THE Robin Hood pub and restaurant is along the A38 in Rashwood, on the approach to Wychbold McDonald’s and over the road from Droitwich Travel Lodge.

After ringing round a number of Worcester pubs that still haven’t been Pub Spy’d, I was mostly told they don’t or weren’t serving food on Saturday afternoon. Unless I wanted £20-worth of bags of crisps or peanuts.

To eat in the dining area at the Robin Hood, probably because it was Saturday evening, I needed to have booked ahead.

However, there were plenty of tables over the other side in the bar section.

The rain was lashing down as I’d pulled into the car park, and a pack of smokers were huddled in the doorway, adamant a bit of torrential rain and Arctic wind wasn’t going to deter them.

I don’t touch cigarettes, only a cigar after a big poker win or a successful flutter on the football.

The pub’s service was a little slow on arrival, staff were busy getting the then largely empty main dining area ready for the evening rush, but this meant no-one was at the bar or ready to seat customers coming in.

When I asked if I could have a table for two, I was told there wasn’t any as they’d all been booked up, unless I could be finished in half an hour. I pointed to free tables in the pub bit and was told I could eat there.

Another issue was we only got given one menu between two, so pre-occupied were staff with the dining section – in fairness, as the waiter had predicted, it was packed within half an hour.

The menu has plenty to choose from, with mains including slow-cooked pork belly, steak & ale pie, fish & chips and rich beef & red wine lasagne.

We both went for chicken & mushroom pies which came with spring onion mash and seasonal vegetables. I also had a pint of Peroni.

The food came out very quickly – the pie contained a generous amount of chicken, and the chardonnay, woodland mushroom and leek sauce was delicious – as was the fluffy mash.

The puff pastry was nicely puffed – though I’m no pastry expert, despite having binged watched Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares a few months ago.

In a YouTube tutorial, the foul-mouthed footballer-turned-chef explains, puff pastry is “one of the most delicious and easiest pastries to make in the entire world”.

Sometimes the simplest things in life are the best – if done correctly.

Well done to Adrian Crowther and his team, who, according to the menu, freshly prepare the pub’s every dish.

The food was very filling, perfectly cooked and with a good-sized portion – all for £10.75.

The pint was vintage Peroni – no extra metallic flavour and no smell of wet cardboard. The staff must have thoroughly cleaned their pipes, unlike certain other places I’ve been to.

With Christmas just around the corner, the pub is obviously nicely decked out, but hasn’t overdone it. There was also Christmas music playing and it was at a good volume not to interrupt conversation.

Festive menus, liberally dashed around the tables, promised two courses for £18.95 or three for £21.95 – and included roast turkey, sage and cranberry pie, as well as a slow-cooked short rib of beef.

The Robin Hood is a bit out of the way and off a busy A-road but the food obviously brings in the clientele. On a Saturday it’s very much a family venue, nice and cosy, if for the occasional noise of car engines gunning by outside.

SCORES

Atmosphere 7/10

Décor 8/10

Staff 6/10

Drink 8/10

Food 9/10

Prices 7/10

Overall 7.5/10