Sitting in the restaurant area of the Castle Bar was like being in the Gryffindor common room, and it was magical.

After a few minutes of going on and on about how lovely the room was, I had a scan of the menu and went for something completely different to my usual (while my fiancé, Daniel, of course chose his usual).

Although I was tempted by the soup of the day – butternut squash, coconut, chilli and lime – I was too scared of just how chilli-ish it would be, so we ordered the garlic bread to share instead. It would be included in the pictures, but Daniel had eaten half of it before I’d even got my phone out.

Swiftly following the starter, which consisted of bread and garlic butter (but not a particularly large amount of either), my main of vegetable lasagne and Daniel’s choice of a burger with bacon arrived, and to begin with, all was well.

But (and it’s a very sad but) the butternut squash sauce that started off as a flavoursome drizzle became too much very quickly, and with the pasta seeming to have slid sideways while being cooked, the meal consisted of butternut squash-covered vegetables, followed by butternut squash-covered pasta – all I wanted was an even distribution of both.

As expected, Daniel enjoyed his burger, and added his ever-helpful and eloquent comment of, “yeah, it was nice” when I’d finished analysing my meal, so the burger is safe.

The issues with my lasagne were by no means a reflection of the overall pub, however the flavours could definitely have been toned down a bit, as could the portion size.

Although I was stuffed, I persevered and went for a dessert, convinced it would cheer me up after being almost drowned by butternut squash. But unfortunately (although perhaps not if you love lemon), the fruit posset I chose for my pudding was as lemony as it gets, with lemon zest getting stuck in my molars and the taste of lemon-meets-butternut-squash stuck in my throat.

I should have gone for the sticky toffee pudding!

The meal ended with me stealing a few spoonfuls of Daniel’s vanilla ice cream before both of us realised we were too full to even talk, so were forced to get the bill and get home so that I could lie flat on the floor, looking like I was pregnant with a butternut squash monster.

While the food could have been more impressive, I can’t fault the location, setting, or service of the meal. The waitresses were lovely, and nothing was too much trouble, even when I had one waitress running back and forth to the kitchen to ask if the soup would be too spicy for me (which it would have been ­– I find chilli heatwave Doritos too hot).

I’m really sad to say it, but for food I’ve got to give Castle Bar three out of five stars. For everything else, particularly the cosy and pretty setting of the room, it gets a full five, especially considering how brilliant the downstairs drinking area of the pub was.

Butternut squash might now be haunting my dreams, but I’ll say that the fault of the meal lies with me not choosing the right foods for my taste (so hopefully they’ll let me back in to try their fish and chips!)

EMMA WALKER