please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Fantastic selection of English ales and Belgium beers in this place. They had a Maldon Gold - or something wonderful like that, which I went for and was in great condition.
Busy area at the front but then some nice snug areas round the back with board games a-plenty.
Lovely wooden pub decor, great place.
|
Went a couple of weeks ago. Its still the same pub in the summertime as what olliesmyhero says below - the hipster gypos sit outside with their cans from the off licence. Pub itself is still rubbish - the problem is that the service is so bad. Went with a party, bought a lot of food but the coke I asked for didn't turn up, neither did an extra plate. Staff seemed apathetic and idle. Customers are not treated warmly here. Food's actually not bad but the service is rubbish.
|
decent pub that focuses more on food than on drink, as indicated by the changing menu and the large tables for seating.. attracts a trendy young crowd.. good for food, forgettable for drinks
|
not my kind of pub most of the people drinking here sit outside and buy their beer from the supermarket opposite.seems to be a trendy place but much prefered it when it was a proper locals local.
|
Took my dad here. He hated it. Years ago I lived off London fields, and this was a back street boozer with a funny little stage in the corner. Now its full of trendy young things drunkenly spilling out into the street shrieking and falling over. I guess that's progress.
|
Incredibly posh little place in the heart of Hackney. You'd think Broadway Market was walled off from the rest of Hackney - everyone is so 'young professional'. Still, this place is right on the edge of that enclave and you can see some weird goings on if you stand outside and look out over the entrance to London Fields.
|
great locality with good offering for the beer. Yes some of the punters are complete tools but i guess thats what you have to expect in this part of town
staff seemed fine to me , served quick , tables cleared etc. NOt my choice but still freindly enough for a few
|
This pub has now inproved since they got rid of the last washout manager its now a friendly place to drink
|
These review are hilarious, and totally spot on. I was there yesterday, and its even worse, but if you're a social anthopologist its got to be the best bar for people watching there is. I have to say I had no problem with the service as we only ordered a couple of drinks, and everyone else was outside drinking stuff from the off licence. What was wierd was the girls that came from out of nowhere and walk into the pub at regular intervals and use the bar as as a catwalk. Some were going in the toliet to do some quite hideous wardrobe changes. They didn't even hand around outside. They'd just come from around the corner, walk in, loiter in the doorway and then disappear again. Personally though, it was too much for me being in an environment where everyone is trying so hard to be 'it', but its not just the bar either now, its overspilled because of the weather, and its just everywhere; London Fields, all down Broadway Market. The only decent spot is the great chippy at the other end. We went there afterwards to get some sense of normality and it made us feel a little human again.
|
First pub I tried after moving here. I stood at the bar for 15 minutes while the woman infront ordered a 'steamed soya latte, extra hot, with a shot of kahlua'. There was even a woman with a dog-in-a-bag. Think I'll find another boozer.
|
Once, before this pub was gentrified and infested with haircuts that pose as human beings, I witnessed a chap grab a fellow drinker's Man U scarf and carefully wipe his dog's bottom with it.
Happy days.
The place is a travesty now, you couldn't chuck a brick without hiting a middle-class trendy who's showing their parents up from Devon the chirpy cockernee coster-mongers on Columbia Road. They make me sick, and pull your jeans up, cretins.
|
Broadly terrible, specifically depressing. The decor has less imagination than the punters. I remember watching them ripping out the rather nice old interior a few years back only to replace it with, well, some ugly wooden tables....and nothing else.
|
Jaw-droppingly rude staff.
�3.60 for a pint of flat lager.
Avoid.
|
Worst/best thing about this pub are the people in it - if they did another series of Nathan Barley these would be the characters in it. You'll be hard pressed to find a bunch of jokers taking themselves more seriously as Shoreditch continues to haemorrhage into the surrounding areas.
|
this is not a pub, more like a restaurant or hang out for "artists" . avoid unless you like poor service, pretentious people and staff, this represents the worst types of people to move into hackney.
|
How many bar staff does it take to serve a drink in the Cat and Mutton on a Saturday night? One to pose in the corner, one to have a joke with the chef, three to have their picture taken together and one to eventually get round to serving you and your fellow punters. But beware, they will still need to consult a colleague at the till for an inconceivably long time before returning with your change.
