"Nice venue, good atmosphere, but just lacking a little something. The menu was decently sized, but lacked any sort of lighter-health conscious choice(s). Dogs weren’t allowed in the main dining room area which was nice, but you can still eat with them in the more...causal area. It’s an order at the bar situation(at least at lunchtime), which is fine, but my least preferred. Everyone was nice, personable and relatively efficient. There was a pretty big delay on plate clearing. Which I think is kinda standard on order at the bar gigs, as the staff just aren’t around as much. I got the crispy duck ciabatta which had some really good elements. The duck wasn’t exactly crispy, just sorta cooked. The sauce was brill as was the bread melted cheese. The bread had that crisp exterior but soft warm, cheese glued ooey-gooey middle that was just, actually, sublime. You could have removed the duck and it would probably have been an improvement, none of the ‘is that a piece of fat, or just chewy duck’ bites. Just bready, cheesy -and that little bit of sauce sweetness- goodness. The salad it came with however, a very poor attempt. Lettuce, tomato onion. And not even shredded lettuce just a cracking great big wedge of it shoved in a bowl.. very unappetising. Hey ho. Same jig with the coleslaw. It had to come out of a big ol’ bought in pack. Let’s put it like this, if I bought it from a shop, I wouldn’t repurchase it, ever. After dining here I’m not sure I’ve found out what the ‘twist’ on the traditional country pub is. Nevertheless, good for what it is, could be better but could be lots worse. A solid 4/5. Would return, but I’m not rushing out the door, ya’know?"
