Regular Food for Regular People

Want a little treat without paying over the odds? Mini blogs about regular places to eat in the Northwest.

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These meals are from Mardi Gras Wetherspoons at the Trafford Centre Manchester.

It’s from the new menu.  They are New York Style Pastrami Bagels.  They are served with a slice of gherkin and mustard mayo.  (The chips cost an extra £1.50 as a side dish.)

To get straight to the point, they were awful.  Worst meal I’ve had at Wetherspoons.  The pastrami was too tough to eat, I couldn’t bite into the meat properly.  I know it’s supposed to be tender, but it was ridiculous.

There was too much mustard mayo on the bagel, so it fell apart when eating because the bread became too soggy to handle.

I would never order this particular meal from a Wetherspoons again as it was difficult to eat and what I did eat didn’t taste very nice.

The chips were good as always.  

Myself and my husband had a mulled cider and 2 glasses of lemonade and a pastrami bagel each.  It cost approximately £23 all together.

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These meals were purchased at the Marks & Spencers cafe in the Widnes store.

This meal and experience was very poor.  The tables that were free to sit at were all dirty either with left over plates or food that hadn’t been cleared yet.  It wasn’t like it was busy, so no reason the staff couldn’t have cleaned up.

There isn’t much room between tables so if you have a wheelchair or a pram it is difficult to navigate the cafe.

I ordered the fish and chips and my husband ordered the chicken leek pie.  

I wish I had flipped the fish over for the photograph because it was totally burnt on the other side.  The chips were cold and as you can see from the picture the peas were like soup.  Completely liquified.

The mash was lumpy and there wasn’t much chicken in the pie.

We were very disappointed with this meal as we’ve had the frozen pies and fish from Marks & Spencers before to cook at home and it has been lovely.

It cost £18 for the 2 meals, a bottle of water and a bottle of elderflower water.

I wouldn’t eat at this particular M&S Cafe again because the food and service were both poor.

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This was my second visit to Harefield and the experience was just as good as the first time.

I had a chicken, bacon & mayo sandwich which is served with hand cooked crisps, coleslaw and a side salad.  The bread is really thick and it's thick pieces of chicken with huge chucks of bacon on the sandwich.  There are quite a few options of which bread you can have too.

Something that I was amazed by.  I ordered a bottle of water.  Something simple you would think, but it's surprising how often restaurants don't serve it right.  The bottle was served chilled and sealed, the glass was served frosted which I loved.  I hate ice in my drinks, but the frosted glass was awesome, such a good idea to keep a drink cool!

The staff were very attentive and friendly, the food was served within 5 minutes even though it was quite busy.  

I would say it's worth the wait for a table because the Harefield is so popular you may not be seated straight away.  

For the sandwich, bottle of water and a coffee it was £10.  

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The surroundings and decor of the The Walton Arms Inn is lovely, it has such a welcoming atmosphere, but the food left a lot to be desired. Me and my husband each ordered the 7oz burgers served with triple cooked chips. Now the chips were strange, some of mine were lumpy and some were very greasy. Seemed they weren't cooked evenly. The burger was no different to something you could cook yourself from Asda. It was served with a square piece of cheese, lettuce that was more stalk than lettuce and tomato. The burger was very greasy and the buns were burnt. I asked for no ice in my glass, it was served with ice, our waitress took a very long time to clear our plates and then asked twice if we needed dessert menus when we requested the bill after saying we didn't want dessert. Next time I'm in the area I wouldn't go back to the Walton Arms. So disappointed with our night. I would go into Stockton Heath up the road, where there are many restaurants to choose from. We paid £27 for the 2 burgers, a bottle of water and a pint of stella.

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These burgers are from The Crown Pub in Widnes on Birchfield Road.

I ordered the Crown’s Classic Mozzarella and Bacon Beef Burger, which is the top picture and my husband had the Cajun Chicken Burger.

They were both served with Homemade Battered Onion Rings, Homemade Chips, Salad Garnish & were made fresh on the premises. 

The pictures don’t do the burgers justice.  They were too big to bite into and difficult to cut in half because of the thickness!  The little bowls of chips don’t look much, but as they were home made, each chip was quite thick and very filling.

