THE HALF MOON - 32 London road, Sheet

After revisiting a few pubs over the last few weeks. we thought it time to try something new. With that in mind, we headed towards Petersfield to see what we could find. After a quick cruse through Petersfield town centre, we decided to aim the car at Sheet and in particular The Half Moon.

First impressions were mixed, dead flowers in pots outside the door and an exterior which could benefit from a touch of love and attention. On the up side, upon entering, the temperature was good and there was some inoffensive music playing at just the right volume. When eating here you have a choice of the bar area or the restaurant, which in Dad's opinion was suffering from a slight case of tacky decor. We took our drinks and menu to a window table in the bar and sat down to make some big decisions.

The bar menus offerings were priced around the £8 mark, that's a good start. Though if you chose to eat from the restaurant menu it will cost you more like £12 for a main. It wasn't a bad menu, including pie, quiche, salmon, butternut squash curry and tuna. Dad opted for the pie of the day, this day being lamb and mint. I chose goats cheese and pepper quiche, though I did exchange new potatoes for sweet potato fries.

As we waited for our food, the pub began to fill up. Quite a few of the customers were obviously local and were known to the staff, always a good sign if people keep coming back. It didn't take too long for our food to arrive, which was fortuitous indeed as me and Dad were both very hungry after forgoing breakfast.

With regards to the food, I'll start from the top and work down. My quiche was beautiful, with plenty of goats cheese and lovely crisp, homemade pastry. Dad's pie was good, a real pie in the literal sense, surrounded on all sides by pastry. The mash accompanying the pie was good if not outstanding. My sweet potato fries were nice, but certainly not home made. Dad also got his own little dish of vegetables, nothing too exciting though, carrots, cabbage and broccoli. I also had a small salad and some coleslaw, which were indeed what they claimed to be.

The Half Moon is our exact idea of a 3* pub. The food isn't going to blow your mind, neither will it offend you. The prices are fair and the pub isn't cold or deathly quiet. Would we recommend that our friends and family go there? No, probably not. Would we warn people off eating there? No, certainly not. It is fine, there's nothing particularly wrong, yet there is nothing particularly memorable or inspiring.

Atmosphere          7

Service                 6

Food                    8

Value                   8

Verdict                 3.5*

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