Oast and squire Fareham

                              Food and drink you get what you pay for
This month was celebrating Mikes birthday and therefore, the choice laid down to him. He decided on a local place to him, the Oast and Squire. Run by Beefeater restaurants, you do get what you expect from the chain.

The decor is clean, fresh and modern and the staff are friendly too. Being Grubgang, we were aiming to get the most of our £20 a head budget, and this is reachable with their evening menu......2 courses for £11.95. A smaller choice of dishes from the main menu, we opted for the two course as it meant that we could have a view to a wider range of desserts, with out spending over the budget.

As Dean was unable to join us on this occasion, Dave Graham our stand in grubganger was happy to step into the fray, choosing garlic mushrooms to start, and a spicy chicken burger to follow. Mike being the birthday boy, went down the fishy route with a prawn cocktail to start, followed by h=wholewheat pasta served with prawns!! Gemma decided on a chargrill chicken with rice after the prawn cocktail starter and I chose to have potato skins followed by a chicken salad.

Gemma was not too impressed with her main. The salad dressing being too much for her taste buds and therefore she didn't eat it, leaving her with the chicken and rice! I found my chicken a little dry, but the rest of the meal was fine.

Desserts really pushed our marks up, as we felt we had been waiting a while to get them after ordering, especially as the restaurant was not that busy! Gemma and I chose to try the chocolate lovers trio of desserts which were really tasty (the chocolate brownie melted in the mouth!!) Dave tucked into his profiteroles, which seemed to go down well!!

I felt that the toilets, although clean, were very very cold. Either the heating wasn't on in there or it didn't work!! That is something they could work on. It is difficult to get over excited about this venue as all of the members of the group had been there frequently due to the good prices, but it does show how we do like to go back.

The Beefeater chain are doing club cards now, offering a points system leading to money off your meals and offers such as free wine and desserts etc. This does make it a good choice for those watching their pennies. With our free bottle of wine, we all spent less than £20 a head.

Although we enjoy it here, it doesn't wow us. You do get what you expect ( a few new dishes on the menu may make visiting more interesting!! And warmer toilets!!)


marks out of 10........................................................................... 6