This place was recommended to us as a nice pub with good food. Sadly, only the former was true. As…read morea pub, it's perfect. Very olde worlde, plenty of beams and fireplaces, absolutely wonderful visually. Outdoors is a lovely beer garden with plenty of seating and views of the countryside. Beer selection wasn't brilliant, but good enough.
But the food First, let me say that while I was warned it wasn't the cheapest place to eat, I was not expecting to see the £14.95 price tag on their fish & chips, which, needless to say, I passed on. Instead, I chose a pastrami sandwich with melted cheese and chips for £7.95. I could not have been more disappointed. I was expecting a hot sandwich, cheese all melty and stringy, meat warm and juicy. HA! What I got was coagulated cheese on top of fat-riddled pastrami, on a less-than-average-quality french stick. Yuck.
My children had the fish & chips, which they didn't touch (not a comment on the food, they're fickle as anything these days), so I helped myself, since I wasn't eating my own meal. Oh. My!!! Credit where credit is due, it was the best fish & chips I think I've ever had. Really lovely. Worth £14.95 for the adult portion? Hmm Is fish & chips EVER worth £14.95? No, not in my book. My husband had the steak & kidney pie, which he said he would've been perfectly happy with at an average pub at average prices, but it certainly wasn't worth the £10 we paid. My dad had the sausage & mash, which he was happy enough with, but again, felt it was overpriced.
Which is too bad. This place certainly has the location, decor and atmosphere to be brilliant, too bad about the prices and food. If you're going to be average, fine (well, not really, but), be average, and charge average prices. Do not gouge folks, or you'll quickly find that no one is picking up your menues and only ordering beers.