The Stag & Lion

First, to compare this to the business that previously occupied the space is an unfair comparison.  The Elephant was a punk rock bar that got a little too "punk" at the end.  

The Stag and Lion, on the other hand, presents itself as a solid pub--an English one at that.

The place has been cleaned up, significantly, and now features a kickback room that can be rented for a party.  Pretty solid idea.

The food is pretty good.  My wife had the tortilla crusted chicken and I had the fish and chips.  She was a big fan of her food.  I, well . . .  fish really isn't my bag.  I dig fried fish because it tastes more like fried food than fish (if that makes sense to my seafood obsessed fellow yelpers) so it's passable for me.  This fish, however, was massive--something I wasn't expecting.  While a generous portion, it proved too much for my picky palate (I'm not saying it was bad, just saying that I couldn't quite handle it.  Real fish heads will dig it, I'm sure).  The "chips," on the other hand, were phenomenal.  Great seasoning and cooked quite well.  The tartar sauce was a bit heavy on the whole chunks of onion (another food I don't like), which was predominantly unexpected.

Plate sizes are a bit small, so eating gets a little tricky.  I recommend larger ones.

Beer pours are proper pint glasses, 20 frigging ounces.  Yes, please!  Great selection of solid beers and ciders (thank the beer gods they put Smithwicks back on tap).

I will certainly be back in the future (stopped in, twice, in one week).  Ben, the owner, has a great thing going.

Wow, appearances are deceiving. Best scotch egg, bread pudding, and fish and chips nice I was in England. I will be back every time I am in town

I read a lot of recent reviews and thought I would check out the new pub in town (I had been to Hensleys before). Not going to lie, I wasn't blown away by the "major changes" so many reviews talked about. The place looks more open - and MUCH cleaner - but other than that the look and feel is pretty much the same. The service on the other hand was great. Our bartender was friendly and offered very good service. My boyfriend and I split the fried calamari with the pesto mayo - really, really good. The main bummer (other than the total darkness) was the atmosphere. It was Saturday night and there couldn't have been more than 10 people in the whole place. Despite this, or perhaps to make up for it, rock (weird mix of heavy metal and 90's pop rock) was blaring. Totally unnecessary. In the end, the cons outweigh the pros and I doubt that I'll be back. Too bad, that was some really great calamari...