Epitome of Pub Life: Reviewing Small Plates from 'Wetherspoons' Menu

Ah, Wetherspoons. The saving grace of every student. Its combination of affordable food and convenient deals for alcohol draw in even the most financially cautious souls. Over the four years of university, I spent my fair share of time within its walls and it’s safe to say my wallet got lighter after each visit.

Out of the many types of meals Wetherspoons has to offer, I have made it my mission to try out as many small plate combinations as possible because let’s face it – who doesn’t want three plates full of savoury take-out imitation snacks for only 10.25? Which is why I decided to review every item from the deal I’ve had so far, all based on my subjective taste buds.

Let’s begin.

Nachos – 6-8/10 (depends)

I’m starting with one of my favourite food items in general. If there was a position that would pay to travel and eat different kinds of nachos in every country, I would be the first one to sign up. You’d think it would have more points considering, however, here’s where Wetherspoons can fall a bit short. The amount of times the item was lacking one of the dips – sometimes even two – is more than I can count.

Even when the pub has the whole selection of sour cream, salsa and guacamole, topped with mouth-burning jalapenos, cheese only covers a certain part of the tortillas, causing them to form a small clump on the top, leaving the bottom layer of the chips basically naked. Regardless of its shortcomings, it’s still one of the options I pretty much always get in Wetherspoons, as for the price it’s still pretty impressive.

Chicken breast bites – 10/10

As someone who would be entitled to McDonald's nuggets a monthly subscription if it ever existed, I have a massive soft spot for this item. The bites are surprisingly light considering they’re deep-fried, with the outer crust thin enough to not overwhelm the flavour. Sticky soy sauce adds such a heavenly sweetness to the chicken it pisses you off you can’t find it for sale anywhere. Oh well, all the more reason to keep visiting, ay?

Garlic pizza bread – 8/10

When I first came to England, I associated garlic bread with something completely different. It didn’t take me long to appreciate the English version of the snack. Combining it with one of my favourite foods seemed like a blessing on the pub’s menu. While the bread overall is not disappointing, what stops me from giving it the maximum points is that sometimes it can be a bit lacking on the actual garlic flavour, which can sometimes feel like you’re just eating a bread shaped like a pizza. Then again, it’s not the worst thing in the world.

Chicken strips – 9/10

Another McDonalds’ menu cousin contains five deep-fried pieces of paradise and is offered with a smoky baconnaise dip, which is exactly what it sounds – mayonnaise texture with a bacon flavour. Some love it, some hate it, but it’s definitely not a deal-breaker with this item in the menu. The reason it’s not a perfect 10 is because sometimes if you’re unlucky enough, you get a batch of strips relatively small in size, which can be frustrating if you have the cravings.

Spicy coated king prawns – 7/10

The seafood delicacy is not something I order often from Wetherspoons. While the prawns themselves are quite nice, sometimes there’s too much deep-fried crust and not enough actual flavour. The sweet chilli sauce it comes with doesn’t taste quite right to me personally – too much sweet and not enough chilli, so to speak. Lastly, while I know seafood is expensive, being the second most expensive item of the deal, one would think they could put more than six prawns on the plate, but I digress.

Chicken wings – 6/10

This one is a bit of a hit or miss, at least from my experience. On one hand, the quantity never disappoints, not to mention the choice of two contrasting dips of hot sauce and blue cheese that complement the crunchy goodness. On the other hand, two most recent times I ordered the wings they came out lukewarm and my stomach wasn’t too pleased with the aftermath. Whether it was a bad batch or there’s some issues with their preparation, it will be a menu item I’m not ordering again for a while.

Halloumi fries – 5/10

To continue the same thought on a previous item, one of the downfalls of the halloumi fries are that they are just a tiny bit too deep-fried, leaving little room to taste the actual flavour. While I do love me some halloumi here and there, the one served by Wetherspoons is too salty for my taste, and made me down a glass of cold water straight afterwards. The same sweet chilli sauce once again does me a personal disservice. This definitely won’t be an item on this deal that I have often.

Macaroni cheese bites – 10/10

Cheese is the food of gods and them granting it to our Earth has been a blessing. Jokes aside, the bites themselves are pretty much perfect, with the crusty outside nicely combining with gooey inside, topped with a fabulous salsa dip. The one shortcoming is that a lot of the time the insides of the bite fall in the dip pot, but I’ll just write it off as my clumsiness.

Topped chips – 4/10

I’m lumping these into one place, as I’ve only had each bowl of the chips once and it’s safe to say it’s just not for me. Wetherspoons definitely has a tendency to overload on chips and this time is no exception, but it’s a bit much for me personally as the chips themselves lack flavour. However, if one really desires a plate for themselves, I’d recommend ordering them plain for cheaper as the amount and proportion of the toppings don’t make it worth the price.

And that’s all for my rating of some fabulous (and some less fabulous) Wetherspoons small plates. It’s all subjective and open for discussion, so feel free to share your opinions! On another note, I was planning to include the newly-added pizza to the article, but I think it deserves a piece of its own. Besides, it’s giving me an excuse to visit the pub chain more often, and who’s mad at that? Definitely not me.

Till next time...