BITE user comments - suelovell
Comments by suelovell
Nice pub with a lovely outdoor area and garden. Really nice place to be on a sunny day, but I didn't think much of the food. Went there once when there was a BBQ and that was really good, enjoyed the BBQ food enormously, but the general run of food from the kitchen is not so great. Had a selection of dips and bread there recently and the dips were in such tiny little pots that we felt a bit cheated. (They were the kind of pots that you would find in a hotel for one serving of butter at breakfast.) On the other hand there was a ton of bread! The drinks and the ambience are very pleasant though, especially in the pretty garden and it's clearly very popular with the villagers.
27 Jun 2010 20:23
This is billed as a gastro-pub, but I have to tell you that it is all restaurant and no pub really. It burnt down in 2009 and has been refurbished - I don't know whether it has opened again as yet. When I used to go there before, the food was very nice indeed and the service was always very good. The price is on the high side, so we would only go there for a birthday treat or something. It has a small patio out back, which is nice on a warm day but only overlooks a car park. On a warm evening though, with the fairy lights on, it is very pretty. I just hope it maintains its good standards when it reopens.
27 Jun 2010 20:15
This is not a pub, it's a restaurant, but it is very nice. It used to be a very upmarket restaurant, the sort where you might go for a special occasion, which I have done a couple of times and the food and service was fantastic. However it is now a tapas bar and does breakfasts in the mornings. I haven't tried the breakfasts but I am told they are very good. The tapas is lovely, if a tad overpriced. The service is always excellent here and the variety of tapas is excellent too. You need to buy about 4 plates of tapas per person to make a main meal of it. The cheapest wine on the menu was, as I recall, pretty good too. Friendly, warm staff.
27 Jun 2010 20:10
I have been here several times over the past few summers. It has a fabulous garden with lovely views and the inside is cosy and traditional-feeling. However, they are victims of their own popularity in that as soon as the garden gets crowded, as it always does on a sunny afternoon, the kitchen falls apart. One day we were told there was a wait of one and a half hours for service, which we actually did wait, only to be told they'd run out of food! Another day we waited over an hour and a half after ordering food because they were short of staff. Another day we were told they were not even taking any food orders because they could not cope. To be honest, when you do get the food it often isn't worth the money or the long wait. Today it was quiet (Germany v England on TV) so we got served quickly, but the Wensleydale, grape, honey and mint salad, which sounded gorgeous on a hot day, was just a joke. A pile of wilting leaves out of a salad bag, a few cubes of cheese and a handful of grapes. A drizzle of honey dressing, no sign of any mint. I felt gutted, even though the price was only about £6.95, because I could have thrown it together in 5 minutes for about a £1. The food here is always disappointing and does not live up to the glowing descriptions on the menu. The ice cream sundae described as Swiss chocolate blah blah blah is 3 scoops of choc and mint ice cream with chocolate sauce on top; no cream, no wafer, no extra bits and pieces to warrant the title of 'sundae'. In short - go there for a drink, but as for the food - don't bother.
27 Jun 2010 19:54
The Ludwick Arms, Welwyn Garden City
This pub has had its ups and downs for sure. Sometimes t's been a no-go area because of roughnecks and drunks. Sometimes it's been a nice, friendly, family pub with a children's play area. It struggles to find an identity here, for some reason. The food is mediocre, the staff usually quite friendly. Currently it seems to have no idea what kind of pub it really is. Could do with a major makeover and someone to point it in a definite direction.
6 Dec 2009 15:04
Hello, hello, is anybody there? This pub burnt to the ground about 2 years ago or more. It is an ex-pub. Probably an insurance scam as it was actually a really old inn that had gotten very rough and nasty in its latter years, unfortunately. Say hello to another block of flats very soon no doubt. I'm sure the land was sold at a nice profit.
6 Dec 2009 15:00
The Beehive, Welwyn Garden City
This pub used to be a fabulous local. The staff were (mostly) friendly and the atmosphere there was great - cosy, warm, fun. Now it feels like it's running down, as if it is heading for imminent closure. The music on the speakers is dire, just the owners' favourite songs I think. The food is awful, just like a greasy spoon cafe. The feeling inside is of darkness and gloom instead of warmth. It makes me feel sad to go there now, it's so cold and lacking in character. What a sad shame for a really ancient pub dating back to the 1400s.
6 Dec 2009 14:56
The Mayflower, Welwyn Garden City
Hideous pub; dirty, old and full of drunks and local ne'er do wells.
6 Dec 2009 14:50
Oak Tavern, Welwyn Garden City
Avoid! Avoid! Avoid! Unless you want your face smashed in!
6 Dec 2009 14:49
Poor old Rose & Crown! It used to be packed to the gunwales with local people and visitors from Welwyn Garden City when it was an old fashioned pub where you went for a pint on a weekend evening. Now it's trying to do food and has found itself somehow lost in about 1975...plastic tables in the yard, plastic table cloths, gnomes and a fake wishing well with plastic squirrels on? What's all that about?! The food is dull and uninspired, the staff are friendly and seem genuinely to be trying their best but they are struggling against enormous odds. This pub needs either to decide to stay firmly in the 19th century or enter the 21st. The current 1975 vibe is just so unattractive. Get some wooden furniture in the back yard and dump the plastic table cloths!
6 Dec 2009 14:47
The trouble with The Plume is that they are victims of their own popularity. Last summer I visited more than once on weekend when they were unable to take food orders because of no staff in the kitchen, or when I ordered food and had to wait upwards of an hour to receive my meal. The garden is lovely but always rammed at weekends. as a result, the temper of the staff and the quality of the food both suffer. The food is pretty uninspired anyway. What they need is lots more staff and a better chef!
6 Dec 2009 14:41
The White Horse, Burnham Green
This pub has a nice garden for a summer visit, but thinks far too much of itself. The food is extravagently described and thus is always disappointing when it arrives. It is also seriously over priced. It is very popular on sunny days because of the pretty views from the back garden. I would not recommend it for food though.
6 Dec 2009 14:37
This pub just reopened on 5th Dec 2009 and has changed considerably for the better. Although it's still part of a (small) chain, the staff are warm, friendly and enthusiatic and can't do enough for you.The food is very good, a little more expensive than before but very much worth it. There's a definite Italian slant to the menu now, with lots of garlic, pasta and pizza, but all with a lovely unusual twist. For those who prefer the meat and veg approach, there are plenty of other options too. The popular Sunday Roasts are still available, in more variety and super presentation. We enjoyed a lovely lunch there with delicious desserts too. Recommended!
6 Dec 2009 14:31
Bull, Welwyn Garden City
This is not a pub any more, it's a better than decent Thai/Oriental restaurant called The East. I've eaten there about 4 or 5 times and think it is great - modern interior, pleasant staff, good food. Don't be put off by the somewhat scruffy exterior! You will be surprised and delighted when you go inside.
27 Jun 2010 20:33