For 2 bottles of Birra Moretti and the 2 meals the bill came to £30.  I think the pints were a bit over priced but the food at £10.95 each was well worth it.

It’s also good to point out The Crown has won Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor 2 years running.

There is a small beer garden to the rear of the pub with tables and a small patch of grass to enjoy the sun.

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Tonight we dined at The Village Hotel in The Verve Grill.

I had the same as my husband, the 7oz beef burger with fries and a side of relish.  The burger was serve with a portion of bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce and red onions.

The fries came in a little metal tub and were surprisingly quite filling considering they were skinny fries.  Served red hot as well!

The burger was the size of my head and very juicy!  It was thick and grilled to perfection.

For dessert I had the Sticky Toffee Pudding with a caramel sauce and pecan nuts, with a side of vanilla ice cream.  It was very very sweet, so a small portion was defiantly enough because of the sugar content!

My husband had the Chocolate Moose with honeycomb sprinkles and cream.  The moose wasn’t as sweet as the sticky toffee pudding so I believe that’s why it came in a bigger portion.

The mains were approximately £15 each and desserts £3.95 each.  Drinks were very expensive, but it is a hotel.  A pint of stella was £4.10.

I would visit The Verve Grill again as the food and staff were spot on.

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This Italian meal is from ASK Italian in Warrington town centre.

I ordered the Rigatoni Al Manzo Piccante.  It’s Rigatoni pasta with beef meat balls, beef and pork ragu, fresh chillies, roasted red peppers, and caramelised onions; topped with mozzarella and Grana Padano cheeses.

The food was served within 20 minutes as it’s cooked fresh.  It was really hot, but not too spicy.  There were plenty of meatballs and the sauce was nice and thick,  I would definitely order this dish again.  It came with a side salad as well.

My husband ordered the Stromboli pizza.  It’s basically a stone baked pepperoni pizza.  Chillies can be added on request to make it spicy.

The pizza was delicious, I prefer pasta but I may try a different flavour pizza next time we visit.

We had 2 sprites and the bill was approximately £26.  The restaurant does accept taste cards and you don’t have to pre book to use them.

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This food was purchased at Desii Indian Cusine in Widnes.  It was split between 4 adults for an evening meal.

The curries are as follows:  Chicked Jalfrezi, Chicken Madras and Chicken Tikka Bhuna.  The nann bread is Keema (filled with mince meat) and there are two portions of special rice and a pilau rice.  We also had 8 plain poppadoms with a selection of dips.

My curry was the chicken jalfrezi.  The green peppers in the curry along with the onions and chillis made a really thick sauce which was very spicy, but not too overbearing.  I had the pilau rice which I split with my husband because the portion was so big.

The Madras was very, very spicy (which they are meant to be), the chicken was cooked very well and was served very hot.  The sauce again was quite thick and was complimented with the coriander garnish.

I didn’t try the special rice, but the pilau was very nice.  The poppadoms were cooked very well, very crunchy, a good size and weren’t too oily.  I’ve had them before when they’ve been cooked and served in too much grease.

With 2 lemonades and 4 pints of Cobra the bill for 4 adults was £65.  I thought this was amazing considering the amount of food we had, the portions and the quality.

Desii also do take out and there is a menu on their website.  Being an Indian restaurant they don’t have much beer on draft besides Cobra, I believe they serve a few different bottled beers and Guinness.

The restaurant itself is lovely and has a very pleasant atmosphere.

I would recommend this restaurant for everyone really, families, friends, couples.  You would have to book a table from 8pm onwards as it gets very busy.

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This meal was purchased at lunch time in The Smuggler’s Cove at The Albert Dock in Liverpool.

I had the beef burger with cheese and a pickle well done and my husband had the chicken burger.  Both burgers are served with fries.

For those of you who haven’t been to Smuggler’s Cove before, it’s a pirate themed restaurant.  That’s not as cheesy as it sounds!  The food is basically pub grub served in a pirate style way.  Our food was served on a plate shaped like a barrel.  The drinks are very much based around rum,  There is an extensive cocktail list that include rum as an ingredient, as well as other standard cocktails such as Bellinis.  

