The Woodmans Arms — Restaurant in England

I feel like I'm wearing rose tinted glasses here on the Isle of Wight as I keep finding some amazing places. The Woodmans Arms is a nice village pub and our first port of call for this visit, straight off the ferry and a 10 minute drive for lunch. Nice big car park and a nice looking pub. The first thing that strikes you is that the staff are brilliant, very professional and very helpful. Nothing is too much trouble and they're nicely attentive and very efficient without losing the friendliness and without being over-familiar, like this isn't your first visit and they've met you before, but without going all out Michael Barrymore with the 'alwight mate's and nudges and winks. Inside is homey, like your typical quiet village pub/restaurant. We decided to have 'smaller appetites' meals, which are from a separate menu and a great idea. For me cottage pie and veg and for her, ham, egg and chips. Since this is 'smaller appretites' you might be expecting a halfling's meal, something between a child portion and an adult meal? Both meals were more than enough, and better still, all of it home made and really, really tasty and better still both came with a hot drink included. There was a party of older customers in the same room ordering from the full sized (?) and I kid you not each plate held enough food to choke a yak. Seriously serious portions, so if you're a chunky monkey who likes Mummy's home cooked sunday dinners this place is perfect. I was mostly stuffed but being a bit of a pudding guts, I decided that dessert does in fact go to a separate stomach and wouldn't make us any more full. So we ordered the cheesecake for her and a full on crumble and custard for the Michelin man. Wow. Home made pud and proper custard with the skin on. Pear and cherry crumble, absolutely lush. Her cheesecake was a mousse-style affair and VERY rummy and very yummy. In summary then, well worth a visit for the home cooked fayre, friendly atmosphere and attentive service. We're going again for Sunday...

I rang early this morning to book a table for 3 of us to have the Sunday roast lunch today. The pub was packed so glad I had booked or we wouldn't have got a table at the time we wanted. They could only give us a table in the bar but still provided table service from taking the orders for drinks as well as food. Despite the crowded pub the food came quite quickly. We all chose the mixed plate which was the largest roast meal option, I believe costing 10.50 each which is the sort of price I might normally pay in the area I live on the mainland, but probably for a smaller portion than we had today. The meats today were pork, turkey and beef. One of us didn't want beef so they gave him more of the other 2 meats. A very large sharing dish of mixed veg (carrots, red cabbage and broccoli) was brought out along with our meals which already had plenty of roast spuds, parsnips, some crispy twirls and Yorkshire pudding. All perfectly cooked and so tasty. Apple sauce and cranberry sauces were also provided. Horseradish also offered but refused. I asked for some more gravy part way through because we all like plenty, and it was promptly brought out without quibble. I would highly recommend this place as food, service and prices were excellent. We are slow eaters but there was noone rushing us to leave so they could fit in the many other travellers who turned up and wanted tables. We will come again on our next trip to the island as we really enjoyed the whole...

After all these years, only found out that the staff do not read Trip Advisor Reviews last week. So, just for fun here is our recycled review from Trip Advisor, 3 years ago. Seems to hold true today as much as then. We have visited this pub several times over the years, at various times of the day and under the current ownership the food has just got so much better. Not a vast menu but the pub classics and one or two specials. The up to date website is helpful as you can decide if you fancy one of the dishes and not have the embarrassment of walking out as nothing appeals. Portion sizes are not small and the food does take a while to appear as it is freshly cooked. You are warned about this, so unless you are in a desperate rush, no problem. We would suggest you book in advance if possible, as our most recent visit was on a Saturday evening and it was heaving with diners. As far as our meal went, two courses and everything was delicious, well cooked and reasonably priced. Big shout out to the very helpful and very busy waitress, did not get her name, but thanks. The only gripe I had was the ale. With all the good beers brewed here on the Island, why was there a choice of three ales, all of which came from the Mainland, were nothing special and were served ice cold. Perhaps more of the menu could also reflect local sourcing, budgetary constraints permitting. Bottom line is, would we go back, the answer is yes, the food is worth...