I stopped into the Red Lion part way through a country walk (as is my wont) and it's a pretty decent country pub. They had some nice beers and ales on tap with some interesting visitors (why this is standard practise in the countryside but something one has to seek out in the city is completely beyond me). The garden is lovely with a good range of seating - that's where we opted to have lunch so I didn't really look around too much inside but what I saw was what you'd expect from a pub in such a beautiful and unspoilt area.
There were two things that knocked it down from being anything more than A-OK:
The staff weren't exactly warm and welcoming. Or indeed, particularly welcoming at all. On arrival it took us forever to be served, despite not really being busy, and once served they didn't seem to excited to have us there, or excited about their food, or knowledgeable about their bar offerings.
Two, the food was distinctly run of the mill. I always find it difficult to resist a Sunday roast when in country pub, so that's what I went for - unfortunately this was a traditional English lunch in the way that the French and Italians mean it when they say that food was 'English': everything had spent a little too long in the oven and/or boiling water. It was fine but uninspiring. The same was true for my friend's meal.
So, a decent place to stop if you're passing and hungry, but I wouldn't exactly seek it out. read more