Anyway back to the food.  My burger was thick and juicy.  The bun was toasted just right, it was still warm when served and not too crunchy.  The fries were really tasty although I thought the portion was on the small side.  I thought the meal could have been served with an extra garnish such as a side salad or a pot of coleslaw. 

My husbands chicken burger seemed to be made of really cheap chicken, even the batter it was in didn’t really look appealing.  You would get a better chicken burger at Wetherspoons,

I had a glass of lemonade which was £4 and my husband had a pint of Samuel Adams which was £4.50.  The entire bill was £32.

For what is was I thought it was very over priced.  Although tasty, like I said before you can get the same quality food in a Wetherspoons.  If you like your burgers I would recommend going a little bit further into the Docks and visit What’s Cooking.

If you fill in a survey after your meal you get a bottle of wine for your next visit.  I’m sure that offer will be subject to change.

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This meal was purchased at The Grill On The Square in Warrington.

I ate the Fish & Chips which was Haddock.  My husband had the Wagyu cheese burger with fries.

When we entered the restaurant we were told there was a wait on the food because they were so busy, however we were seated straight away even though we hadn’t booked and the food was just over half an hour, which I would expect for freshly prepared food.  Our waitress gave us a small bowl of Mushroom and Tarragon soup as an apology for the delay on the food.  I hate mushroom so didn’t eat it, my husband said it was an acquired taste, so not sure about the soup!  I thought this was a nice touch by the restaurant, even though I was happy with the wait time.

The food was incredible.  You can’t really see in the photo, underneath the fish there are homemade chunky chips and a lot of them!  The peas were served in a cute sea shell on top of a piece of newspaper.  The portion of tartar sauce looks small, but it was quite rich, so a little bit with each fork full of food was more than enough for the meal.  Also served with a piece of lemon.

I have to say as tasty as the fish & chips were, my husband won this round of food!  The wagyu burger was perfection.  It was cooked so well.  The burger was served with cheese, rocket lettuce and mayonnaise and two slices of tomato.  The skinny cut fries were amazing, so good and not at all greasy which I find with a lot of skinny fries.  The meal was also served with a small jar of tomato sauce and a portion of coleslaw.

The only thing I would criticize about the food is that the mushy peas were more like liquidized peas, they were very runny although tasty!  I was dipping my chips into them like a sauce rather than eating them by the fork full.

We had a pint of bitter which was £3.95 and a glass of lemonade which was £3.70.  The soft drinks were majorly overpriced!  Saying that the entire meal was £27.  For the portion and quality of the food I can forgive the expensive drinks. 

I would recommend booking in advance for this restaurant especially around Christmas time.  I think we were really lucky to walk in and get a table today.

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This meal was purchased at The Friar Penketh, a pub in the chain of Wetherspoons.  I had the Doom Ale Pie and my husband had the Chicken & Ribs combo.

The Doom Ale Pie was supposed to be served with peas, but I guess as it’s Christmas seasonal veg was served instead!  The carrots were cooked very nicely, I don’t like sprouts so can’t comment on them!

The chips were soft and piping hot and a good portion of them was served.  The pie was delicious.  The meat was very chunky and with the extra gravy served on top it was perfect to dip the chips in!  I would definitely recommend this meal if you are visiting a Wetherspoons.

The chicken with the chicken & ribs combo was a little dry.  The ribs were amazing though, fell right off the bone.  Again a good size portion of chips and if you’ve never had the coleslaw from Wetherspoons before order a portion!  It’s so good!

With a Vodka Tonic, a can of Craft Beer and a J20 the whole meal was £19.95.

I would eat at The Friar Penketh again as the staff are lovely, the food is delicious and always served piping hot and the prices are very reasonable.

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Today we dined at The Village Restaurant & Coffee Bar at Blakemere Village in Northwich.  

I had the fish and chips which was served with mushy peas and a pot of tartar sauce.  There were plenty of chips hiding under the fish!

My husband had the regular cheese burger which was served with chips and an unusual side salad of chopped cucumber and chopped red onions.  As you can see from the photo the bun was served burnt, it wasn’t ruined so we didn’t send it back.

