Alrighty, so I promised it a blog onto itself, mostly, in truth, to get a rise out of my good friend, Miss Emily (cause that’s, of course, how I roll!)

She reads my blog (most cool kids do!) and almost 2 weeks ago now, we both agreed, it was time to hook up again – it’d been way too long.  She picked a place called the Queen Vic – a ‘British’ pub and kitchen, that, Emily herself admitted was ‘cheekily close’ to her house, but, since she was a British person, suggesting a British pub in Houston (and, since we love her so – and quite frankly don’t mind driving ‘cheekily close to her house) we said sure thing – expecting great things from the aforementioned British pub!

Col and I arrived a little early, it was ‘quaint’ (British translation: Small, ‘couldn’t swing a cat’ size).  We ended up asking a waiter for a table, and waiting at the bar until one came available.

I’ll start by disclosing that our group consisted of 3 English people and 2 Irish people, so we all had high hopes for this British pub.

This place, I think, is British food cooked by people who aren’t British or haven’t ever eaten much British food.  It’s over priced, the portions are small (for the price), the pub is small (which isn’t always a bad thing), we had to wait forever for a table (on a Tuesday night, which would normally suggest the place is KILLER), we could barely hear ourselves chat (and Col can’t hear so great at the best of times! LOL!) and the service was slow as anything (they also got my drink order wrong!).

My quest for the best British pub grub in Houston continues!

We arrived during happy hour and ordered 1 cocktail and some bar bites (after having to ask for the specific happy hour menu) only to discover at the end of the night that on the ‘Happy Hour’ the cocktail was only $1 cheaper than regular price and the bar bites weren’t much cheaper than regular price either – and my DD hubby had to pay for each refill of diet coke – RIP OFF!!  I can’t say the ‘Happy Hour’ made us very happy at all!

We started with the Vegetable Bahjia and the Sausage roll, the sausage roll wasn’t a British-esque sausage roll, the pastry was lovely but the sausage meat was spicy and not very appetising.  The Veggie Bahjia was ok, the onion rings and the potatoes were nice but the zucchini was soft and mushy – I think those things are supposed to be a mixed vegetable finely chopped and fried in the batter – not whole slices of individual vegetables.

I got the chicken tikka massala (CTM) – a British CTM is cream based, this CTM is a more authentic Indian kind of CTM with a tomato base and if you’re not expecting a British-style curry then you’ll not be disappointed.

Hubby had fish and chips, aside from being a relatively small portion (I mean small for Houston appetities), it was phenomenal – best meal at the table, hands down.  Actually, now that I mention it, they have British portion sizes, down to a T! lol!

The beef wellington (Sam ordered) was a major let down and he left most of it on his plate, though Em and Luke seemed to actually quite like their respective burgers – however, one would expect that you’d get a good burger in a restaurant in the States!

Such a shame really, if you wanna spend $90+ for 2 small courses, and 2 alcoholic drinks then have at it, otherwise there are better British pubs in the area!

I think we’re gonna try the Red Lion’s happy hour next, to see if it makes us *actually* happy and the Firkin and Phoenix is on my ‘hit list’ to see what they have to offer by way of British Fare!

However, in spite of all my griping (which, of course the fair Emily knows to take with a ma-hoosive pinch of salt), in spite of the fact that the bar wasn’t great, the food wasn’t great and we couldn’t hear ourselves talk, a night out with Emily, Luke and Master Sam is always worth it – no matter where we are.  It’s always fun and not done at nearly as high a frequency as it should be!

Oh – one final note, my dear Emily turned the big 3-0 this week (and her wonderful hubby Luke whisked her away to New York to distract her from this crippling event with musicals and Tiffany’s!) so please join me in wishing her a HUGE Happy Birthday…

Em, you don’t look a day over 21…and we’ll all still love you bunches, when you’re all old and wrinkly! Take solace in the fact that Col will always be the ‘oldie’ in the group 😉