy.

 

 

The pie, the base of the meal, wasn't warm enough for me. I want a cooked meal to be piping hot when placed in front of me.  Worse yet, the pie was flavorless. I could neither see nor taste any indication of cheese, onions  or anything else in the pie. It seemed to be unseasoned mashed potatoes, maybe moistened with milk, in a shortcrust shell and top layer. As I recall, the cheese, onion and potato pies of my childhood had been seasoned with English mustard. The Bowmans pie didn't taste bad; it didn't taste anything. It was the definition of blandness.

 

 

 

It's a disappointing, even depressing, experience when beans from a can are the high point of a restaurant meal.  I began to wonder what had been on the menu that afternoon at UK transport cafes, not to mention HM Prison Strangeways. The parts of the meal that could be messed up in preparation had been.  There's not much that can go wrong with beans from a can. I guess they could be burned during reheating and at least that didn't happen.

 

The special cost 270 baht and a bottle of SML 90 baht. That's not expensive, but it isn't value for money, especially considering how little of it I actually ate.  As I said earlier, it had been five years since I'd eaten at The Sportsman. I may give it another try in 2021.

 

A proviso:  This review centers on the food I got one particular afternoon.  It doesn't change the fact that many find The Sportsman a great place for a pub visit. Also, I may have caught The Sportsman on a bad day. A restaurant can't stay in business for 20 years by consistently serving food as bad as I got Saturday.  However, the inability to serve up a decent savory pie and french fries doesn't inspire confidence that another selection from the menu would be better. 

 

Evil

[nomlek]

That's sad to hear that I normally go there for breakfast when I'm in pats

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chazzer]

looks like you've done a pretty good hatchet job there mate. In pic 2 it looks like you are sitting next to the boss (big ears). He has always been a real gent and i am sure if you had shared your disappointment with him he would have tried to placate your concerns. I have always been pleased with the catering services from the sportsman ranging from the FREE pie and chips on the thursday night quiz to the  sunday buffets. Good reputations take years to be won yet can be lost so easily. I would hate to think that this establishment would lose the high regards held by so many as a result of the odd off day!

[Edge]

As pies go, Bowman's do make exceedingly good pies and they are also available in Friendship and Roxy bar.

 

Personally, I wouldn't have entertained one with potato etc on the inside instead of the outside, but so far I've sampled the Steak & Ale and the Chicken & Mushroom and they were both good, especially with Branston pickle.

 

Adding lukewarm floppy fries and baked beans to a potato pie wouldn't have worked for me at all.

 

I found your comments about temperature interesting as I went there for their Sunday Carvery, which gets lots of good write ups here and that was my main/only complaint.

The items themselves were all top quality IMO, but despite the heat lamps over the food, by the time I walked back to the table many were lukewarm and near cold.

Everything had been prepared and cooked very well indeed, but then left to cool - plates not being hot didn't help, but that wouldn't solve the problem unless the food was hot in the first place.

Cold cauliflower cheese is about as exciting as a potato pie to me.

[eanto]

This was my 'go to' my first couple of trips as I stayed next door in Sandy Spring. Unfortunately I think the food has deteriorated over the years I've known it and I stopped frequenting the Sportsman about 4 or 5 years ago. What also added to my decision was a knowledge of better value establishments.

[Evil Penevil]

looks like you've done a pretty good hatchet job there mate. In pic 2 it looks like you are sitting next to the boss (big ears). He has always been a real gent and i am sure if you had shared your disappointment with him he would have tried to placate your concerns. 

 

A critical review isn't the same thing as a hatchet job.  I  wrote about my experience with Saturday's daily special. The food I got wasn't good and my review simply reflects that.

 

To keep the record straight, it's not me in the pic. I have no idea who the two men at the bar were.  I pixelated the face of one to preserve his privacy.  

 

If I am a regular customer in a restaurant, I would politely call the manager's attention to any serious faults with the food.  However, I've not found that a particularly effective tactic a when I'm unknown.  It can lead to awkward moments.  Besides, there's nothing the manager could have done to fix that meal short of replacing it entirely with something different.

 

 

Personally, I wouldn't have entertained one with potato etc on the inside instead of the outside,

 

Yes, I made a mistake there.  I should have stuck with more of a mainstream dish.

 

Evil

[glenman]

I'm confused. If you are not a fan of baked beans and chips, why would you order a meal that comes with baked beans and chips??

[SpankTheLing]

I have always found Evil Penevils reviews to be honest and objective. 270 baht for a dodgy looking pie, some beans and some warm chips... I think Evil has been relatively nice with his review.

 

Keep up the good work Evil.

[Evil Penevil]

I'm confused. If you are not a fan of baked beans and chips, why would you order a meal that comes with baked beans and chips??

 

I wanted to try the cheese, onion and potato pie and the fries and beans came along as sides.  If I had had another option that didn't involve fries and beans but included the pie, I would have taken it.

