Baker Street Pub (Belmar)

7260 W Alaska Drive (Belmar Shopping center)
Lakewood

The other night, we were driving along, trying to figure out where to go for dinner. After aimlessly wandering for a good 30 minutes, we wound up in Belmar. Since it was nearly 9:00, we didn't want to keep driving, so we parked and went to find somewhere for dinner. We decided that we'd like to try somewhere we hadn't been before, and that left us with two options. One appeared to be filled with teenagers, and the other was Baker Street Pub. Since Geoff can always make do with fish and chips, we headed in.

Baker Street is a British-themed chain restaurant that specializes in pub fare - fish and chips, shephard's pie, etc. Named after the famous street where Sherlock Holmes resided, the restaurant was dark and filled with Bennigan's-style random knick-knacks. We found it to be surprisingly empty (it was a Saturday night,) though the patio was full. Within about 45 minutes, though, it began to fill up, and we figured that the band was going to be starting soon. What had been a pretty quiet seat quickly became noisy as the bar and dining area filled with 20-somethings from Lakewood and Golden.

G enjoyed the fish and chips, and S had the chicken and chips. Both were served in baskets lined with pretend news paper. And while both were tasty and crispy, they were definitely grease-laden.

It seemed that there were only waitresses; the male employees seemed to be bussers or bartenders. The waitresses' black t-shirts declared them to be "English Muffins," though they seemed pretty American to us! The service grew worse and worse as the place filled up (hey, it's authentic English!) - we had to flag down our waitress to get drink refills, and we eventually had to get up and ask her to bring our check, after we sat with empty plates and glasses for about 20 minutes.

This is definitely a kitschy, cute place. The band sucked - bad versions of 80's pop with a female singer doing songs originally sung by men - but it seems that there is a rotating schedule, so maybe you'll have better luck if you go. Dinner for two and 3 beers was about $35 - a more than fair price (the servings were generous.) The food wasn't outstanding, but it was good (as noted before, a bit less grease would have been good.) Service definitely needs to be adjusted. If they are understaffed to handle the Saturday night crowd that appears to hear the band, then they need to adjust. Or maybe our server was just having a REALLY bad night. Check it out if you're in the neighborhood and feel like some Brit-style comfort food, but definitely don't make a special trip.