Luckily for Mrs Eats and me, the name of the pub we were visiting this week was quite literal.
We were stopping off at The Blue House in Haswell but if it wasn't for the standout shade I could have sped straight past the venue which sits on a busy country lane.
But as I squeezed the Eatsmobile into the last remaining spot in the car park, it occurred to us that we were not the only ones to stumble across this County Durham pub nestled between the villages of Shotton and Haswell.
Just as we had expected, the place was packed inside and due to the fairly small eating area we were almost elbow to elbow with our fellow diners.
As we took our seats, we were informed by the waiting staff that we had to order our drinks at the bar, at the other end of the pub, while food orders would be taken at the table.
This seemed like a strange way of doing things, particularly as the bar staff couldn't accept cards for orders under £10 and so the drinks had to be added onto our food tab anyway.
Added to this inconvenience was the lack of real ales, with just the bog-standard beer and lager brands available as far as I could see.
Walking back, I noticed the decor looked a little old fashioned with a painted bookcase on one wall and not much in the way of personal touches.
We weren't off to a great start but I was buoyed by the cheap prices on the menu.
All starters were £4.25, the mains £8.95 (except lamb which is a pound dearer) and desserts were just £3.95 each.
And the first course was whipped up in just a few minutes; prawn cocktail for me and cream of mushroom soup for Mrs E.
Considering the low prices, my starter was almost a main meal in itself with lashings of marie rose sauce on a hill of juicy prawns with plenty of fresh salad too.
My only gripe was with the unnecessary bread on the side of the plate - a plain slice of brown bread cut up didn't add anything to the meal.
I envied my partner's more appetising-looking bun which she used to help mop up the creamy concoction she was enjoying.
We had a little while to wait after that for our mains of chicken and pork.
But when it did arrive, the helpful waitress offered to bring us extra gravy or sauces before we could begin to ask.
Let's start with the positives - and there were plenty. The mash was creamy and delicious and the turnip was smooth and flavoursome.
The homemade Yorkshire puds were huge but just right, and there was a good jugful of hot gravy on the plate to help it all go down.
I was a bit put out that there were only two roasties, but they were a good size and were the right combination of crispness and fluffiness.
She-Who-Must-Be-Fed was also happy with her pork, which she smothered in the requested apple sauce.
Onto the not-so-positives - there was a distinct lack of variety in the veg department with only carrots and cabbage to hand in a separate dish.
The carrots were quite watery too which didn't help matters.
My chicken breast seemed to have more skin on it than meat and and the single parsnip was shrivelled and dry.
But after the hefty starters and filling up on the potatoes and Yorkshires, we were too stuffed to try a dessert: a shame considering the low prices, and I had been looking forward to a brandy snap, if only for the nostalgia value.
The bill came to just over £30 for two courses and drinks which isn't to be sniffed at but it was a meal mixed with highs and lows.
We left feeling satisfied but hopefully there will be a few tweaks before The Blue House catches our eye again.