 

Evil

[chazzer]

So the manager was present yet you could not go to the trouble of complaining about your food. Yet you have gone to a lot of trouble to to write a "critical review" of the managers restaurant. This certainly does not bode well for that manager in the future as this piece of writing will hardly put bums on seats. You could have given the establishment an opportunity to right their wrongs before portraying their eatery in a negative light.  

[galt67]

 

The Sportsman is a popular UK-style pub and restaurant on Soi 13 that's been in operation for 20 years.   It therefore pains me a bit to write a negative review of the meal I had at such a venerable establishment. I wish I could be more positive, considering The Sportsman's long history in Pattaya.

 

 

I stepped into The Sportsman on a whim Saturday afternoon. It had been at least five years since I'd last been there and I made a snap decision as I walked past to try it again. I was encouraged by the number of customers I saw on the veranda and inside. At least 10 were eating and another five or so were enjoying a drink, watching sports on the TVs or chatting with friends at the bar. Relative to most of its competitors, that's quite a few customers for 5 pm on a weekend afternoon and it raised my hopes the food might be good. The dining area was well-lit, clean and in excellent shape. I saw no indication of the scruffiness that mars too many bars in Pattaya and took it as another propitious sign.

 

 

Unfortunately, my hopes were soon dashed.  A restaurant's popularity and decor/furnishings aren't always accurate predictors of the quality of its food. I choose the special of the day, which was described as, "Homemade Bowmans pie with cheese, onion and potatoes." Branston baked beans and french fries were the sides. I hadn't had a cheese, onion and potato pie since my childhood and I was eager to renew my acquaintance with this traditional British dish. I wondered if "Bowmans" could refer to a regional variation on the pie or even a special type of cheese, but it turns out that "Bowmans" is the brand name of Sportman's own line of sweet and savory pies. They are available in retail shops as well as in the restaurant.

 

 

I'm not a fan of either baked beans or french fries and toyed for moment with asking if I could substitute a  small side order of salad for them. However, I abandoned that idea as specials don't usually allow substitutions and its often difficult to get waitresses to understand requests.  I decided to go with the daily special in standard form. The wait for my meal was a very acceptable 20 minutes.

 

 

It wasn't an exciting plate of food to look at and got even less exciting once I tasted it. The french fries were lukewarm, soft and soggy, inedible in my book. They were U.S.-style fries that had only gone once, not twice, into the deep fryer, then been left to sit too long.  The result was the antithesis of crispy.

 

 

The pie, the base of the meal, wasn't warm enough for me. I want a cooked meal to be piping hot when placed in front of me.  Worse yet, the pie was flavorless. I could neither see nor taste any indication of cheese, onions  or anything else in the pie. It seemed to be unseasoned mashed potatoes, maybe moistened with milk, in a shortcrust shell and top layer. As I recall, the cheese, onion and potato pies of my childhood had been seasoned with English mustard. The Bowmans pie didn't taste bad; it didn't taste anything. It was the definition of blandness.

 

 

 

It's a disappointing, even depressing, experience when beans from a can are the high point of a restaurant meal.  I began to wonder what had been on the menu that afternoon at UK transport cafes, not to mention HM Prison Strangeways. The parts of the meal that could be messed up in preparation had been.  There's not much that can go wrong with beans from a can. I guess they could be burned during reheating and at least that didn't happen.

 

The special cost 270 baht and a bottle of SML 90 baht. That's not expensive, but it isn't value for money, especially considering how little of it I actually ate.  As I said earlier, it had been five years since I'd eaten at The Sportsman. I may give it another try in 2021.

 

A proviso:  This review centers on the food I got one particular afternoon.  It doesn't change the fact that many find The Sportsman a great place for a pub visit. Also, I may have caught The Sportsman on a bad day. A restaurant can't stay in business for 20 years by consistently serving food as bad as I got Saturday.  However, the inability to serve up a decent savory pie and french fries doesn't inspire confidence that another selection from the menu would be better. 

 

Evil

 

What were your thoughts on the 'service'....?

 

Having been there SEVERAL times over the years, although I was reasonably happy with the food, I thought the staff was 'cold' and indifferent-at best.

[galt67]

looks like you've done a pretty good hatchet job there mate. In pic 2 it looks like you are sitting next to the boss (big ears). He has always been a real gent and i am sure if you had shared your disappointment with him he would have tried to placate your concerns. I have always been pleased with the catering services from the sportsman ranging from the FREE pie and chips on the thursday night quiz to the  sunday buffets. Good reputations take years to be won yet can be lost so easily. I would hate to think that this establishment would lose the high regards held by so many as a result of the odd off day!

 

 

So the manager was present yet you could not go to the trouble of complaining about your food. Yet you have gone to a lot of trouble to to write a "critical review" of the managers restaurant. This certainly does not bode well for that manager in the future as this piece of writing will hardly put bums on seats. You could have given the establishment an opportunity to right their wrongs before portraying their eatery in a negative light.  

