Such a shame, everything about this place says it should be an excellent gastropub. The place is lovely and upstairs restaurant is very cosy and makes you feel like you’d want to stay for hours. The beer list is stunning (both lagers and ales), the white list is exactly what you want, good choice and good value. Then comes the food. Oh dear, such a shame. You read the menu and you are aching to try the food, as everything sounds fantastic. Really good hearty British dishes. But having been twice in the past few months (the second time was because we hoped the first would be a blip and we wanted it to be good) I feel that the kitchen just isn’t capable of producing the quality of food that the place deserves. The most recent time we went, we were with a group of mates and all of us were left a little disappointed by what we had eaten. I had the pork belly with mash. The pork belly was ok, though I suggest the meat wasn’t top quality as it was lacking flavour. The mash was poor at best, lumpy, watery and under seasoned to the point where it was tasteless. My girlfriend had the breaded lamb breast. It was revolting. It had been fried to crisp up the breadcrumbs but this just left it very greasy. Having complained to the waiter, he immediately took it away and allowed her to chose something else. His comment was, sorry it’s not a great dish.
Having given this place a second chance, I will definitely be back to drink their beers but never to eat again. Quite how square meal gave this a star is beyond me, usually they are spot on and I’ve not been let down before. Perhaps they were fooled by the potential this place has? Such a shame.