I hoped I'd caught them on a bad night the first time I was there, but I was wrong. The bar staff seem to believe they are higher beings. They look genuinely mystified as to why the customers are disgruntled. It's my local, but I'll be seeking somewhere more friendly to drink in future. That shouldn't be hard.
|
I've lived opposite this pub for the past year and from time to time make the mistake of going back in to see if it's got any better. It never does - it's dreadful.
The bar staff really don't seem to be bothered, even when there are five people waiting at the bar the staff seem more interested in checking their hair in the mirror or joking with the chef. Of the 3 lagers on draught, there's usually a plastic cup over one of the pumps. Not that they've run out - it's just it seems to much trouble to go down to the cellar and change the barrel. My main memory of the beer there is walking away from the bar with a plastic skiff of flat yellow liquid that doesn't taste quite right, having paid about �3.60 for the pleasure.
They have an open kitchen - which in most restaurants is a good thing because you can see the good standards the kitchen. At the Cat & Mutton you've got a good five minutes to wait at the bar before you can order (the staff only seem to be able to use the till in pairs with one helping the other out) and I've changed my mind a couple of times whilst waiting to place an order because I've seen how the 'chef' is cooking that particular dish.
Once I came back from work and there was no food in the house. In desperation I thought the Cat & Mutton might be worth another try (this was July 2007). The Roasted Vegetable Baguette was a small roll filled with margerine containing a few pieces of fried green pepper for �5.95. The rock hard and cold french fries they came with looked though they'd been tipped from the freezer bag into the deep frier at some stage earlier that day, only to wait for a paying mug^H^H^H customer to come in later on. It's got to be bad when you leave it almost untouched, right? Especially when you're really hungry.
The place seems to be the 'In Place' for the local fashion college so it gets fairly busy at the weekends. All I can say is, don't eat the food and don't drink the beer. If you want to enjoy the scene, do what most people seem to do - get a few cans from the off-license next door and sit around on the benches under the awnings. The clueless staff never set foot outside.
anonymous - 6 Nov 2007 17:23 |
never met more rude staff!
anonymous - 16 Oct 2007 23:01 |
Went on 1st October 2007 with 11 friends. Several of us ordered food which didn't arrive for one hour and 10 minutes, so we gave up and cancelled the order.
About half an hour later a fifty pound 'cancellation' bill (approx 25% of the original meal we ordered) came to the table, which we were told we'd have to pay as orders can't be cancelled.
Big argument ensues, voices raised, 'duty manager' called and after 20 minutes we're being threatened in various ways including 'calling our card issuers' (one of us had left a card behind the bar for drinks).
Eventually we left without paying. Needless to say all concerned are recommending none of our friends visit the place.
|
Horrible place. Avoid unless you like poor service, rude staff, no room and over priced beer. Fill your boots.
|
the place looks nice in my view, but its a bit 'gay' to just go for a drink as everyone's eating. I thought id give the food a try, very average, took nearly an hour to arrive, beef was like chewing gum, had lo leave most of it, then the real cheek - charging an extra 12.5% automatically on your card, with out asking, its actually illegal i believe. All they did was brought the food to the table, and that is usually part of the deal when you eat in a pub. When challenged about the 'tip' their defence was 'its a restaurant not a pub'. I recon thats a shit excuse, if it was a restaurant they would have come and taken my order from the table.
|
Pint of lager and a Bloody Mary came to just under �9.00. Enough said.
|
they seem to be running a business not a pub. the food was poor and very expensive plus there was a service charge added onto the bill with out option, pretty bad considering the service invlolves going to the bar and ordering.
