We’re often going into the centre of town to review restaurants, so this time we decided to try travelling out on the distant reaches of the District Line, to the leafy west London suburb of Chiswick, to visit The Lamb.

The Lamb is a friendly, local pub, with regularly changing real ales as well as permanent beers on tap, such as Meantime Pale Ale. There’s also an extensive wine list to choose from. The recently refurbished venue nestles on the corner of a little crescent, just off a traffic choked main thoroughfare, but is mostly hidden from the worst of the fumes and traffic by trees. A large and welcoming beer garden is out front, the inside painted in thick layers of dark hues.

Since it was a work night, we decided we weren’t going to drink any alcohol, and were a little disappointed by the range of soft drinks on offer – traditional mixer type drinks like orange or cranberry juice out of a carton being the best they could offer. Admittedly, it was quite nice orange juice, but considering the number of different non-alcoholic drinks available these days, they could probably try harder.

Staff were friendly and welcoming, though, and poured our orange juice with love. They’d also reserved us a selection of tables – there are over 220 places to choose from – in case we preferred to sit inside or outside.

A group of lads were getting slowly drunk in the front garden, while at an adjoining table, a family was introducing their new baby to the pleasures of passive smoking. This helped us make the decision to sit inside, where tables were both in the expansive main areas of the kooky interior as well as in cute little nooks and crannies. We initially sat on comfy armchairs at a table in one of the nooks, but decided that a proper table and chairs would be better – mother wouldn’t be impressed at relaxing like that at the table!

The Lamb inside

Efficient staff quickly came to take our orders. We started with a generous selection of different mushrooms on toast – moist, juicy and delicious, served on rye bread with stilton cream (£6). We also tried the salt and pepper squid with a zingy lime mayonnaise (£6.25), which was a little bit underwhelming – a little limp and rubbery, missing the crispness we’d expected. Not bad, but we’ve had much better.

Mains included salmon fish cakes with potato wedges and coleslaw (£10.25), which were tasty but sadly more potato filling than fish; and ‘west country’ beef burger in a brioche bun. We added an interesting bacon jam, which added a little salty sweetness. At £12.25, it wasn’t cheap (but it was probably average for London prices), and delivered a mouthful of gristle in the first bite. For the price, we’d expected great quality beef. The bun was tasty, though.

Desserts, which we skipped, include crowd pleasers such as sticky toffee pudding, and dark chocolate brownie with clotted cream.

It’s no surprise to us that the pub is busy, located in a great location for busy office workers on their way home from work, so it’s a shame that the menu was underwhelming. Having said that, it remains a great place to meet friends for a quick drink, and on a warm summer’s afternoon, we imagine the paved garden will be packed full.

For more information and bookings info, visit thelambchiswick.co.uk.