please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Large gastro pub, part of the vintage inns chain, so the food is standard fare, presumably prepared centrally and heated/plated in house. That said, it was good and not too expensive.
, with discounted selections off the menu.
5 pumps, two of which were the god awful Doom Bar, then London Pride, Adnams ghost ship and UBU purity. All those that appreciate a decent pint will not be surprised that I avoided the Bar and the Pride and as Ghost ship is the least drinkable Adnams beer (pubs take heed, the Southwold bitter is FAR FAR superior), I stuck to UBU which was well kept and well served. Most of the staff sounded to be from the continent and were polite and efficient.
The current score must reflect apathy from their current drinkers regarding this web site and possibly scores from a previous incarnation. Worth a 7 and with a review by their central purchasing team, could be more. It is an oasis in the desert that is Southgate!
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Went back to Ye Olde Cheery Tree last week with a business colleague. The food once again was amazing an the person I was with was astounded that a chef of this calibre was working in a pub. On that note a top pub with a lovely interior an exterior. This place gets better every time I go.
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Got some of our old gang together for Xmas eve drinkies and it was decided that the Cherry Tree would be the venue of choice (owing to one of our previous haunts, The Green Dragon, having been criminally turned into a pound shop)! I was quite excited about this decision, as it was actually the venue where my parents held their wedding reception in 1977 and I hadn't been in since I was weeny so I was dying to get a load of the place now...
Now I may or may not have already been a little tiddly when I arrived there, but I had a really good time! Staff were friendly and it took no time at all to be served (despite being Xmas eve and fairly busy). I stuck to the house White all night, which was fine and didn't break the bank. We were sat in one area near the back and all had a jolly good time! The beer garden looks like it would be fabulous in the summer and I've heard the grub is outstanding, so I'm planning on making a repeat trip once the weather gets a little warmer to sample both.
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The food is not your average pub grub.ive eaten in some of the top restaurants in London an I'm not saying this was on par but for pub grub only a couple of steps down. I'd give this 20/10 for the food quality, same for presentation an for taste. Myself an my family were overjoyed with everything. U must give this a try. Lovely relaxed atmosphere an really nice dining experience. The member of staff who served us was funny an attentive. If u had a bad experience go back an try again as ours was great.
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01/12/2015 - Staff at this joint clearly hate working at this pub as the service you get is terrible. The Chef must be very unhappy as his/her talents are wasted at this place. The food is very good indeed but good food cannot be enjoyed when you are surrounded by moody stroppy staff. Dont get me wrong not all the staff are bad but the ones that are know who they are and should resign. Perhaps a job as a security guard is more their cuppa tea LOL
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Feels more like a village pub, both inside and out, than a pub in London. It was fairly busy on our Sunday afternoon visit, with diners outnumbering drinkers. Seemed to be popular with families too. The 4 ales were Fullers London Pride, Brakspear Bitter, Adnams Broadside & Purity Ubu.
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A former coaching inn dating from the 1700’s Ye Olde Cherry Tree is now under the Vintage Inn umbrella and functions more as a restaurant nowadays than a pub. I remember it in former times when it used to be mainly a pub with a restaurant section at the back. But most of the internal space is now taken up with the dining area and just the smaller area around the bar at the back of the pub near the rear entrance is kept for drinking.
So in this respect it is best used just for a beer on a fine weather day when the pleasant outside patio area can be utilised.
There are usually four ales available which tend to come from the usual suspects and Pride, Doombar and Adnams Broadside were on for my visit last Sunday.
As a restaurant it’s a fairly pleasant place to eat as, although it is quite a large space, the interior is a collection of separate spaces with several atmospheric nooks and crannies.
The menu is the usual formulaic chain offerings and the quality tends to go up and down with the ability of the chefs employed, which like all chain pubs tend to change on a regular basis. Fortunately for the last year the quality has been quite good as they have managed to retain a couple of good ones.
Hopefully that will remain so and they won’t have to re-employ Benny the Meatball who, from the date of his one only posted rant on this site below, to be one of donut chefs they had to fire last January after proving to be singularly useless over the Xmas period.
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Apparently this used to be quite a nice pub.
