Lunch at the newly Refurbished Walton Arms, Walton, Warrington I have fond memories of the Walton Arms Pub - my first job was there in the originally named "pop shop" which used to sell bottles of pop to kids whilst there parents were enjoying themselves ? I was around 13/14 so a very long time ago. Although the pub is about a 15 minutes walk from my house at the most it's not somewhere i visit, mainly because it had a carvery in the restaurant and a scrum for food is not my idea of a meal out. So you can imagine my curiosity was raised when I was emailed and told that the pub had been refurbished by Vintage Inns and was reopening on the 3rd December and would I like to attend their "taster/training " day which is basically the first chance the staff get to try out the new menu etc on the General Public . We were asked to be tolerant to the staff as they were learning but to be honest with the feedback . I was delighted to accept and took my dad and his wife along too ! The pub is located at in a nice setting and is a lovely old building - the first impressions are good. We were greeted warmly and taken to a large booth style table not far from the kitchen . As you can see from the pictures the restaurant is airy and lightly decorated and sympathetically and tastefully done to incorporate the features of the building. The bar area is very cosy with open fires We were seated and given the menu which is impressive and extensive. I am quite a fussy eater as I can't eat heavily spiced things so tend to go for plainer options but I can honestly say I was spoilt for choice. We had to wait over half an hour for our order to be taken, which whilst I appreciate its a training day I would've thought that the priority was to get the food ordered so the customers can relax. I decided to go for the Prawn, lobster and avocado,cocktail (I'm a sucker for prawns) and sirloin steak. The menu is competitively priced and ranges from sandwiches to steaks. The starters arrived swiftly though we had to ask for cutlery as that had not been brought. My starter was looked gorgeous and tasted as good as it looked- the only problem I had was logistical - how to eat the lettuce! The bed of lettuce was basically the leaves of I think a gem lettuce and my problem was they were whole - because of the shape beautiful glass they were served in it was impossible to get the knife into it to cut it so I think I possibly resembled an ungainly rabbit munching away - I noticed from the plates going back to the kitchen that other people had encountered the same problem . We were made more aware because the in door of the kitchen had a terrible squeak as it opened - I felt like going to get he tin of WD40 out of the car ! As a lot of lettuce went back in! My Dad had the Ginger beer bacon and egg skillet and Sandie had the tomato and basil soup which they both said were delicious ! The plates were cleared quickly and our main course arrived . My steak was beautifully cooked, very tender and lovely - excellent protein food! Both Dad and Sandie enjoyed their mains (Dad had the sausage and mash and Sandie the chicken pie) both of which looked lovely and apparently tasted as good as it looked . unfortunately we weren't offered condiments but this is a minor gripe We were offered the sweet menu and the choice was to die for ! All the favourite goodies on one one sweet menu ! Totally spoilt for choice we decided to try the Sweet platter which is basically small portions of selection of a few of the desserts.They also do the brilliant option of a coffee and small dessert portion which I was going to go for but was informed the coffee machine had been ordered to arrive tomorrow - I asked for tea and the waitress offers to boil a kettle and make me one ! Again there was quite a long delay before the dessert arrived - approx 25 mins after ordering (I have an impatient Dad who times everything 😂) but when it arrived it was delicious! So would we go back and actually pay for the meal is the burning question? The answer is yes but I think I would wait until the staff had settled in a bit . Although individually they were all pleasant there was no feeling of organisation continuity or teamwork between the staff - we had about five or six different members of staff serving us- I prefer it to be a situation where you can sort of build of a rapport if that doesn't sound strange- this I'm sure will come as it was their first day of working together and it will take time for them to gel. The food was way above expectations, great choice, tasted really lovely and a handy location. Thank you Vintage inns for inviting us !
