Setting off for this week's Sunday scran, Mrs Eats was looking forward to a countryside escape in rural Northumberland. I wondered how best to tell her that the pub we were heading to was actually located in a housing estate.
She soon got the picture as we approached St Mary's Inn near Stannington in the Eatsmobile. We were on our way back to the venue more than two years after sampling hearty roasts and 'perfect' meat and portion sizes. Sadly, our hopes for a repeat performance were soon dashed.
Things started off well with a selection of ales on tap and our starters on the way minutes after arriving. Portraits of dogs and wire models of animals dotted the pub and we were quite charmed by our surroundings, almost completely forgetting we were in the middle of a housing development.
My king prawns with mango salsa hit the right note with the hot sriracha sauce mixing well with the crisp batter and tiny fruit chunks. This was the most expensive starter at £8.50 and I was left yearning for an extra prawn or two as I waited for Mrs E to catch up.
She certainly did have a lot to get through, with a steaming bowl of pea soup with truffle cream in front of her.
For her £5.50 she also received a mini bread loaf with mounds of butter and she lapped up the creamy dish.
It was an enthusiastic start, and we were ready for chicken for her and lamb (pink, please) for me.
After using her knife to slather the butter onto her bread earlier, Mrs E expected to be given a replacement along with her roast. But after waiting for staff to come around, she finally gave up and had to go and ask for a new piece of cutlery.
Before tucking in, I hoped it would be a case of quality over quantity, as my plate was only half full.
My lamb was lovely and juicy but I'm afraid to say the rest of the meal was somewhat disappointing. It didn't help that my mash and Yorkshire pudding were barely warm.
In contrast, a separate bowl of cauliflower cheese was absolutely scalding - suggesting the dishes were not made ready at the same time.
In the defence of St Mary's Inn, Mrs E was happy with the majority of her roast, but even she found fault with the rubbery chicken. For almost £15 each for the mains, it just wasn't good enough.
Coincidently, our fellow diners at a nearby table could be heard complaining that their meats had not been well done as ordered, leaving a poor waitress to relay the unhappy diners' woe back to the kitchen.
My rose-tinted memories of St Mary's Inn had been wiped away but there was still a chance of redemption with the puds.
A £6 strawberry cheesecake with champagne sorbet was refreshingly sweet but I found the biscuit base too thick.
She Who Must Be Fed took on the sticky toffee pudding with ice cream for £7. Normally easily pleased by dessert, she said it was "good" but it didn't stand out.
Because of its location, St Mary's Inn is not a place diners will stumble across by accident and so it needs to give customers a reason to come back. It doesn't have to be 'perfect' but there is certainly room for improvement.
