REVIEW: The Bolton Arms (From Basingstoke Gazette)

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REVIEW: The Bolton Arms

1:10am Monday 30th January 2012 in Taste and Tell By Emily Roberts

The Bolton Arms

The Street, Old Basing, RG24 7DA

01256 819555

thebolton.com

WALKING into the restaurant at the Bolton Arms is like stepping into someone’s living room, with a large fire place and pictures on the walls.

As one of just three couples in the dining area, the atmosphere was somewhat subdued, but my partner and I agreed the gentle background music was preferable to hearing the noisier bar area, whilst enjoying a meal.

Being presented with three different menus was unusual, and a bit confusing.

One entitled ‘snacks, specials and nibbles’ contained a variety of options, including baguettes and jacket potatoes, which would be more appropriate on a lunch-time menu, as well as typical pub grub such as pies, lasagne and burgers.

The second menu, labelled ‘A La Carte’ contained a selection of more expensive courses, whilst the third appeared to be a variation of the ‘A La Carte’ menu, with a few differences.

Browsing all three took some time, but we eventually chose a sharing seafood starter from the snacks menu, which included prawns, fish goujons, scampi and salmon mousse.

I had not even cut my bread roll in half when our starter arrived, so I abandoned it in favour of the well-presented platter.

For less than £10 there was plenty of food, and it was all very tasty, particularly the salmon mousse, which spread on brown bread, was delicious.

For my main course, I chose roast breast of guinea fowl with roasted new potatoes and pea and silverskin onion sauce, accompanied by a selection of vegetables, whilst my partner opted for lamb shank.

They both looked appetising, and were tasty, simple and well cooked.

But unfortunately for this pub, being just a few minutes away from The Crown, you can’t help but compare the two, and the food doesn’t match up. For £16.70, my main course just didn’t have the same ‘wow’ factor.

However, the waitress who served us did, and was polite, friendly and solely responsible for making our evening enjoyable.

For dessert we shared chocolate bread and butter pudding with custard, which unfortunately lacked flavour and was overpowered by the dark chocolate.

The top wasn’t crispy, and judging by the short time it took to arrive, I’m guessing it wasn’t heated in the oven. But for £5.50, the price was reasonable and the portion size perfect, following a large meal.

For fancy-free, unpretentious food and generous portions, this pub is worth a visit, but it could consider lowering the prices and simplifying the menu.

Comments(22)

Oldbasingpunter says...
7:30pm Thu 2 Feb 12

I think robertspet8 has been uncovered ! Is "Robert's Pet" Emily Roberts ?!

I agree with Biriani (see Gamekeepers & The Hatch reviews)- there is something afoot

Not being satisfied with only referring to the Crown in the website blog, she has now brought the pub into the actual Review. How can the Gazette allow this to go unchecked - and why does the report in the paper differ to the one above ?

With the current Tripadvisor court case, I would be very careful indeed of loading weighted or biased information onto a public site, which is obviously open to abuse