"Charming but expensive and a bit disorganised"

A review of Britons Arms by Tim Anderson written on Saturday 21st of August 2010

We had a midweek lunch at the Britons Arms - interesting experience, this is an individualistic place full of character. The building is charming, as is the surrounding area. It is ancient with interesting beams, odd angles, and the occasional reinforcing metal pillar. There is an upstairs garden, as it is built on a steep hill, and on a sunny day it is a delightful place to have coffee or a light meal.

What can go wrong? Well, we were found a table upstairs, ordering our food first as is required. The upstairs room (not garden) is tiny with just two tables. That's OK, but less attractive is that there is food stored in the room in plastic bags, as well as other stuff in a cupboard; one person at the next table was regularly asked to get up for a moment so staff could access it. Generally I'd say it was less tidy than I would expect, which detracted a little from the charm.

The food seems to be all prepared on the premises and is generally very good, but priced accordinging. I had delicious cold gammon with salad and butter beans - note that most dishes are cold so if you don't like cold meat and salad this might not be the place to eat.

There were a few niggles though. They forgot the pickle on my plate of gammon; they forgot to bring cutlery with one of the deserts. No problem, these things happen.

The deserts though - we had cakes at the breathtaking price of £4.50 per portion, for which I expect pretty much perfection. My cake was certainly nice, until my teeth crunched on a large lump of eggshell. Well, it shows it was baked by hand; but when I mentioned this on paying I was expecting an apology if not a partial refund. I got neither, just a grunt really.

Having said which, they are a bit disorganised and nearly did not charge me for any of the cakes, until I mentioned it.

Charming, yes, eccentric, yes, fresh food, yes, expensive, yes, lovely place spoilt by little things that are not quite right..

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