The Sun Inn — Restaurant in England

The Sun was recently given a face lift on the outside and refurbished inside with nice thick carpets on the left hand side which seems now seems to be focused on dining Customers as the tables are set out with cutlery and serviettes.

Thankfully my family and I were not there on the reopening night as I heard there was a stabbing and the Police were called. It seems that even the village local cannot escape the increase in knife crime! Thankfully, despite the refurbishment dogs are still welcome. Even the garden has had a makeover, but was not fully open at the time of our visit, but it looks like it has been extended and will be great for families in the Summer..

The Sun is very pricey for drinks. Some ales are as much as £4.05 a pint, unless you drink here on a Monday when all ales are £3.50 a pint, but check your bill as I was almost charged £4.05 for one of my choices on a Monday. Ales in the Crown down the road are only £3.60 all the time, although the Sun has a better constantly changing choice. As Adnams paid for the refurbishment of the cellar they seem to be now permanently included in the line up. Most of the time the real ales are in good condition. I have had the odd pint that has been off, but this has been exchanged without too much fuss.

One annoying thing about the Sun is that people book tables, so on popular nights like when there is going to be entertainment, it is difficult to find a place to have a drink because most of the tables have reserved on them. I can understand a restaurant having reserved tables, but not a pub bar/lounge!

The quality of food at the Sun has always been unpredictable and my family and we didn't think the new menu is that great and it is not clear what is suitable for Vegans. Two Vegan's in our party found out the Faux Pork Bun is Vegan if you don't have the Sriracha Mayo, but it would have been nice if there had been some garnish to replace this, because the burger and fries looked lost with nothing in-between them.on the board. The Faux Pork was BBQ jack fruit, but was just cooked thick chunks placed inside the bun and not shredded like what is usual. My Pork Bun, with real pork that was pulled (shredded) and came with fries, coleslaw and the Sriracha mayo. The Vegan burger was £8.95 and the meat one £11.95. None of us thought the food was great and the Vegan's in particular were disappointed with their slab of jack fruit! If you do a google search for Faux Pork you will see most photos show this should be shredded. The food service was surprisingly slow, considering the pub was quiet. .

I drank Adnams Mosaic ale which was very nice and served in very good condition. Most Adams beers are nice, so not a bad things that they will now be on regularly.

It is difficult to recommend the Sun because the food quality is "hit and miss", even at quiet times, which for the prices being charged is unacceptable (e.g. £15 for the Sun Inn burger). Also sometimes the portion sizes are small, especially on the offer for two of the special meals. The ale prices are also too high compared to the other pub in the village and even ones in Northampton town centre. A great shame because the pub is very pleasant, especially after the refurbishment. Finally I noticed a couple of other reviews mention about the staff being unfriendly. I agree that a small minority are, but...

Tl;Dr - Delightful village pub with terrific food at a very reasonable price for the quality. Parking is challenging, if an on-street walk of 2 minutes is 'excessive'.

Arriving on a weekday evening (18:45~), it was easy to park directly outside the pub, and no reservation was needed.

After umming and arring, I went for the Steak and Ale pie, with garlic mushrooms & pork crackling for a side.

The whole menu shouts:

'Good food, good flavours'.

I wasn't disappointed.

I'm no pie guru, but I've had my fair share of pie & mash over the years.

Genuinely, this might be one of the best standalone pie & mash dishes I've ever had.

Let's start with the Steak and Ale pie:

Perfectly cooked, golden brown shortcrust pastry with a deep filling of rich, quality, tender steak pieces and a hearty ale (no grisly or fatty offcuts here). Nestled on top on a herby, incredibly well seasoned, creamy mash with the perfect 'stiff peak' texture and the seldom (small) lump that lets you know it's been balanced and mashed by a real person. Supported by 'just over' al dente seasonal veg and a rich, savoury gravy (no awkward 'more gravy please' requests needed) that complements the pie filling well.

Why more people don't deliver herby mash is a question I've never really considered before! But it's a real reminder on how simple additions can elevate a side to so much more than the sum of its parts.

The seasoning of the whole dish was absolutely spot on, as was the portion size. The overall combination of flavours worked incredibly well, the richness of the pie filling was perfectly balanced by the relative 'sweetness' of the greens, and the gravy was the perfect taste, 'depth', and consistency (not watery, nice and 'meaty', with no skin).

I don't feel I can really do it justice here. The dish was terrific, truly satisfying!

The garlic mushrooms were terrific, with a perfect 'bite' texture (without being undercooked). The mixture of different (wild) mushroom types, supported by rough cut garlic and a smattering of herbs created a deep earthy flavour that really complemented the main dish. The garlic isn't overpowering, but I wouldn't be getting intimate with any vampires shortly after eating; the rough cut (very small pieces) pack an excellent punch!

A great accompaniment to the steak and ale pie, and greens, without overwhelming the dish.

Finally, the pork crackling. Fresh, 'hot', crispy, and crunchy, with the characteristically uniform thin layer of fat that still 'melts' a bit when you bite into a fresh piece.

Cut into satisfying 'strips', they might well have been the best post-meal 'savoury snack' I've come across, but I personally would have like a bit more sea salt flakes on them. That said, I feel like I'm really picking hairs at this point (not literally in this case).

Service was terrific, quick, and attentive.

In summary, I was recommended to come here by a local friend, and I'm glad they did. I hope I have the chance to come back, and I'll be sure to recommend it to anyone else in the meantime.

9.5/10, a great meal experience.

Some might say it's expensive, but having spent my fair share of time in pubs next to Premier Inns, I'd pay the extra £4-5 quid for a pie and mash here any day of the week. It's...

So we booked a table which was pretry easy, the pub was nice and welcoming and decorated nicely. There was a function going on out the back and so there was live music, this was not part of the put but I didn't find the music intrusive. There is not much direction as to how to order food we were not sure if to go to the bar or a someone would come to take out order, we decided to order at the bar. Once food was ordered it took around 45 mins for our starters to arrive. We sat chatting and realise our food seemed to be taking ages, we knew the staff might be busy with the function so we left it anouter 5 minutes, the food came in this time.

We ordered 2x calamari, 1 camembare and nachos.

The camembare was a good quality and we recieved a good amount of toasted bread. It was a little charred on the top so a little over done. The calamari was undercooked and rubbery. This was served with a small salad and mayo. The nachos was the most disappointing. Whilst the sauces was plentiful, the nachos were just tortilla wraps deep fried and cheese thrown on top of it carelesley. They were also excessively overcooked. . We did not compalin as it took so long to receive it so we ate it. Mains were OK and came out in a timely manner compared to our starters. Our table ordered scampi and chips, fish and chips, small sausage and mash, pork belly and seabass. The mushy peas which came with the sausage and mash and the fish and chips were dry and inedable, they were not eaten. The mash seemed to be tasteless and we have a sneaky suspicion that this was the powdered mash substitute. The pork belly was over done and dry and and really was not enough to fill a person. The scampi was fine and the two people who ordered enjoyed thier meal. The sea bass was also quite nice and cooked reasonably well. Could have done with an additional veg to make it more filling.

For me this place has just scraped 3 stars because there were some aspects of the meal which were enjoyable and because the people were pleasent who were behind the bar.

I felt the dinner service seriously lacking in customer service and there was no one who checked to see if our meal was satisfactory.

I was disappointed with the Sun Inn especially because I know it to have exceptional standards and people still talk about it 20 years after visiting it first time. Perhaps they were busy but I think they should have compensated with...