this pub should be avoided despite the pleasant gentrification.
anonymous - 29 Aug 2006 18:05 |
Seems like it's not a good idea to wear your Sunday best to this place - gardening or workingmans' clothes would seem more appropriate !
|
Spilled gravy in a pub listed as closed? Curiouser and curiouser. The 3.6 rating sounds highly deserved.
anonymous - 21 Aug 2006 16:40 |
The waiter spilled gravy all down my back at a girlfriend's birthday drinks there yesterday and all I got was a scared 'sorry'. I didn't want to make a fuss but it was agreed around the table that some sort of compensation was in order. I asked the girls behind the bar for a half price bottle of wine and they said they couldn't do anything until the manager came in (20 mins later). About 3 hours later I asked the manager if she was going to do anything about it and she had no idea what I was talking about. Then she said she couldn't do anything because it happend on the ownwers shift ?!?!. Eventually I got a free beer for one of my friends as I was drinking a white wine that was only served by the bottle. I spent �60 in there on lunch and drinks and I was one of about 15 people! How stupid are some of these managers and bar staff. I've worked in customer service for most of my adult life and a free bottle of wine would be the least you'd do for ruining someone's shirt and possibly their Sunday afternoon. On top of that one of the people with us didn't get any gravy on their roast at all because they had 'run out'. About 7 of us had roasts! Couldn't they seem it coming and give the rest of us a little less?! I know I'm ranting but I'm getting tired of this sort of stupidity. And for icing on the cake - they charge a 12.5% service charge. Rubbish!
|
Demolished! The pub is gone. It's now another resturant, like the Horseshoe in Hampstead. I think they are called gastro pubs...
|
Never been in there, but as it's always chocka with all the trendy types of the like that clog up The Dove down the road, it won't be anytime soon. Appears to be a gastropub that's favoured by anyone with a three wheeled pram, especially on the aforementioned Farmers Marker day when the trendy types descend to pur-chase their organic enemas for �12.50/kilo...get yourself to a real boozer like The Dolphin where you may *gasp* see some people that don't look like you!
|
Just had the worst experience on my first and last visit to the Cat & Mutton. Awful service - forgetting about orders, giving us the wrong thing, what was listed on the board wasn't what was on the plate... then MY BAG GOT STOLEN! The manager's response was unaccountable and extremely unprofessional. She then let slip that the CCTV had NOT BEEN WORKING FOR ATLEAST 3 WEEKS and they have about TWO THEFTS A WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!
This happened to me at about 3:30 in the afternoon! To think of all the warehouse parties and after-hours places I've been to in that area and never had a bag stolen - then I'm eating an �8 breakfast with a room full of media types and my bag is swiped very slickly from being wedged in between my legs and my friend's right beside me.
Something's not right! Don't go.
|
Pardon me. I'm new around here and I'm not completely familiar with some of the terms being used. Could someone please be so kind as to tell me what is meant by the phrase:
"battersby-dingle types"
is this related in someway to "chav's"
thank you and good day,
dr. b
|
The new Cat and Mutton was a plus for Sunday Roast, very much an improvement on the old Cat and Mutton. I only visited twice but it was drab. Personally I enjoy the traditional type boozer, and my 'local' in Bow is one of these, but I welcome the odd 'gentrified' PUB where I can go with Partner and child. I live in Central Hackney and we are surrounded by local, mainly Irish Pubs. I am happy to have a pint in most of these and have done so (mainly for the football), but as a middle class (I am a nurse in the nhs) lad I happen to enjoy a pint of real ale in a more gentrified atmosphere, i.e Pembury, Eclipse, Pub on the Park. On the whole I welcome most middle-class influences in Hackney.
|
Bit of a fish bowl of a pub. Food poor as well and a wee bit pricey. Can make a change from the slightly better 'Dove' down the road and handy for the park
|
Hackney is changing, and becoming better all the time. The revamping of C&M was much needed, where all the "battersby-dingle" types drink now, I don't know, nor do I care!
