We'd heard great things about the Angelsea Arms, and to be totally honest by the time we got there I was absolutely starving. It was pretty busy when we arrived, and the bar had a lovely warm feel about it. We hadn't booked, and being a party of eight I actually thought it might be a bit dodgy getting in. As it was though, they pulled two tables of four together and we were in business.
The menu was printed on paper and dated, so much of it obviously changes daily. It's not long by any means, eight starters and five mains along with a few sides and desserts. There's also a specials board, from memory there's about four or five mixed dishes on this as well. It certainly isn't cheap either, (country pork terrine starter £8.95, pork chop main £15.50), and when you consider there's the old "discretionary" service charge of 12.5% on top because we had the temerity to be in a party bigger than six, it certainly starts to rack up fairly quickly.
The guys all went with Harvey's bitter (4%, £3.75 a pint, again not exactly chirpy) and the ladies all went with bottles of wine. The service was efficient enough without being massively over-attentive or smiley, but within about 15 minutes or so we were getting bread and starters. The bread was lovely, and of the starters I tasted all were excellent and I think mine was the best (which doesn't happen often). I had a rare roast beef salad with harseradish cream, and as I say it was flipping lovely. There was probably more horseradish than you need, but the beef was beautiful and there was a fair old whack of it too (£8.75 plus 12.5%). I also tried some of the curried parsnip soup which was good (£5.50 plus 12.5%), and some parma ham and poached pear (£8.95 plus 12.5%).
For a main I went with a grilled chicken breast with lentils off the board. It was a really tasty dish, and once again all the different mains I tasted were very good. The cheapest main was a Lamb neck (£15.25 plus 12.5%), and like I say this was pretty near faultless cooking in every dish. The service by this stage was becoming slightly more functional as the staff were coming under a bit of pressure, but overall the girls who were serving us were efficient without ever being particularly smiley or friendly. A couple of people went with cheeseboards afterwards, one or two had desserts but as I'd eaten the best part of a basket of bread I was pretty full so I swerved it.
It's easy to see why the Alglesea Arms has such a good reputation, the food is outstanding. It's up there and comparable with the very best in London pubs in my view, the fact that it was packed on a Wednesday night while other pubs around it were empty illustrates that. If though they are going to charge at the very top end of the scale as they do, and if they are going to lump a 12.5% service charge in as well, I'd expect and hope for service which is more than just taking an order/dropping a plate off. To do that they need in my opinion to employ one more waitress during the busy periods to give the staff more time. The other alternative of course would be to drop the 12.5 "discretionary" service charge altogether, then let everyone tip on merit of good service.
All in all though I'm glad I went to the Angelsea Arms. It does great food. You should go too, just make sure there's not more than five in your party. If there is, sit on two tables which have an 18 inch gap between them and pretend you don't know each other. That way, you'll be able to decide on your own tip level.
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