The Prince of Wales, West End, Esher

Facebook page of The Prince of Wales - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Prince of Wales - www.facebook.com

The Prince of Wales page on the Chef & Brewer website - www.chefandbrewer.com

The Prince of Wales page on the Chef & Brewer website - www.chefandbrewer.com

Food led Chef & Brewer pub, quite large and opened out but retaining several areas, three handpumps on the bar but only GK IPA available. This looks like it may have been a pretty decent boozer once,but not now and not my kind of thing.

This place is unchanged since the previous reviewer's visit. This place is very food centric, and when we were in Friday lunchtime all the tables were laid for diners, except a couple of sofas next to one of the fireplaces and a couple of "butcher's block" tall tables/tall stools near the bar. Table service is provided throughout. Thus this is mainly a restaurant. I did ask our waitress about the policy regarding drinkers who didn't want to use a sofa or tall table, and she said that it was OK when it wasn't overly busy but not encouraged when it is busy - e.g. Sunday lunchtime. But it still has the look of a country pub, with its low ceilings and posts/beams. As I entered by the main door I spotted a couple of handpumps that were London Pride and Doom Bar clipped, but I could see another four pumps around to right of the counter which I hoped would offer something more interesting. Two of these were also Doom Bar and Pride clipped, but the other two were offering Truman’s Runner and Sharp’s Atlantic (£3.44 a pint). The Atlantic was a new one to me, and turned out to be a light, straw coloured ale which was in fine form, although obviously served a little too cold. According to flyer I picked up, Chef & Brewer are currently running a beer festival, and although real ale here was only available from the six handpump the flyer suggested that the selection might be better than usual. However, I have to say that I was somewhat underwhelmed by a beer festival that still had four pumps dispensing the usual suspects of Doom Bar and Pride and with only a couple of guests on. The festival flyer advertised a 10% discount on real ale for CAMRA members, and I was told that this discount only applied during the beer festival. Even at £3.44 a pint the Atlantic was good value – I hadn’t claimed a CAMRA discount as Mrs R had some sort of gourmet discount card that gave us 25% off the total bill. The food was reasonably priced as well. Main courses were generally in the £10 - £12 range, but there were some lunchtime deals, such as fish and chips for a fiver. Sandwiches were from £4.99 (for the standard cheese & chutney) to £6.99 (for the pulled pork). Other points worth mentioning are the car park; large garden at the back; and free wi-fi. This place still has a nice ambience, but its main raison d’etre is as a restaurant. It does a fine job as one as well, and it’s not worth making a special visit here just for a drink. But it’s a decent enough place to stop off for a pint if for some reason you happen to be in the area.