Sunday lunch in here is great, I always look forward to meeting my "Meeja" mates when we all meet up for a pint here and discuss the latest in "big hair techniques"
|
Mike,thanks for the socio-economic etc etc lecture, very helpfull. All i am saying is the place in my big haired �120 pair of Jeans opinion is its nicer than before. If you fancy more of a rant try speakers corner.
|
I'm afraid and sorry to say Pete that your attitude towards the gentry 'taking' Broadway Market is typical of the narrow-minded selfish attitudes of the gross majority of E8's middle classes. As it was, the C&M was a proper local boozer, serving the needs of the local residents, those residents who have absolutely no inclination to drink in the Dove or Littel Georgia. I have to be careful here because I don't want to offend or maginalise any section of community, but we all know what socio-ecomomic group we're talking about. So excuse me for asking, but in whose eyes was it 'horrible', and which local residents labeled it an 'eyesore'? Yet again, all our Hackney 'newcomers' miss the point, and offend those who have a real passion for a proper boozer - a pub is essentialy a room where you can sit and drink beer, and perhaps eat the occasional plate of food. I'm not saying gentrification is a bad thing, I'm just saying that there are other sections of our community who hold different beliefs and values, and who - dare I say it - probably didn't appreciate the loss of a typical east end watering hole, which had the same faces in the same seats day in, day out... The Cat & Mutton is to Broadway Market what the Pitcher & Piano was to Clerkenwell, and that's long since closed down... New rating of 1; more big hairdo's passing through the door last tuesaday night. Last passing thought - how many shops in Bway Mkt actually serve the needs of the local populace, and how many sell crap to fill our otherwise shallow lives, crap which we don't actually need..?
|
The redevelopement of this pub has simply displaced a few locals and shoe-horned in a few Vintage slags and lumpy meejah lads wearing �110 jeans. Pub on the Park is still superior despite the souless re-vamp.
|
If you really went to this pub before it was changed i really can't take any positive comments seriously it was truly horrible and an eyesore to the area and residents, it was a bad place full of the kind of people Broadway Market dosen't need or want. The new Cat and Mutton is busy, busy and whenever i have drunk in there or had food it's has been a pleasure to visit with friendly staff and not a big hairdo??? in sight.
|
What's happened to this pub??!!!!! When I lived here it was full of bar stools and tables, and of course the infamous pool table. Now it's yet ANOTHER dull, bare-bricked pseudo-manhattan 'bar', with big flowers, big hairdos and even bigger prices. This is so NOT what Broadway Market needs. Where have all the godd pubs gone. PUBS, as in a public house serving beer...? Gastro, my ar*e. Sorry trendy hacnkey-ites! (Rating of 2 as it serves alcohol.)
|
On both occasions I've visited I was kept waiting about an hour for food which when it came was insubstantial and overpriced. Technically also a pub but if its just a few beers you want, better off going to the dove or the pub on the park
|
Really good pub but more of a food & drink place than just drinking on it's own as the food is superb - the new chef has made a huge difference.
neil - 5 Aug 2004 08:38 |
Very friendly, good food and buzzy atmosphere. Brilliant roast on Sundays. More of a food pub than a drinkers pub, though the draught beers are tasty.
Matt Heredon - 21 May 2004 13:50 |
A great place for eating and drinking. Very cool, very stylish and a brilliant place to spend an evening out with friends.
ronny - 26 Jan 2004 13:55 |
fantastic pub, good beer and outstanding food. Would recommend.
David Hill - 15 Jan 2004 11:01 |
Recently refurbished from what was a very scary place. I've been here a few times and the food is fatntastic, really nicely done out, friendly enthusiastic staff (unlike the bad attitude and laughibly bad food Dove!)Sell Adnams and Broadside as well as usual lagers. A very welcome addition to London Fields.
David Tate - 27 Dec 2003 18:18 |
