please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
The Hole in the Wall exists no longer. It's been in the process of being completely renovated (not that it needed anything as it was a very pleasing place as it was).
No guess what it's going to be, a gastro pub of the wankiest persuasion. Without wishing to enter into a rant, I can't imagine this new identity offering much to the social drinker.
As if Chiswick needed yet another one of those. With this and Pickwicks now gone, the only genuine pub left in the area is Connolly's.
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Nice place and friendly staff but you can't after finding a DIRTY BLACK HAIR TWICE in our food this place is off our eating list. Great selections of beers however.
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Nice enough pub, good service and food. Lacks a certain something to make it a buzzing pub.
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My wife and I live around the corner, so we have been to this pub many times for a quit drink. Unfortunately this pub has turned into a place were families bring there kids and let them run around and harass the other customers.
Last Sunday we stopped around for a few pints after Sunday lunch.....there was a very rude little 7 year old girl there with her family. She decided she wanted to play with my wife. When my wife told her she didn't want to play the little girl followed her around the pub stamping her feet and demanding that she go into the beer garden and entertain her. When I told her to go back to her mother she just looked at us like we were the hired help. Strange! After 10 minutes of this I had to go to the bar and ask the staff to "please do something about this litte brat who thinks my wife is her nanny".
We won't be going back and we live right around the corner. Ashame.
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Great modern local in residential area away from the high street - hard to find if you're not a local. Very well kept ales - the Pride is better than any of the Fullers pubs nearby that I've tried (most). Good low(ish) level music, amazing garden (with grass!!!), 2 rooms to the bar - a main front bar and a smaller cozy snug plus a dining room where generally very good, posh, pub food (quite expensive), is served.
The couple that run it are great and very friendly and their staff are well drilled. When they took it over it was a little too much of a restaurant to start off with (although very good) but it's found a good middle ground now between drinking and eating with some great local characters at the bar too. Would feel happy coming here for a few beers with friends, dinner with my girlfriend or having Sunday lunch with the parents.
Sunday lunch can get pretty hectic though with too many moody pram pushers (the down-side of Chiswick I guess) expecting to be treated like royalty (as a reward for letting their offspring run around the pub until they fall over and cry ?) spoiling the atmosphere a bit for others. It's a PUB please guys - not a childminders that sells beer !!! Great that it's child friendly but it's not all about you, you, you !!!
Overall, a really good local pub. Yes it's been smartened up a bit, yes you can buy some posh food there, no it's hasn't got sky, no it hasn't got pitbulls scaring everyone out of the garden anymore but that's what makes it a good local pub that suits the community which is what a local pub should be.
Most of the reviews here are very out of date or written by people who would probably be happier in Giraffe on the High Street.
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I love this pub but haven't tried the food yet.
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I went to this pub today for sunday lunch with 4 friends, two toddlers and a 3 month old. Had read reviews and was looking forward to a lovely sunday lunch out with friends and my family but this did not happen.
The staff were pleasant enough when we arrived and we ordered our food and drinks, our server was very nice and asked whether we wanted the kids meals first - which I thought was quite thoughtful as not many places ask this.
The food turned up and everything was fine until my 3 month old started to become unsettled. She wasn't screaming the place down but she was not happy. Anyway to my embarrassment and shock I was asked to take my baby outside because a couple of people have complained and the member of staff was serious. In the 2.5 years that I have been a mother I have never been asked to vacate somewhere because my child was noisy. Now if this was in the evening or a time not suitable for children then fair enough, but on a Sunday lunchtime where there are other children happily playing around and also dogs barking then I do not accept this...I felt humiliated and upset that I had to do this so I left in tears having hardly touched my �17 steak (which for a sunday lunch is quite dear).
Now to be fair the member of staff did apologise but not for the right reason, he was sorry that he had upset me and that we were leaving, he was not sorry that he asked me to take my crying baby outside. He obviously favoured the other customer that complained even though we were paying customers too (when to be honest if you don't want to be around children don't go to a pub that calls itself 'kid friendly' over the phone and provides childrens menus). I find this attitude very short-sighted and to top it all off he wasn't sorry enough to not charge me for my meal which lay uneaten on my plate but charged the entire party the full price - so much for appreciating your customer.
In short, I will not be recommending this venue to any of my friends (with or without kids). I would write a review on the food however I didn't get to eat it only pay for it!
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I went to this place the other sunday and have to say that I was not impressed!
It started out fine...The staff seemed to be helpful and sorted out a table for 6. We were waiting for two other people so decided to order drinks at the bar. This is where it starts to go wrong... We ordered 2 out of 4 drinks then the barman served someone else before returning to us!
We decided to sit at the table as there were not enough seats at the bar area. We were offered olives and bread while we were waiting...The olives and oil turned up but the bread was a further 10mins! We asked where the bread was and was told that it was being warmed up...why bring the oil then?!
We were stil waiting for the two other to turn up so ordered the crab cakes and grilled squid with Cous-cous...nice but the squid was a bit rubbery.
With the other two people now at the table we ordered our mains. Being sunday we opted for the roasts...One of our party asked how the beef was cooked..The waitress seemed to be put out by this question and rudely replied "It's cooked in one bit and we carve it up!"...Our party then explained that we wanted to know if we could have it cooked med-rare...Again the waitess was rude and replied "It's impossible to tell, we just slice it up and see!"... So not wanting to cause a scene we had 4 roast beef and 2 roast Lamb.
The roasts turned up and Looked nice..but WARNING...If you like your Yorkshire Puddings then order the beef! I had Lamb and I asked where my pud was, the waitress said that they are for the beef...I asked if there was a possibility of getting a yorkshire pud, The waitress went to the chef then returned with the message.."The chef only has enough yorkshire puddings for the Beef"...What??!!
