The Ship Inn – Custom House Quay Weymouth

The Ship Inn – Custom House Quay Weymouth

We had been looking for somewhere to eat whilst staying in Weymouth as part of our dog friendly two week adventure around the country. We happened upon the Ship mentioned on another dog friendly website and enquired with them if they were infact dog friendly; they informed us they were but advised we book a table if we wished a dog to join them for dinner. It was several months before we were actually due to be in the area but a quick message via facebook to them the evening before our visit secured us a booking for 7pm for 2 people and 1 greyhound (The message was infact sent via the greyhounds own facebook page and so the table was reserved in the name of “Cat the Greyhound”. 

We parked up in the local pay and display (Free after 6pm so no need to either pay or display!) and walked up the road to “The Ship”; upon arrival we were greeted by one of the staff who instantly recognised his guest as “Cat the Greyhound” (I dont suppose he gets a lot of table reservations for a dog) and we were shown to our table – complete with reserved sign and a bowl of water ready and waiting for their guest!

Drinks and menu's were provided for the human guests and orders placed at the table. We ordered the mezze board, the ham hock terrine, hand crumbed mushrooms and a side of skin on fries (2 starters, a sharing board and a side order!) We didn't have to wait too long for the food to be ready and as requested it was all served together. The mezze board consisted of 3 falafel bites, a pitta bread, 2 slices of garlic flat bread, 2 faccacia bread sticks, a salsa, a houmous, a tzatziki and some olives in olive oil and as the name suggests it was served on a board (A board that kinda looked like a piece of driftwood!). The “Hand crumbed mushrooms” were amazing; slices of mushroom in a breadcrumb served with a garlic dip. Really nice, so much better than any “Garlic mushroom” starter we have ever eaten before. The ham hock terrine was very nice too, served in a jar with some foccacia bread sticks on the side. There wasn't a crumb left at the end. Very nice meal, would definitely recommend to any one in the area and especially to fellow hounds and their humans as we were made very welcome by all the staff and the other customers. And we will 100% be paying the ship another visit next time we are in the area.

The Ship is right next to the water so lovely views over the harbour of the boats coming and going, a short walk from the main town and beach (Beach has a dog friendly section all year round nearest end to the fair and sea life tower!) so a greyt place for a visit for lunch or dinner whilst enjoying a day out in the area. Parking is near by but all pay and display (except after 6pm when the car parks are free!) The Ship also supports charity by doing fundraising and has collection boxes dotted around so that gets them an extra point in our books.

We cant say anything negative about the Ship following our visit so dont let any negative reviews you have seen put you off of a visit, get down and see for yourselves. We did and are very happy we visited. 5 out of 5.

Second visit - more greyt food! 

We first visited the ship in September as part of a 2 week tour reviewing dog friendly places for out blog (and a nice holiday too!), We had a lovely visit and so decided to visit again whilst we were near by for a few days. We popped in one lunch time and requested to book a table for the following evening, this was no problem and we were even able to request a specific table (We sat in same seat as last time!) Again a very nice visit, friendly and helpful staff and a lovely meal, We had handcrumbed mushrooms, sweet potato burger and mini pie and mash. Very tasty food and a decent price. There was less mushrooms this time than the first visit (Not a complaint just an observation, and I really like them so would eat a whole bowl of these!). The burger was served with fries and salad - all so tasty I would highly recomend the sweet potato burger to any one but especially if you are looking for a nice vegetarian burger, it was a bit soft and moist as it appears to be freshly made but I just did the civilised thing and used my knife and fork to eat it and it was no problem. I noticed a few people commenting on the way they serve their meals, they come on a wooden board/platter and chips come in a tin can (Like an empty bean tin). It is a little quirky but I dont see how thats a bad thing and it doesnt effect the quality of the meal so I say let them be different. The mini pie and mash was 2 smaller versions of their "normal" pies. There was steak and tanglefoot ale and chicken and ham hock and they came with two piles of mash, a gravy and a cheese sauce; plus vegetables. My brother assures me these were very nice pies, with a good amount of filling and crispy pastry. So after this we decided we should try a pudding so settled for a salted caramel sundae and a mini mulled winter fruit crumble (My brother obviously in a miniture mood!) So the sundae was layers of toffee and vanilla ice cream, salted pretzul and salted popcorn and toffee sauce. As the ship themselves say "It shouldn't work but it does!" it was a nice dessert , definitely different and even my greyhound went a little obsessive over the pretzul and ice cream combo (she told her blog followers she was hoping for some meat pie and ice cream so she got her wish!) Once we had all cleared our plates (boards, bean tins etc) we paid the bill and headed for a quick walk on the beach to finish up the evening.
The next day we decided to stop back in the ship for lunch as we wanted to inspect their subs. We had to sit in a different seat this time (I know how shocking!) but we soon settled down and ordered the Philli cheese steak sub and the houmous and falafel sub, Both come served with skin on fries (In a bean tin ofcourse!) and a side salad. I absolutely loved the falafel and houmous sub, I'd go as far as to say it was better than the chain store that sales sub sandwiches as it's speciality (No free advertising here!) again every tiny morsal was eaten up and enjoyed. The only complaint I have from either visit was the fact there was too much ice in my cola on the lunch visit and it made drinking it pretty impossible unless I wanted numb lips and a brain freeze. Never mind. I will let them off for serving absolutely delicious food and being nice to boot. No one even minded that my dog isn't a tiny squeeze under the table dog and likes to stretch out on her blanket and spill her bowl of water everywhere when drinking (well they did give her the water!) . Dont go changing now The Ship, We'll be back next year I am sure!