We got bad vibes the second we arrived in the rubbish-strewn car park and if we'd been any less hungry I daresay we'd have jumped back in the car and found somewhere else to have lunch. As it was we headed inside, reasoning that the interior would surely beat the exterior. It didn't.
After waiting several minutes to be seated, during which time one of the regulars gave us a quizzical look as if he knew what we were in for, we were advised to grab a table by the harassed-looking waitress who appeared to be the only one working.
We grabbed a table by the window, hoping the heater we sat next to would alleviate the depressing draught which seemed to be blowing through the place, but this rapidly turned itself off. Undeterred we ordered our food and then settled down to wait...and wait...
After what I believe was no less than half an hour, the starters arrived. My wife's beer-battered mushrooms (all five of them, plonked on the sort of lettuce leaf you usually find lining the bottom of a rabbit hutch) were swimming with grease and singularly unpleasant, while my tomato soup could have come straight out of a supermarket carton. Perhaps it did.
We then waited a further 20-25 minutes for our main courses to arrive, again hoping they might make up for the mediocrity of the previous offerings. Unfortunately they were even worse...I don't know what version of "shepherds pie" they taught the chef at college but it resembled none that I've eaten before and frankly I wouldn't have fed it to my dog. I felt like I was eating in a 1950s East German soup kitchen by now - I won't even go into the sorry collection of boiled green vegetables which skulked on the side of the plate either.
As for my wife, she's had better macaroni cheeses out of a carton from a supermarket. Both portions were also tiny by the way.
We sent both main courses back, paid for our drinks and starters and made a sharp exit. We won't be back.
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Hadn't been in here since the late 80s.popped in the other week.
It's different to what it was.Seems very family orientated, but done out nice.
It's now a hotel,part of a well known chain, vbut reatins a pub atmosphere,but not a local type one.Would be a lovely place for a family to go to on a Sunday lunch time or on Christmas day.It was a Saturday lunchtime i was in here and me and my mate were the only two customers(it had only just opened).Be interesting to see what it's ;like on a Saturday evening.Big old place with lots of nooks and crannies to hide in.The pub bar is at the back and a restaurant is at the front.Not bad a place, but like a lot of Southgate feels like it shpould be in a village 20 miles outside of London.
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Went last night as the Olympic torch was passing by. It was not what i would call busy and the one barman was running round like a maniac sweating. I waited ages to be served which was not an issue. I returned about half an hour later and was second in line to be served by a staff-member who would not leave the 1ft space in from of the till. She managed to serve 5 different people including a man with a new tattoo that they had a long chat about despite the queue building and the Manager drawing attention to it and completely ignored me. This was the most infuriating experience and common for this pub. I have lived in the area all my life and will definitely not return as this attitude was disgraceful. I have watched the pub gradually go downhill for years. Pure laziness. The service is actually worse than the Salisbury Arms N21 - A feat though impossible. . . until now.
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I don't often find myself in areas of London where, "there really isn't anywhere nice to go for a drink". Thus is one of those very difficult ones to review - this is place which was a coaching inn and I guess would have been a great country venue until North London swallowed up much of the area in the 1920s and 1930s.
On top of the hill it is very atttractive from the outside, indeed it does have a charm as you walk in though you do quickly detect it is targetting diners and I subsequently realise it is part of hotel chain now. With few local competitors you have to take what you've got and without competition there is no pressure to change. I have to say I thought it was very pleasant.
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Initially depressed by the sight of seeing nothing but Guinness / lagers, I went round the bar and found cask (i) Young's Bitter, (ii) London Pride and (iii) iirc <hic> Doom Bar. Haven't checked out their bottled stock.
Definitely for diners, but when I was there the bar staff were quick and attentive for the drinks-only, so who cares?
Enough seating after the very busiest period and the Gents' was OK so pending future review, it's a 6.
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Soul-destroying in every way. Lacklustre and inept staff, uninspiring beer selection (the only ale on was Greene King IPA), bland hotel d�cor, uncomfortable furniture, glaring lights and a self-important, small-minded 'X-factor' client�le.
Bizarrely, three quarters of this sizeable pub was reserved for diners, of which there were exactly two, leaving everyone else crammed into a small, overcrowded area at the back.
You know times are bad when you find yourself decamping to Caf� Rouge next door for some relief.