The meal was ok for the money I suppose...The veg was a little soggy and oily and there was a half a roasted bulb of garlic so watch out if you don't really like garlic!
I would go on about how we got the wrong bill for our table and then when we told them we were still charged an extra �7 for Service!...I wouldn't have paid anything for the service!
I hope that we got the 1 meal out of 100 that went wrong as if this is the norm for this place I would reccomend going somewhere else for lunnch
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GIVE THIS PUB A TRY, NICE ALROUND
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I found staff to be friendly and a great place for a lunch on a sunny day with its garden at the back. Good for kids and food has an interesting variety. Try their fish finger sandwich - specially made fish fingers in ciabatta bread.
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Does a good Sunday lunch though once one of us got a cold plate of chicken when it should have been hot. Normally good though and the vegetables are tasty and interesting rather than a microwaved afterthought as is often the case. There is usually London Pride and Spitfire on pump. The garden is pleasant if not enormous.
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This is not a bad pub if the sun is shining and you can sit in the beer garden. Service was adequate, but I only saw Pride and Spitfire alongside an extensive range of lagers which is a little strange for a pub a stones throw from the Fuller�s Brewery.
I can�t really say a lot more about this pub another than it is tucked down a one way street in the back roads of Chiswick and there are better pubs around albeit quite a stroll away.
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That's unfortunate that you didn't eat there, because the food, or at least the Sunday lunches, are excellent. Good meat and also vegetables prepared and presented with some imagination and flair, not just the usual frozen carrots and broccoli you get in so many places
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I've been dissed on here for my open hatred for "Gastropubs", and the primary school furniture they all sem to adopt, so I'll concentrate just on the service.
Found this place by accident, and took the wife for Sunday lunch.
Got there and a VERY disinterested guy behind the bar made it obvious we were a hassle to him (not sure if it was due to the football shirt I was wearing - LOL). Begrudgingly poured me a Guinness. On top of his attitude he was scruffy, with 3 days or so of stubble. As ever, I said "please" and "thankyou" where possible, but don't think I heard either from him at all. Took a seat and looked at the menu, but that did it for me, and I wasn't interested. There was a chirpy and friendly young female (Kiwi I think - Sorry if you're Aussie, sometimes it's difficult to tell), who was permanently busy, and she thanked us as we left, but the chap was still miserable as sin.
Ended up having food on our first visit to The Duke.
Graam - 10 Apr 2006 19:42 |
This pub is strangely gentrified given the locale and to be honest it's this that saves it from being just another modern atrocity. Unlike the Pilot near by there's a sense of visual interest at play here. Coming in from the cold you feel you've stumbled upon something secret, hidden away from the rest of the world. This is aided further by the fact that the pub's been split into three distinct areas that create a sense of being able to find ones own space here, rather than being lumped togther like at, again, The Pilot around the corner. Not bad then but not brilliant either given the forcibly middle aged and middle classed clientelle that dominate.
Good for: Quiet evenings
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The food is pretty good, not outrageously priced and a couple of ales to choose from. Plenty of large tables to drink away and have a chat. It seems lacking in atmosphere, but is always clean and hospitable. Good for a long drinking session where you don't have top shout to have a conversation.
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Gastropub - fairly typical of Chiswick. Lacks character, uninspiring to say the least
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The refit is not at all bad I thought. Hasn't lost all character though a more interesting paint shade than Dove Grey would be interesting.
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Oh my God !! What have you done?
How can these people sleep nights? They've replaced a cracking community local with a poncey gastropub. Flamin' gentrification, who needs it?
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It is definitely the place to go to for excellent tasty food which, is of sufficient quantitiy. The staff are friendly and it's now become a regular eating place for my friends and I. As much as I love this place I think it is more for dining rather than a pub. They should get some more comfy chairs in the back left bar section.
curly - 22 Sep 2004 13:07 |
Herms,
I don't think calling someone a dickhead is very nice, or very constructive. He's just as entitled to his opinion as you are, and I think he made a valid point: Chiswick does have rather a lot of gastro-pubs.
Johnno - 25 Aug 2004 16:34 |
Went there monday 3rd Aug fantastic, steak as main melted in your mouth, staff friendly (the chicks barstaff gorgeous).Glad to see the place more accomadateing for everyone. and all the dickheads like Steve SEE- 8 April has left
HERMS - 3 Aug 2004 14:06 |
Having frequented the pub both before and after the recent refurb, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't be hugely impressed by the great turn around the pub has had. From a dark and imposing bar to a bright and friendly pub/eatery. We thought the food was fantastic and the service friendly.
anonymous - 19 Jul 2004 14:37 |
new owners have recently refurbished the Hole in the Wall which is now a cool, trendy, comfortable bar with a great restaurant. There's also a fab beer garden for the sunny days to come.
si - 19 Jul 2004 14:28 |
Its now a restaurant masquerading as a pub. Avoid!
Dave - 16 Jul 2004 17:10 |
Lesley, the landlady, has moved to The Old Trout in Hammersmith Bus Station. The ex-regulars have all decamped to Tommy Flynn's and the HITW has been bought to be turned into another Gastro shite hole - just what Chiswick needs!!
Steve - 8 Apr 2004 11:50 |
Seems to have shut down.
Johnno - 6 Apr 2004 16:58 |
It's ok and has a nice big garden, also not inimical to live music and barbeques (Mr Robert Rankin's launch for his recent tome was the kind of hellgig we thought had gone out with the last century). Could do with more and better bitter though. Not everyone wants to drink lager.
ChrisA - 11 Sep 2003 15:50 |
Holsten Export on tap. Say no more. Never (not) heard such a deathly silence during a game of football as experienced yesterday during Arsenal vs Liverpool.
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