The Chamberlayne Pub & Steak House

There are a lot of good things about the Chamberlayne, and the best things are the steaks. Good cuts, properly hung, beautifully cooked and served, And excellent value. Other good things are the handsome dining room, the laid back atmosphere and the fact that you can eat in the pub area too, nice wine list. Although there are not very many nice UK draught beers - it's more of a wheat beer and poseurs' lager joint.

But... there are a couple of things that niggle, and I'm on the edge of deciding whether the good still outweighs the bad. First, the service - I've had the same waitress 4 or 5 times, and each time she's been cool/cold and quite scarily bossy. And she pours the wine every five seconds, something that drives me nuts - no amount of begging can get her to stop. Also, last time we were there, we asked them to call a cab - and we had to ask three times, only to find, once we got in, that he had been waiting for us for 15 minutes! It wasn't busy and all it just seemed a bit offhand.

Second - the portions can be mean. Not the steaks, they're dreamy as mentioned, but a grilled quid starter for £7.50, that consisted of three microscopic slices of squid and a bunch of leaves was frankly a joke. Have they seen how cheap squid is in the supermarket? It was very tasty, but even so...

So - I'd recommend for steak lovers (especially if they like dauphinoise potatoes with their hunks of meat) - but with some reservations.
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RS
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, August 19, 2008