The Evesham Hotel, Coopers Lane, Off Waterside, Evesham

9:28am Friday 22nd February 2008

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IT is quite rare that a restaurant can seem grand without being a little snobbish and warmly welcoming without being a little too casual. But the Evesham Hotel has this balance down to a tee.

The bar staff are chatty, but not intrusive, and the waiters set the plates down with care.

The decor is everything a traditional English hotel should be - smart Edwardian striped wallpaper and chandeliers, and the food is served on what appears to be wedding china.

The lavatories, however, you will either love or hate. They are full of novelty items; jokes stuck on the walls and even mirrors that compliment you.

The home-made food was generally excellent, except for the desserts. The mackerel and caper pâté was a meal in itself, with a rich, powerful flavour and large streaks of fat.

The carrot and coriander soup was clearly homemade with good stock. The melon, which was supposed to be galia but looked more like honeydew, was fine and the main courses came with a generous selection of green beans, cauliflower, delicious Lyonnaise potatoes, parsnips and boiled potatoes.

One of my guests had mozzerella and sea bass - on the menu as a starter - as a main course. It was more than enough and was nicely presented and served with baked cherry tomatoes.

The beef steak plus a kidney pudding was a real delight, but far too much for one serving. I was given two exquisitely tender pieces of steak, perfectly cooked, and a rather sweet-looking little pie with kidneys curled inside.

My other guest tried the wild mushroom and onion tart. Unfortunately the kitchen had run out of wild mushrooms, so instead they made it with double the number of cultured ones, piled onto a puff pastry base. The presention was rather like mushrooms on toast and the dish was a little oily, but still very agreeable.

With high standards set by the previous courses, we had high hopes for the desserts. However, we were let down by the over-priced and meagre rum and raisin ice cream in a brandy snap and unattractive chocolate and orange parfait, which looked like melting ice cream.

The real let down was the rubarb crumble. My guest winced as she ate it and believed the cook might have forgotten to add sugar, it was so tart. But this disappointing end to the evening didn't spoil the experience and judging by the effort the staff went to for a nearby table, I would recommend it for a birthday meal.

The Evesham Hotel, Coopers Lane, off Waterside, Evesham, Worcestershire 01386 765566Food **** Value for money **** Ambience ***** Service ****