The Nag’s Head

New Hey Road, Ainley Top, Huddersfield

Venue The Nag’s Head

Tel 01422 373758

Opening hours Mon-Sat 12noon to midnight, Sunday 12noon to 11pm

Children Yes, welcome

Disabled access Full access

The bill £33.60 including drinks

IT’S the little things that matter when you go out for a meal.

Those attention to detail things that can turn something good into something great, something great into something memorable.

That was the case at The Nag’s Head at Ainley Top on a Saturday evening.

First impressions are great. This is a comfortable, welcoming hostelry. As my wife, Linda, remarked, it’s a beautiful historic building but with a pleasing, contemporary feel.

The place had a major makeover just 18 months ago and it’s obvious that it was done with style and feeling.

The initial perusal of the menu and the friendly welcome from the bar staff boded well for a good evening out.

Such a shame, then, that a couple of little niggles with our meal meant we could not grade the evening 10 out of 10. More like 7 out of 10, which isn’t bad but could be better.

It was by chance we’d happened upon the Nag’s Head. We tried one favourite watering hole after making the snap decision to eat out only to find it packed to the rafters with a wedding party.

The Nag’s Head gave us what we wanted. The pub was busy but not bursting and after being told we could either eat in the restaurant or in the bar we settled into the hugely-comfortable armchairs to enjoy the evening.

It was helped to start with by a superb pint of the wonderfully-named Mongrel bitter and a glass of Shiraz.

Picture the scene: there we are sitting back in two leather chairs in a bar inside a building which dates back in parts to the 17th century. Idyllic or what?

The pub was created many years ago out of two old cottages and a former barn and boasts many original features inside and out.

The pub restaurant is well-known for its carvery and we had sampled that several times previously with the family. Tonight was just the two of us so we opted for a table in the bar with a view out through the ivy-clad windows and flipped through the interesting and diverse menu.

There was a wide choice with a handful of specials on offer and we thought long and hard.

In the end I chose a starter and a main course; Linda, having spent some considerable time on the dessert menu, opted for a main and a pudding.

My starter of chicken and chorizo salad arrived within minutes and brought mixed feelings. The chicken was excellent and the dressing nicely seasoned, but some of the slice of chorizo were overcooked and had lost their plumpness. Not the perfect start.

On to the mains. I picked roast cod loin on a bed of sautéd new potatoes and wilted spinach and was more than happy. The fish was perfectly cooked, as was the spinach, although again some of the potatoes had been in contact too long with the base of a pan. But overall impressions were good.

Linda’s mildly-spiced chicken Makhari curry was full of meat and came at the right consistency – too many curries are artificially thickened.

Her basmati rice was perfect but again there was a niggle; the naan bread was soggy and cold, not crisp and fluffy as it should be. The apologetic waiter quickly changed it but it should have been right first time.

However, the kitchen made amends with the dessert. A stunningly sharp lemon meringue pie meant the evening ended on a high.