A tiny restaurant in a deli on the main street, this is the kind of place you could easily pass over if it weren't for the excellent reviews from both local and national press posted in the window.
We arrived at 2.15 - the very end of lunch (12-2.15) and just before the lighter afternoon menu (2.30 - 5). We found we could still order off the lunch menu, despite being a bit late, but a companion who wanted cold food from the afternoon menu was refused, despite the food in question being mere feet away in the deli counter.
Ok, fair enough. We got lunch, and all the rest of the handful of the tables seemed to be at lunch too. But sadly the service lacked in other ways too - our server was harassed looking and grumpy and interaction was limited to the bare minimum, even when I tried to ask questions about the food. Maybe "regular customers enjoy the intimacy and warmth of this hive of activity" as the website suggests, but I didn't feel invited into it at all.
Fortunately the food was good - I went for an antipasto plate at ~£15 which was loaded with more quality meats than I could manage, and a small selection of cheese and artichokes too. Aparrently the goat cheese and potato tart was good too.
Overall, the prices were perhaps somewhat higher than the service and ambience deserved but the food was fine, and I enjoyed getting a good look at the tiny kitchen when I went to the bathroom. Would I go back? Probably to the deli yes, but not to the restaurant.
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