“HELLO, is it meat you’re looking for?”

So screams the website for the Broomside Park restaurant, misquoting – of course – the great Lionel Richie.

Well, as a newly converted vegetarian… er, no, not really. And I didn’t really appreciate the almost life-size picture of a cow on the wall, with its various body parts given mouth-watering nicknames.

Now, one might well say it would be unfair on what is essentially a steakhouse to be reviewed by a non-carnivore. But even Beefeaters have to cater for all tastes these days. And my wife had the steak burger, so rest assured the meat will get a mention.

Noses might also be upturned at a chain restaurant being featured in these pages. Particularly one where, one staff member told me some time ago, not only does the menu remain unchanged between venues but kitchen staff are issued with images of how each dish should look – down to the level of where different elements should be placed on the plate. But a new restaurant deserves a chance.

Broomside and I have history. I wouldn’t call it our “local”. I’m not sure a chain pub connected to a Premier Inn could ever earn such a title. But it is the nearest pub to our house – and we’ve enjoyed some good times there over the past ten years.

Sarah and I took close relatives and friends there for dinner after our wedding rehearsal – the church being on the same industrial estate. I was back there, without my then-fiancée, two days later for a pre-wedding breakfast, accompanied by my best men and ushers.

A bunch of blokes from our church used to gather there for all-you-can-eat breakfast once a month, Sarah and I have visited with family and others for various mid-ranking occasions, and it’s just down the road from the Durham Times office, meaning it was a regular bolthole of mine for work lunches before I left the good ship DT early last year.

So when a sign popped up a while back informing passers-by ‘Something new is coming’, I was intrigued. As it turned out, parent company Whitbread was rebranding Broomside from its Table Table group to its Beefeater stable, as it were.

We arrived on a cold Saturday night to discover some things had changed, and others had stayed the same. The menu was similar – though with more focus on the meat; the layout was different – more open-plan, less of the numerous nooks and hideaway corners that previously characterised the venue; and the staff were mostly the same. Certainly I recognised the manager from Table Table days.

It was said manager who greeted us, very warmly, in the lobby and invited us to a table. We hadn’t booked, but there was plenty of room. It’s a big, big place to fill.

To my pleasure, the manager informed us that Aidan would be our server for the evening. I like this approach: each party has a contact who, in theory, keeps an eye on them; and the party knows that. It makes you feel you’re valued and that you’re getting a personal service.

And indeed we did. The service was friendly and attentive without being too close. We had to return an incorrect drink order, but that aside we were well served.

Onto the food. Sarah and I chose Sharing Potato Dippers (£7.99) to start, and they were excellent: a huge oval glass dish of potato pieces that were somewhere between wedges and skins, covered in stringy cheese and finely chopped spring onions, tomatoes, red onions and jalapenos. All of this was arranged around a central pot of molten Fundido cheese sauce. It was a delight.

For main course, Sarah went for the Double Bacon and Cheese Steak Beef Burger (£11.89), with a 99p upgrade to sweet potato fries – a particular favourite of hers. She was careful not to rub in to me just how good the burger was, but it was clear from across the table it was pretty good.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were, in fact, several vegetarian options – and a later check of the website even allows browsers to limit the menu to options to those suitable for vegetarians or vegans, or indeed dishes that do not contain, nuts, gluten, eggs or dairy products.

Though I was tempted by the Linguine, I decided to join Sarah in having a burger: the Asian-style Vegetable Burger (£10.49). It was nicely spicy and filling, though it did fall apart a little during dissection.

We really didn’t need dessert, but decided to share (probably 80% me, 20% Sarah) a Mississippi Mud Pie (£5.29) – a huge, dense chunk of chocolate layers, served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. It was superb: the kind of dish you know you’ll regret later, but just can’t resist in the moment.

With staff setting up for the next day’s breakfasts, we paid our debts at the bar and made our way into the night, glad of the short walk home.

Broomside Park has a new look, and it’s a good one. The menu is enhanced for having a specialism, but this is not at the expense of excluding those of other tastes. Service remains good, and prices are fair. It remains a reliable option: visitors can book knowing they will be well fed and leave satisfied.

FOOD FACTS

Beefeater Broomside Park, Broomside Lane, Belmont Industrial Estate, Durham, DH1 1GG

Tel: 0191 3706500

Web: www.beefeater.co.uk

Open: Monday to Saturday, noon to 11pm; Sundays, noon to 10.30pm (also open daily for breakfast)

Ratings (out of ten): Value 6, Surroundings 7, Service 6, Food quality 7