George and Dragon, Downeback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
I go here quite a lot. The Timothy Taylor's Landlord bitter is a real treat, and worth a try. However, the great thing about the pub (and all my family love it also - last ate here 20th November) are the homemade pies - real pastry all around and stuffed with meat etc - fantastic. Does get quiet at times as the previous correspondent says - tends to get busier 5 - 7pm and after 8:30pm !!!
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Harveys has always been excellent and still is, but something's changed for the worst here, the recent sterile makeover certainly hasn't helped, and maybe the Queens Head being on the up hasn't helped either - I do go in at quiet times 7pm-8:30 weekdays but its never been this dead - still giving it a 6 because good beer is sadly a rarity these days (mind you with low numbers that's bound to suffer soon) ...
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We visited the George & Dragon for Sunday lunch today (albeit on Bank Holiday Monday), as part of a ramble including a visit to Downe House.
The initial impression was positive, with low wooden beams and a traditional interior. They had a standard range of cask ales, including Harvey's, Timothy Taylor, London Pride and Young's Bitter. The beer was fine.
However, the food was a very poor. The meat in my Sunday roast was very strange: paper thin and very similar to sliced luncheon meat. My wife ordered a gammon baguette but received a roll with sliced luncheon ham and some limp leaves. When we asked the waitress about this, the reply was "But that is gammon". Where do you even begin with that?
In summary, ok beer, middling atmosphere, terrible food. Very disappointed with an �18 outlay for a beer, a tea and terrible grub.
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Went here with a large group of Ramblers .Ordered lunch 3 hrs before arrival.
What a SHAMBLES.Place was empty.Soup just about covered bottom of soup bowl FOR NEARLY �5.Complained About half portion brought in a jug.Chips inedible.Asked for mayonnaise to acompany salad STILL WAITING
Are new people running this place ???.
won't be back thats for sure.plenty of good locations around
adios
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we quite often visit the george with my family wife and 2 children who enjoy the relaxed atmosphere good food and friendly staff and above all good beer for me with harveys,london pride,bass and tim taylors landlord oh they also do lager aswell. The pub still has low ceilings beams and an open fire in winter as for the free sausages they went over 20 years as did the wall separating the bar which made the pub more spacious. Overall this pub is worth a visit on a bus route from bromley and orpington and also near Downe house and Xmas tree farm, there is a quiz night every sunday night and other entertainment at various times .
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Once upon a time this was the perfect country pub - a couple of small bars with beamed ceilings, a real fire in winter and (free!) hot sausages. We would travel miles just to come here. And then about ten years ago someone had the bright idea of ripping all that out and turning The George & Dragon into an anodyne nothing-much of a pub that could be anywhere. A tragic act of vandalism.
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Visited this pub on Sunday. With my family of six inclusive. I have to say this is the best sunday lunch I have ever tasted, home made gravy, home made Yorkshire puddings (even if you had Lamb or Pork) a huge selection of fresh vegetables, and for my vegetarian daughter one of the best tasting vegetarian meals ever. Great selection of Beers and wine. Realy friendly staff, and a wonderful atmosphere. We will go back time and time again
Fork
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Was in yesterday for a lunchtime pint & some food. Ale: good pint of Harvey's Best; also on offer, Pride, Landlord & ,er, Bass. Service pleasant & attentive; landlord chatty. Signs of attention to customers' wishes: a (long) voting list for the next guest ale. Food fine, didn't have to wait too long.
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Very friendly when I rang the evening before to book our party of 3 adults and 4 children for Sunday lunch. I specifically mentioned that one of our parties was a vegetarian. On the day a pleasant and friendly waitress. Good pint of Bass although inexplicably pub was out of cranberry juice requested by one child. Large servings of well cooked food and huge bowl of mixed veg to share.
Alas, the veggie member of our party ordered a roast without meat. Handed a plain mix of lonely looking new and roast potatoes on a plate - not even a slightly burnt Yorkshire pud like the rest of us - she asked if there was any sauce, e.g. peppercorn or parsley to accompany the spuds. This seemed a reasonable request as other dishes on the menu were served with sauce. We were told in quite an aggressive and arrogant manner by a more senior member of staff (the licensee/restaurant manager?) that all the pub's sauces were based on meat stock - no concession to vegetarians; that the kitchen was too busy to make up a simple meat free gravy/sauce - although only 2 other tables were occupied in the large restaurant and a similar number in the other bar; and that we'd only got what we asked for (our just desserts? See below!)
Despite courteously asking staff to make an effort and treat us as customers, we were not offered an alternative or shown any understanding. Consequently one member of our party went without a main course, handing back her plate of potatoes.
When we asked to order sweet, we were helpfully told that only one portion of rhubarb and ginger crumble remained. We immediately claimed it and completed our order. Alas a second time. The desserts were served with the exception of the reserved crumble, and several minutes passed before we were told that it had already run out.
Our disappointment and frustration with the pub's food management was only slightly tempered when one of our party owned up to realising that having eaten half their crumble thinking it was apple, it in fact tasted suspiciously like rhubarb and ginger.
Overall not a happy eating experience. Left the pub with a metaphorical bad taste in the mouth, although the uneaten veggie roast main course was deducted from the bill.
The pub is very close to Charles Darwin's home and promotes its historical link with the famous scientist. We headed there after lunch seeing where he wrote his masterwork on natural selection, a theory later popularised as 'survival of the fittest'. The George and Dragon will have to adapt its menu and evolve its customer service if it is to avoid extinction in today's fiercely competitive pub food environment.
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Looks like a country pub from the outside and is in the heart of a pretty village but is actually a bit of a smoky 'locals' pub judging by the punters on the day we visited. Had to sit outside for food and our clothes stank of smoke from just ordering at the bar. Food was ok though
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A great little pub set in the village of downe serving real ales london pride, bass, youngs,old hen and it also sells lagers, the food is of good value and it also caters for kids. more importantly the beer is very well kept.
paul - 4 May 2004 23:50 |
Pretty traditioanl 15th century pub in the Village of Downe. The home of Charles Darwin Just three miles from the centre of Bromley in one of the last remaining villages inside the M25
Good food and drink in perfect situation. Pretty garden Child friendly
Jamie Newman - 14 Jul 2003 14:00 |
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