Carpenters Arms

Quite nice traditional English pub to have lunch or dinner after a visit to the gorgeous Windsor Castle. We stopped in wanting some pie and a pint of beer. They had a nicely varied menu with all sorts of options. The homemade pies all sounded delicious. I was able to narrow down to my final choice because they were all out of one of my two options. I enjoyed the beef pie very much. It was served with a side of green beans and mashed potatoes and an amazing gravy. Didn’t look like the traditional American gravy, it was in fact so much better. Less thick and darker in color. Wish I’d asked exactly what it was. I also enjoyed a local bottled craft beer instead of the traditional drafts. The staff was attentive and friendly. Overall a nice play to sit back and relax.

Absolutely the best vegetarian burger I’ve ever had anywhere in the world! Not to oversell it but such an unexpected and wonderful surprise. This is a traditional British pub with wonderful food. I come here every time I’m in Windsor and am never disappointed!

I loved the food, fresh ingredients and fresh ale beers. This pub reflects the english style, we had a really good time. Mixed grill plate was delicious so was the burger. Too bad they had no more fish and chips the day we went in :/

Great place for appetizer and ale! It was just the right amount and variety on a plate: fries fish, anchovies, chicken, sausage, cheese, and calamari.

Great staff. James is one of the barkeeps and he is just a good all around guy. The food is quite good. The chicken & leek pie is great as is their Sunday Roast.
It is a Nicklesons pub but they also server several local brews, especially from the Windsor & Eton Brewery.

As I walked on the narrow lane way by the Crooked House in Windsor, I saw a few al fresco diners at the pub behind. The appearance of the batter fish on someone’s plate looked very inviting which pulled me into this Nicholson’s pub in Windsor.
I wasted no time as soon as I got in. Saved a table and made a mental note of the number assigned to it, then off I went to the bar to place my order. Fish and Chips please and half a pint of Peroni.
I went back to my table and thought it might be a good idea to read the menu. The batter of the cod has Nicholson’s ale in it. I’m not an expert on ale and I’m sure it’s pretty similar to a beer batter. Pardon my ignorance.
Anyway, the fish and chips arrived on my table and I took the obligatory photos to post on here. The cod had a curve similar to a scorpion about to attack with its tail. I thought that was very interesting.
The batter was not crispy underneath. It was soaked which sort of implied it might have been one of those pre-​prepared with batter and then frozen to keep. I could be wrong. Then I thought, it’s a chain pub. Kitchen wouldn’t have someone whipping a big bowl of batter to dip every single order althroughout the day. I’m sure it was heaps better than Birds Eye though (pardon the comparison). The taste itself was fine but nothing remarkable.
The chips was a little disappointing though. The shapes certainly showed signs of being deformed from a frozen bag. Then the mushy peas tasted old. I thought, «forget about it».
Appearance could sometimes be deceiving indeed.

Don’t waste your time.
Food doesn’t begin serving until after 6 p.m. For us, that was 30 minutes away so we sat down and looked at the menu. The free WiFi was skippy dropping our connection every 5 – 10 minutes. Can you say, frustrating?! Worst of all, there was only 1 server and we waited 35 minutes to get. .. no service! We up and left to have supper elsewhere and truly, nobody noticed.
After having supper elsewhere, we did something very foolish. We returned to the Carpenters Arms for dessert! Well, duh, we again waited 15 minutes with NO SERVER coming to our table so we up and left again.
Is there a happy ending to this pathetic service in Windsor? Why yes! Drury’s. We had the most amazing dining experience there and I can’t recommend it enough. Don’t make the mistake we made twice. Don’t go to Carpenters Arms.

Just had a pint of the Windsor and eton kohinor ipa 4.5% diamond jubilee special. brewed 200 mtrs from the pub. Actually tastes like I think an ipa should. Lots of body byt not heavy. fruity hop, hints of melon m papaya but not in the American.style. beautiful. Not like the green king fizz 3 pumps down. Excellent!

Pretty good considering it’s a 1 minute walk from the primary attraction in town: Windsor Castle.
We ordered two of their pies, and they were solid. Nice flaky crust, under-​seasoned, but moist stew inside. For dessert the pudding trio was unremarkable.
The real star though is the cask beer list. Lots of great options, clean lines, proper cask pours. A pint of real ale and a crusty beef pie is all the lunch I needed. It’s not destination dining, but it doesn’t need to be, since the real destination is right down the road.

Nice pub with lots of seating. Was there during their IPA festival on a Saturday night. Good, mixed crowd. Have some bar snacks like chilli puffs.
Small outdoor seating area. Good, accommodating bar staff.

considering this pub is in the ‘tourist central’ area of windsor it makes more effort than it needs– and is all the better for it
Local ales and ciders on tap– 3 different ciders last time i went in including a very good vintage organic one.
Food better than expected– they seem to specialise in pies– which looked good, but the fish platter was too tempting– a wooden board with a small portion chips, tartar sauce and small pieces of battered fish, calamari and prawns. Great value at under £10!
bar staff friendly– and they are happy enough for you to bring in a paper and have a lazy few hrs with a pint and a read…

They had run out of a lot of food, had burger and gf had spicey lamb pie. Although the pie was ok, the veg were awful. Burger nothing special either. Nice location, nice bartender.

A pleasant surprise — a pub this close to a major tourist attraction that is old, with tables outside for warmer days and food/​drink that are remarkably cheap for the location. The interior is a bit scuffed, but that does not detract from the atmosphere. Interesting range of well-​kept real ales — I tried Thornbridge «Kipling» and Cropton «Dangleberry» during my visit. The food is generally in the £5−10 bracket and focusses on being tasty and filling, if not especially adventurous — the range of pies is impressive however. I was there with a group of friends from central and eastern Europe, and they were favourably impressed with food and drink. The staff were also helpful. This must be the best pub for the casual visitor to Windsor Castle, and would make a good local too

This is a beautiful pub just a stone’s throw from the castle. While this means it is a destination for many tourists (food and drink are not available on the castle grounds), it isn’t overcrowded or overpriced like some local establishments. They had a brilliant range of in-​season pies, which sadly we didn’t have as we were in the market for a quick, light bite to eat. My mum’s fish & chips was lovely, sadly I cannot say the same for my roast beef and horseradish sandwich. It was mostly bread, with gristly beef, with cold chips. We had to hunt down our meal, which took over a half hour to arrive, and we’re guessing they made my sandwich and chips, set it aside, then promptly forgot about our order, hence the frigidity of my chips. I really wanted to like this place, as its atmosphere and décor was pleasant enough, but it unfortunately let me down.