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Holy moley! I can't believe this pub is getting such bad reviews! C'mon guys, it's not as bad as all that. If it used to be better, then it was a pub from Heaven. I've been there a few times and I really think the selection and quality of food is good. The staff are overworked, I agree, but they do try. I would give it at least 6/10 & fighting hard for a 7. I would go there again any time. And my review was based on several visits, not just one.
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Real shame about this pub. Used to be a quiet, friendly pub. Now it has degenerated into a bustling, doubtless money-spinning restaurant with unfriendly overworked staff. The old manager used to have time to talk to customers. Had a complaint tonight and hung around for nearly twenty minutes to no avail. They stopped their best beers some time ago but I still came here because it is my local and on my dog walk. Sadly that is another policy that has changed. So for me this has gone from a charming old pub to which I introduced many friends to an unwelcoming 'no-go area'.
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I have to agree that this place feels like a soulless hotel bar, which is a shame as it is a lovely huge pub with a nice beer garden at the rear.
The usual lagers were on offer alongside Pride and Greene King IPA, but I got the feeling that the pub is much more food orientated. The barman was extremely friendly, but the barmaid was a little dismissive.
I found it quite boring in here and the depressing music didn�t help matters.
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Went I here for a Pint after coming out the Woolpack. What a let down I think I would agree with last few posts its gone down hill a lot in recent years used to be a good Pub in the 80s and early 90s I used it regularly in them days not now it feels like a hotel bar soul less.
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****THIS IS AN UP TO DATE REVIEW, READ THIS****
I have been going to this pub for a few years now and the Menu has slowly become worse and worse. They seem to be getting rid of the good meals and replacing them with crap ones. For example they used to do an Open Breast of Chicken Pie and that was nice and they replaced it with a Chicken, Ham & Leak pie which tastes awaful and smells like piss. I'm not jokinm try it if you dont believe me. Basically, its a great boozer but limited to choicew on draught. However be careful, there is a waitress who is extremely bossy and dont give a monkeys if you like the food or not. All I got from her was sorry and that was it. Total and utter shame. I hope she is reading this and sacks herself, that would be great. I live in southgate and I KNOW what the locals want, SO, do yourself a favour DONT EAT HERE, BUT DO HAVE A DRINK as the pub itself is pleasant and beautiful.
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I cannot stand this pub. The food I would admit is good, but the drinking is very poor. A limited range of standard commercial beer and zero atmosphere. The whole place feels fake and soulless. What I really can't stand about this pub is that my girlfriend and her mates drag me along every other week to have some food there. Yes the food is o.k. but I have experienced more atmosophere in an A&E ward. Plus, the local Tory MP loves the place, more reason to not go.
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Good food, but not really a drinker's pub, except for outside on a summer night, which is great.
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I first drank in this pub, when on leave from the RAF, in 1946 and what a great boozer it was. There were some real old characters then. Sadly however, like all those great drinkers that I knew over sixty years, time has not been good to the village pub. A centre to our community it was. But in the middle of the 1990's, the bar was removed from the actual pub, and all the old drinkers were unceremoniously pushed to the back of the building into the Old Forge restaurant. The Selbourne Hall, which was attached to the pub, was turned into some sort of play area and is now a rather cheap looking traveller�s hotel. Where we used to sit at the bar in 'pigs corner' and tell yarns, jokes and stories, is now a rather cobbled affair trying to cater for children, and those that enjoy a passable meal with average beer. But I will say that I still frequent the old place, and would still recommend it to you all. But if you knew what this pub was really like just ten years ago, you would shout aload with me saying 'BRING BACK OUR VILLAGE PUB.'
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10/10 We had to wait for a table but it was well worth waiting for, great value food, lovely staff (katy/colin) highly recommended!!!
anonymous - 5 Apr 2005 22:51 |
As an occasional visitor I have always found it a pleasant place.
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Over priced microwave meals young and rude staff and the manager Richard has no clue about running a pub.
anonymous - 19 Jan 2005 12:28 |
Was recommended by a friend and the food was every bit as good as she said. A pleasant surprise. Lots of space as well. Would not mind having christmas dinner there if they do serve. Only negative point is that they stop serving food quite early.
MELISSA - 27 Oct 2004 10:27 |
pub where you can take your wife or girl-friend .
dan - 30 Jul 2004 12:19 |
