Mr G's

A major and sympathetic renovation has turned the former into the latter, and the transformation from roomy pub to cosy restaurant is fascinating.

We went on Thursday evening, to celebrate a wedding anniversary in low-key fashion. That is, we didn't want any fuss, just a nice meal out together.

In the event, this is exactly what we got although, on balance, Mr G's probably caters especially well for larger groups.

I had rung early in the week to book a table for two, non-smoking. Would we like the main non-smoking area or the more intimate lounge area? The lounge sounded right for two old married fogies to enjoy a spot of happy reminiscing.

In retrospect, the main area might have been better. We sat alone on the end of a long table in the nicely-decorated lounge area, where a large party might have been better suited.

But our pleasant waitress was attentive and we felt immediately at home.

"Good value" is the first thing that springs to mind when you peruse the menu. Mr G's offer two and four-course meals. The four-course is £16.95, and there are no prices on the 11 or so starter choices and equal number of main meals but there is enough variety to suit most tastes.

This is definitely an English menu, with soup, prawn cocktail, garlic mushrooms and the like on offer to start, and steak, lamb, grills, chicken, duck and salmon as solidly popular main course choices.

Garlic mushrooms, with salad and dips, appealed to my husband, and then a fillet steak with pepper sauce (there are other sauce choices).

I opted for soup of the day. When the bread had already proved satisfactory (two wholemeals rolls and two croissant-like buns, all delicious) I had a good feeling about the quality of the vegetable soup, and I was right. It was homemade, thick, lovely, and very filling.

In the absence of salad choices, I went for duck in a cherry sauce. But now the only real niggle of the evening. The duck was a large piece of tenderly cooked meat, but the sauce really was not very nice. It looked like a pour-on morello sauce from a jar, gooey and without taste.

Fortunately, it didn't affect the taste of the meat too much and the main course came with both roast and boiled potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, broccoli and carrots, all fresh and enjoyable as a result.

Rob is fussy about his steak -- he likes it medium rare and can get quite grouchy if it isn't. (You can tell we've been married a while, can't you?) But here he had no complaints.

"Absolutely perfect" was his coment on the large, succulent piece of meat which came with a separate, generous helping of spicy pepper sauce.

He cleared his plate. I gave up, but in fairness, this was more because I was full of the tasty soup beforehand than anything else.

We had a relaxing wait between courses. It wasn't busy and we had the opportunity to look around the plush decor, enjoy the excellent background music and argue about minor Liverpool groups of the Sixties like old marrieds do.

Pints of John Smith's bitter arrived regularly for Rob. I had cold Diet Coke and the odd white wine spritzer. When I booked, I was asked if this was a special occasion and I mentioned our anniversary. As a result, a complimentary drink of our choice arrived for us.

Other welcome touches included staff asking if we were ready for the next courses or would rather wait.

Greedy as ever, I decided on a sweet from the half a dozen choices. I love that winning combination of warm apple pie and ice-cream and a very large piece of homemade-looking pie with huge swirls of ice cream arrived.

The slightly tangy apple and light pastry combined well with the creamy swirls. But even I had to admit defeat by now, and left a little on my plate.

The bill came to £43.35, which was perfectly acceptable for a pleasant meal, served by friendly, efficient staff on a special night.

Mr G's, Chorley Old Road, Bolton,

Tel. 01204-842887

Star Rating:***