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Chat about:
Disappointment of the week with Tris39
on the Pub Forum
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rob Hunter left this review about The Architect
Surprised to find I haven't already reviewed the Architect, as I have visited a handful of times over recent years. This is a fairly upmarket pub with a focus on food and several side rooms are laid out for dining with the bar area being more informal. There is also a private dining room upstairs.
At the bar are eight hand pulls offering several beers that could be considered to be reasonably mainstream, but there was also a Joules beer, possibly one by Neptune (the logo looked familiar) and Mobberley Brewhouse. There also appeared to be a couple of craft keg options, from Magic Rock and Tiny Rebel. In addition there is a fridge full of craft cans and a big chalk board listing them all. A further four hand pulls were spotted on a small section of bar but these had two duplicated from the main bank and two were unclipped. My Mobberley Brewhouse Dark Winter (2019 Edition) set me back £2 for a half and was a pretty good stout.
As has been mentioned, there is a massive beer garden and this is a big draw in the warmer months as I can't think of anywhere else in the city centre with a beer garden on this kind of scale.
On 7th January 2020
- rating: 8
[User has posted 750 recommendations about 598 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Al Bundy left this review about The Architect
A nice modern pub for a change. Smack bang opposite the racecourse so obviously on race days it will be packed with boring horsey bores. That said on other days its not too bad if a bit snobby. Several real ales available and a nice garden area that's very sunny on summer days.
On 28th October 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3487 recommendations about 3390 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Architect
This is still a Bruning & Price pub, and follows their usual format of having a decent selection of ales (there were eight real ales on in here) and tastefully decorated interiors. This was my first experience of Chester pubs, and discovered that all ales here are dispensed through sparklers, so Londoners beware! Inside it's a large affair with plenty of interconnected drinking and dining areas, with quite a lot of tables laid for diners. I didn't get to examine a menu, but I know from experience that Bruning & Price pubs serve good quality food, but are quite expensive.
However, the main attraction of this pub on a sunny day as, somewhat surprisingly, it was on the day I visited is the extensive outside seating areas either on the patio area or the lawn overlooking Chester racecourse.
This is not exactly a traditional boozer, but is most definitely worth stopping off to visit if you're walking the Chester wall.
On 14th September 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Architect
We did call in again. The weather was excellent so we sat outside and ate here. The food is pricey, but very good quality. A hot & cold meat sharing platter and a sharer cheese board came to nearly £29, but there was loads of it.
07/05/2013
Very smart pub, newly converted from a Georgian house (St Martins Villa) set in its own grounds beside Chester racecourse. It's named after Thomas Harrison the architect who designed most of Chester castle, the Grosvenor Bridge and also this building, which was his home. The outdoor area is very appealing and will probably get packed in Summer and will probably be a mess during race days. It's very foody, as you might expect. The room to the right as you enter is effectively a restaurant. To the left is a small seating area for drinkers and then down a couple of steps to another area that was full of diners. The decor is formulaic Brunning & Price, but all very nicely done. There were 4 cask beers available on our visit at extortionate prices even for Chester. Having said that, both the pints I had were in good condition, although I can't for the life of me remember what I had. The other half liked it, which is why we had two. That and the fact that our table at Upstairs At The Grill just up the road on Watergate Street wasn't booked for a further 30 minutes. (where they're also good at extortionate prices). It's a decent pub and will no doubt rake it in. We'll almost certainly call in again next time we're in Chester in about a month.
On 8th August 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3223 recommendations about 3134 pubs]