The Red Lion - Gilmorton, South Leicester

The Red Lion is a modern, bistro pub, serving locally sourced, freshly cooked food. I have been to The Red Lion before and have been impressed, so when a Groupon offer came up I couldn’t resist.  I took my friend as part of her birthday celebrations and wasn’t disappointed.
On entering the pub we received a friendly, warm welcome and a helpful overview of what to expect from our evening.  The standard menu was varied, featuring mainly British pub classics which will suit most budgets.  This was accompanied by a specials board which is great if you like to choose ingredients in season.

We had a Spanish sharing platter to start.  Not sure that it quite worked as a dish but all the individual elements were lovely.  Big, juicy marinated queen olives, slices of chorizo, a pile of crispy whitebait all served with salad and bread.  Excellent value for money.  An enormous portion that even I couldn’t finish!

Both of us selected our mains from the specials board.  My friend’s Bangers and Mash consisted of 3 large, very tasty venison sausages, made all the more interesting by a mustard mash and onion gravy.  I chose the scallops on garlic mash.  Six lovely, sweet scallops, cooked to perfection with just the right amount of garlic mash, flavoured with rosemary.  Both dishes came with a good selection of vegetables (not over cooked) served as a side.

Although on this particular outing the meal was discounted as a result of the Groupon deal, even without it, the meal still offered excellent value for money.  The food was excellent, well cooked, tasty and served as good hearty portions.  The only slightly negative element of the evening was the service.  In their defence when we arrived, they had explained that they had experienced some problems in the kitchen earlier in the day so there was likely to be a delay in the service and food.  However, there were a couple of times we felt a bit neglected as diners. Staff weren’t  available to order more drinks from our table and they offered to take our order before showing us the specials board.  On previous visits service has matched the standard of food so I am willing to forgive them this once!”)

What’s on the board Miss Ford?

Restaurant                              4/5
Food                                         4/5
Service                                     4/5
Value for money                    5/5

Total                                        17/20

One for the recommended list!