The Trusty Servant, Minstead

Visited the pub for lunch during a bike ride from Burley. The pub was busy with a great atmosphere. We sat in the garden which was very pleasant and we had a salt beef sandwich and a ham sandwich. Both were excellent, great filling and very high quality home made bread. The choice of cask ales was wide and interesting. I had a couple of pints of different beers both of which were served in branded glasses. All in all the food, ale and service was of the highest order. So much so we decided to return to the pub on the following evening, the last of our holiday.
Upon return we sat inside. Once again a great atmosphere, very warm interior, well decorated, very subtle colours with lots of hurricane lamps and candles. The graden was lit extremely attractively. An all round lovely ambience.
The menu was fantastic just large enough to give you a good choice and to have confidence that everything was fresh. Clearly nothing was going to be frozen here. The starters were sublime and the main courses were nothing short of staggering value for money. My partner had a dessert which again she declared to be lovely and the coffee was of high quality. The service throughout was first class, as good as I have ever received. We had two different glasses of wine and two different cask ales. The beers were once again clear and bright, came in branded glassware and served at perfect temperature. The bill was under �60. Unbelievable value given the quality of the food, drink and service. I'm not sure where any of the negative comments on the site have come from. If we had a pub like this in striking distance of our home, we'd take up residence.
Food, drink and service of this quality at this price is very difficult to find. I can not recommend the place highly enough. If you have the chance to visit it on holiday, do so, take the time out to find it. If you live locally, you should rejoice and support the pub.
Quite brilliant.

23 Aug 2009 16:53