My husband and I do like to go out for a meal occasionally but we rarely order food at a pub. But walking past The Goddard Arms one evening we decided to change this and try our luck here.

Walking in, my first impressions were that it was nicely busy for a Friday night, although admittedly most of the business was going on at the bar.

The place had a relaxed atmosphere, where the pub vibe bled happily into the restaurant area. It wasn’t too noisy either, which is often a challenge when trying to eat out in pubs.

The staff were very friendly and helpful, despite being rushed off their feet on a busy night.

Turning to the food, there were several menus on the table including vegan and vegetarian, a gluten free list and range of two and three-course deals, as well as the specials. The choice was a bit bewildering but may appeal to pickier eaters.

I had been expecting more of an upmarket establishment after looking at the pub’s impressive website, but when ordering at the bar it became clear that this place was really more of a fancy Wetherspoons. So the question became would the food be tastier for the extra price?

Our order was a little while in coming but I always think that is a good sign that your dish is actually being cooked and not heated up in a microwave.

We both opted for the cheesy mushroom bruschetta to share as a starter. While the double cream, mozzarella, cheddar, Camembert and Stilton sauce was very tasty, I think it was rather stretching the definition to call it bruschetta. It was more like mushrooms in cheese sauce on lightly toasted bread.

I had then ordered the ‘Smothered Chicken’, described as a grilled chicken breast topped with streaky bacon, melting mozzarella, cheddar and a sticky BBQ sauce, served with chips, beer-battered onion rings, peas and grilled tomato.

What came was a little on the disappointing side. While it was very tasty, there was only one rasher of bacon and I wouldn’t really describe the chicken as having been smothered in any of the trimmings. And the accompanying side of peas were a tad underdone for my liking, though I know some people prefer them on the crunchier side.

My husband opted for the traditional pub classic fish and chips, but this also was a bit of a let-down. The fish was rather wet, spoiling the crunchy batter.

When ordering pub fish and chips I think it really needs to be very tasty otherwise why not just go to a fish and chip shop?

This dish unfortunately didn’t really outdo the standard offering from any local fish bar.

However I was hopeful that pudding would end the evening on a high. I had chosen the chocolate salted caramel torte, as salted caramel is a particular favourite of mine. The dish came with chocolate-flavoured sauce and vanilla ice cream, so how could it go wrong?

Well it certainly looked very impressive, but I found it rather lacked flavour. I can’t say I could really taste the salt or the caramel in either the filling or the base.

For those who want an evening out with some pub grub, The Goddard Arms certainly dishes this up.

But if an establishment has a section on the menu entitled ‘From The Ocean’, I would say it really is holding itself out more as a restaurant.

Given the food, I felt The Goddard Arms wasn’t quite sure what kind of eating place it wanted to be.