The Chester Arms, Newport Pagnell

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Blackthorn _ left this review about The Chester Arms

Although this looks like a traditional pub from the outside with a few picnic benches in the front garden, in reality it is much more of a restaurant these days both in form and function. It's obviously been refurbished at some point (except for the loos) with the owners clearly going very firmly down the gastro route.

It’s divided in to three rooms, a main bar at the front with a smaller room off to one side and a small cellar bar at the rear. The main bar has the distinct feel of a casual bistro type restaurant, although it was difficult to pin down exactly why. It still had a good sized bar counter and a couple of wooden beams on the ceiling, but other than that there was no sign of any pub like features. The walls were all just plain white, with wood panelling on the lower part and plasterwork above whilst there was a red patterned carpet on the floor. There was an old tiled fireplace off to one side and a few watercolours on the walls of wildlife, and most of these were for sale at around the £150 mark. Seating consisted of a mixture of black and red upright leather chairs and all the tables were laid up for food.

The small room off to the left had tables that admittedly weren’t laid up, but there were only a couple of tables in here and it still had little in the way of atmosphere. The cellar bar that was down a couple of steps at the rear looked as though it may have been more promising with a tiled floor and whitewashed stone walls, but that was in darkness and apparently was available to hire for private dining functions.

The menu was very much restaurant like in both the choice of dishes and the prices, with most of the mains being around the £15 - £20 mark, although that said a subset of dishes were available as part of a “2 courses for £14.95” or “3 courses for £17.50” menu which was considerably better value. Steaks featured prominently, as well as a few fish dishes which were apparently fresh off a boat from Cornwall. My Smoked Haddock Risotto with chargrilled Asparagus and a poached egg was a pleasant enough dish, although I’ve had tastier and it wasn’t a particular generous portion, especially as far as the fish went. If I’d been paying the regular price of £16.50 instead of having it as part of a meal deal, I would have felt very hard done by. As it was, combined with a very nice Chocolate and Bailey’s Bread and Butter Pudding, I suppose it was reasonable value for the quality of the food served.

Beers selection was very disappointing with just Greene King IPA on tap. Even worse, there was no draught cider at all. This is a tricky one to mark. As a pub it fails to deliver on most fronts, and this is after all a pub review website, and hence my low mark. If you’re after a decent meal though, it may be worth giving it a go.

On 21^st May 2013 - rating: 4
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