Pitcher & Piano

My coworker hails from India and since this is his first time in the UK and i felt the obligation to take him to a genuine British pub. After poking around on the interwebz, it turns out that the #1 recommended british pub in Reading on trip advisor is in East Reading, which is too far from us. Mapping out the central, it looked like Pitcher & Piano is rated not only has the highest in central Reading, but also way higher than the next highest pub (at this time of writing there arent enough reviews on Unilocal to conduct this research). Although I have walked by a few times since the place is next to the train station, it looked way too fancy for what i was looking for but it turned out that it was both nothing and exactly what i was expecting.
First, despite the fancy décor, the price is inexpensive. Most offerings for food are no more than 10 quid. That’s alright by me.
Second, despite the fancy arm chairs and nice chandeliers and large space without beer spilt all over the floor, you still have a few people standing by the bar drinking, and you still need to take the fancy menu to the bar and order and pay.
Third, the food is actually very good. We had the bbq chicken flat bread (£8.50) and british buttermilk chicken (£9.95). The bbq chicken was nicely cooked with a bourbon-​based bbq sauce and it was thick and smoky. The portion was quite small but the chicken was done right. The buttermilk chicken has cajun tasting spicy dry rub, which was pretty amazing — however the chicken was a bit dry and the rub was not fully infused. The coleslaw that came with it was too creamy but really tasty. The fries could be crispier.
Overall, I was more than satisfied with this choice. I probably would have preferred something a little grubbier, rough around the edges, and a little bit more british in the cooking but I don’t think my colleague would have liked it as much. Although this place is a chain, the menu in each location is actually different and the food is quite good. Definitely a place to considered if you are grabbing a pint or a bite.