The chips were home cooked and very tasty, however there were many that had eyes in them, so you had to sort through the bad chips to get to the edible ones.  The fish was cooked perfectly, it was lovely and served hot.  I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of mushy peas as usually you only get a small pot of them.  

Personally I didn’t try the cheese burger, but my husband said it was alright for what we paid.

It was £20 for the two meals and two lemonades.  If I returned to this restaurant again I would like to try the carvery which was priced at £9.95 and adult.  I believe the child price was £6.95.

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This food is from The Ferry Boat, ie Wetherspoons Runcorn Old Town.

I had the Sunday lunch with roast beef and my husband had the chicken burger with fries and onion rings.  

Unlike the Liverpool Sunday Roast this one was served with a full gravy boat and broccoli instead of sprouts.  It also had a side serving of Horse Radish.

The meal was lovely and the portion was plentiful.  It was served hot and cooked very well.  The roast potatoes were very crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.  The meat was very soft and the yorkshire pudding was fluffy and light.

The second meal was also served very hot.  There were plenty of chips and the chicken was a large portion.   It wasn’t greasy at all which sometimes you get with burgers.

Would give this meal 8/10.  It was great value for money and tasted lovely.

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The Bierkeller in Liverpool 1.  I had the pasta dish.  So I have to say it did look really appetising when it was served.  It didn’t taste great.  The pasta was very bland and served in a runny sauce which had pooled at the bottom of the dish.  The chicken was red hot while the pasta was stone cold.  So all I can think is the staff made my pasta and thought, shit we forgot the chicken!  Nuked it in the microwave and threw the chicken into the dish.  The chorizo sausage was nice, however the garlic bread was greasy and burnt on the bottom.  I was so hungry I did eat half the dish, but couldn’t finish as it didn’t taste nice.

My husband had the american style hotdog with fries.  His meal was hot and tasted a lot better than mine!

We had a glass of lemonade and a pint of cider.  It came to £28.  They do accept taste cards so if you have one don’t forget to present it!

Although my meal wasn’t great I would try something else on the menu as the venue was lovely with plenty of tables and the staff were very pleasant. 

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We went to The Richard John Blacker, ie Wetherspoons near Lime Street today for dinner.  I had the roast beef Sunday lunch and my husband had the chicken & rib combo.

  The Sunday lunch was very tasty.  The little cocktail sausages tasted a little spicy had a kick to them, very nice.  The beef was very soft and the veg/potatoes were cooked to perfection.  The only thing I’d criticise is the gravy.  The gravy boat was only half full and there was a skin on the top of it.  Good tasting gravy, but I think it had been left out a while while my meal was prepared.  8/10 for the Sunday lunch.  Plus it was only £8.49 including a drink.

  I’m afraid I didn’t try any of the chicken and rib combo, my husband gives it a 7/10.  Alright, not brilliant!

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We were visiting Shrewsbury and stopped to look at the Iron Bridge. We called into Ye Olde Robin Hood for lunch. My partner had the Steak & Ale pie and I had the Battered Cod. Both were served with chips and peas (although jacket potato was an alternative.) The portions were huge and I have to say the steak pie was especially delicious! It cost £24 for 2 main meals and 2 bottles of cider. The pub itself has lovely decor to give that old feel. I noticed behind the bar there are CCTV monitors everywhere so at least there's security on the car park. Wouldn't hesitate to call into the Ye Olde Robin Hood again. The views of the gorge from the pub are beautiful. The only thing that let the meal down was as lovely and home made as it was, the sauces were the little cheap no name packets which although taste ok, the meal would have been better with a proper bottle of mayonnaise.

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London Bridge Stockton Heath

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Dined at the London Bridge Pub in Stockton Heath tonight.  I had the 100% beef burger with cheese.  It was served with skinny fries and home made coleslaw.  The burger had lettuce and red onions on a toasted bun.

  The home made coleslaw was very well done.  I don’t usually like skinny fries as they’re very greasy, however the fries served in a tin bucket were cooked to perfection.  The burger was cooked well done and was served piping hot.

My partner had the same as me, but the chicken instead of beef burger.

The meal was £23 including a bottle of water and a pint of Guinness.

I would dine again at the London bridge as the menu was quite extensive and I’d like to try a different meal there.