The Blue Anchor, Hammersmith

Lovely pub, great location, excellent refurb (apparently back to the pre-Sliding Doors period layout). Beers are good and coffees not bad either. Sadly the food is a terrible let down - the upstairs could become a great eating place (without ruining the traditional pub emphasis downstairs) if the quality of food was improved.

With friends in tow I've really tried to give it a good crack of the whip: 3 different pies have been tried, only one of which was passable. Cold mash potatoes with the pies twice. Miniscule (but tasty enough) fish pies (in the first few weeks they were humungous but mostly potato). Steak salad was okay, as was (surprisingly) the Mexican-style chicken fajitas dish. Bar snacks are more reliable, it seems.

Notwithstanding the above, I can't recommend a sweeter spot to drink (or eat) - for the mood and views, if not the flavours. I'm hoping the owners will read this and raise their game: I suspect that a small uplift in food standards would repay their costly and thoughtful refurbishment investment pretty quickly.

26 Jul 2008 13:59