There are PLENTY of 'negative' reviews regarding various bars, with NO attempt to speak with the manager, thus the OPs actions are consistent with many others.

[chazzer]

i agree but being as i have been in the sportsman many times i don't have to like it. To put the record straight i don't know even the manager's name but he always appears to be most affable to all of his customers so i am more than happy to stand in his corner!

[eanto]

I'm confused. If you are not a fan of baked beans and chips, why would you order a meal that comes with baked beans and chips??

tbh if you were served tepid baked beans 'n chips I don't think you'd be impressed however much you liked them.

[brewster]

The service is generally very good in the Sportsman and the standard of English is excellent.  I have to say the pie looks grim.  I always stick to my standards in the Sportsman - the gammon steak, salmon and spinach, spaghetti bolognese and the roasts.  They never disappoint!

[tourasia]

So the manager was present yet you could not go to the trouble of complaining about your food. Yet you have gone to a lot of trouble to to write a "critical review" of the managers restaurant. This certainly does not bode well for that manager in the future as this piece of writing will hardly put bums on seats. You could have given the establishment an opportunity to right their wrongs before portraying their eatery in a negative light.

 

Just look at the images! The meal looks crap

[navidnavid]

I had a burger and fries in the Sportsman a couple months ago, and the burger and fries were both lukewarm and not very tasty, disappointed... although I did enjoy the pub atmosphere, service,  and absence of motorbike mufflers!

[chazzer]

Just look at the images! The meal looks crap

looks like pie chips and beans to me!........but i aint no connoisseur of such fare! 

[Skalliwag]

I used to live next door to Dave on Soi Khopai Soi 9.

This was waaaay back when he first started.Before door to door.

Nice bloke,never had an issue with him.

Pie does look dodgey though,and Evil has always been solid as a rock.

Put this one down to a possible bad Special of the day and move forward.

Won't stop me going in for a Cider.

[Edge]

.............................

Pie does look dodgey though,.......................

 

..............................

 

You do realise that this was a Bowman's pie, as per the link I gave you in answer to your Q where the Roxy pies came from?

 

Indeed they are apparently made by your mate Dave.

 

As I said earlier, they are good pies generally but if I have potatoes with a pie, I prefer them as a side, not as the contents.

 

The Beef, Steak & Chicken ones are all good.

[Skalliwag]

You do realise that this was a Bowman's pie, as per the link I gave you in answer to your Q where the Roxy pies came from?

 

Indeed they are apparently made by your mate Dave.

 

As I said earlier, they are good pies generally but if I have potatoes with a pie, I prefer them as a side, not as the contents.

 

The Beef, Steak & Chicken ones are all good.

Potato should be on top of a pie,not in it.I will try the Beef,Steak and Onion next time.I didn't know Dave made his own pies.

I havnt seen Dave in years.

I lived in a little house in a dead end for 7 months and he was right across the street.Next to Klaus,Ze Cherman.Now there's a fucking story next time I see you.Ze Cherman had a brother.....

Another story though,a friend of his moved in next door to him,Dave owned two houses there and he happened to be dating a girl that I was seeing for a while.

My missus says ones day " Hey,isn't that May"?

"Not sure dear,hadn't noticed."Oops.

Anyways,I will head back in to The Sprtsman again.Im sure there is a good explanation for Evils unfortunate incident.

[KittenKong]

A similar pie, chips and beans could probably be had on Soi Buakow for well under 200B and it's hard to justify a price of 270B. But the Sportsman is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination (with the possible exception of their Friday pizza and pasta evening that used to cost 200B but has recently increased to 250B).

Some of their daily specials sound nice and are reasonably priced, but others dont sound good at all and are way overpriced.

 

To sum up, I would not pay for a pie there either though most of their other meals are acceptable even if quite expensive.

[chazzer]

who ate all the pies.......who ate all the pies................... hahahah

[Pheat]

A similar pie, chips and beans could probably be had on Soi Buakow for well under 200B and it's hard to justify a price of 270B. But the Sportsman is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination (with the possible exception of their Friday pizza and pasta evening that used to cost 200B but has recently increased to 250B).

 

Some of their daily specials sound nice and are reasonably priced, but others dont sound good at all and are way overpriced.

 

To sum up, I would not pay for a pie there either though most of their other meals are acceptable even if quite expensive.

Many restaurants buy their pies from the Sportsman and charge a lot less than 270 Baht for pie,chips,beans

Go figure

Sportsman is overcharging

[jimboh]

I had mince & onion pie, C & B there a few weeks ago, pie was crap, heavy doughy bland pastry & tasteless meat.. Everything else about the place was good.

Yesterday, I had Beef pie, C & B at Punch & Judy, really good, light flakey pastry, quality meat

No contest for me, P & J wins hands down.