BITE user comments - MagnustheMandrill
Comments by MagnustheMandrill
The Blacksmiths Arms, St Albans
Disappointed that they have changed their menu again & have got rid of the nice salads they had - the ones on their now don't appeal. It was one of the few pubs in st Albans where you could go for lunch & get decent beer and a good salad. The decent beer is still there but not the salads. Oh well, will just have to eat somewhere else & just go for the beer.
2 Aug 2011 11:56
The Elephant and Castle, Amwell
Had lunch here on Saturday & apart from the price of the beer (why do Greene King make their landlords charge SO much for their beer?), it was nice. The food was excellent & it is a nice pub. We would come here more often if they reduced the price of their beer.
2 Aug 2011 11:50
The Blacksmiths Arms, St Albans
Continues to be excellent for both beer & food. Staff extremely friendly & helpful. Still the best real ale pub in St Albans (at the moment).
20 Jun 2011 12:30
Came here for a drink after a very disappointing experience at the Red Lion in Boldre & wished we'd come here first. Much better experience - better atmosphere, same choice of beer & better (& cheaper) food choices. Will definitely return here rather than the pub in Boldre.
13 Jun 2011 10:32
Very disappointing. Lovely looking pub & Ringwood beers which were fine. But the food & general service were abysmal. We got there about 11.40am & ordered our drinks & then our food at about 11.50am. They don't start serving food until 12 noon which was fine, we were happy to wait a little while - we only ordered baguettes so it shouldn't take that long to prepare them, should it? There was a couple already in there who had ordered before us. At 12.30, they walked out because there was no sign of their food. However, a man (obviously a local) had come in 2 minutes before & had received his meal straight away. When the other couple complained about that, the man (senior so we assume the owner?) told then they couldn't possibly have ordered before 12 noon as they don't start serving food until then. At which point they just walked off in disgust - who can blame them. To have to wait that long is bad enough but then to be called a liar is even worse. This prompted us to ask where our food was (having waited 40 minutes at this stage) and to be fair, it then appeared fairly quickly. There appeared to be some sort of wedding do at the pub at the time and they obviously were more concerned about those guests rather than the paying guests in their pub. As I said, the fact that the local had received his baguette within no more than 2minutes was completely out of order when we & the other couple had to wait over 40 minutes for ours. The food when it did eventually arrive was OK - nothing special and certainly not worth waiting all that time for. We wouldn't go back & wouldn't recommend it.
13 Jun 2011 10:30
The Sailors Return, East Chaldon
Completely different experience from HenPen - the bar maid wasn't in the slightest bit interested in us or what we wanted & seemed to serve us very grudgingly. Definitely not friendly at all. Won't be rushing back.
4 May 2011 14:28
The Square and Compass, Worth Matravers
Completely unspoilt drinking pub - no gimmicks, you get exactly what you expect from such a pub. Good beer choice & obviously popular 'cos there were loads of people there.
4 May 2011 14:25
Fantastic views of the castle & nice enough pub. OK choice of beer. Thought the food was expensive but got huge portions so at least you get your money's worth. Would call in again if we go back to the area.
4 May 2011 14:21
Smugglers Inn, Osmington Mills
Very disappointed - used to be good but now rubbish. Beer choice not good. Food - complete rip off - ordered a jacket potato with cheese & baked beans, could count the number of beans there were so few. Chips at �2.50 per portion - about half the size portion you would get elsewhere. Again, another touristy pub that knows you won't be back so they don't bother to try to impress. We won't be going back any time soon.
4 May 2011 14:17
Lulworth Cove Inn, West Lulworth
Real touristy pub - as Moozer says, they know you won't be coming back soon so they don't bother trying very hard to please. Not good. Go to the Castle Inn up the road instead - infinitely better in every way.
4 May 2011 14:14
Excellent food, superb accomodation, great beer - nothing negative to say at all. Just avoid the pub down the road (absolute rubbish) & go here instead. Different league.
4 May 2011 14:12
The King William IV, St Albans
Such a shame, this used to be pretty good for beer & food. But since the refurb it has gone downhill rapidly. Why have they removed the King William IV pub sign? That's what the pub has always been & how it's known to the locals - no-one is going to start calling it the Ember Inn so why change? Not that I blame the landlady who I think tries her hardest but is hampered by the pub company who have no connection with the locals or what they actually may want. The beer choice is nowhere near what it used to be - used to be one of the best in St Albans but now there's rarely anything unusual there. The menu is not as good as it used to be either - I ordered the chicken bacon & avocado salad - there was some chicken, about 2 small bits of bacon but absolutely no avocado in sight and the salad consisted of a mountain of lettuce with about 1/4 of a tomato, 1 slice of cucumber & that was it. It should have been called "chicken & lettuce" since that would have been a much fairer description of what I actually got. Used to go in here quite regularly, we won't be rushing back.
4 Apr 2011 07:21
Last went here several years ago & it was absolutely awful so haven't been back until a colleague told me it had improved. So we decided to give it another go & were glad we did. Very friendly staff - warm welcome from everyone when we walked in and a much better atmosphere all round. Great choice of real ales & excellent food. Much better ordinary menu and good choice of specials. Not cheap but good value for money. We will take note of the comment by "Allthewayfromthebrickys" though as that was our experience on our last visit which was truly awful. But if we get service and value like we did on this visit then we will definitely return.
11 Feb 2011 08:11
The Blacksmiths Arms, St Albans
Still good - came in here after having lunch at The Portland Arms - no comparison, The Blacksmiths wins hands down. Far better choice of beer, food far superior & infinitely cheaper, far more atmosphere & much better all round experience. Will definitely be coming back here, won't return to the Portland Arms.
13 Dec 2010 07:49
Very disappointing - not particularly good choice of beer & food was very over priced for what you got. Can get much better food cheaper elsewhere. We were there Saturday lunchtime & it was completely dead. We certainly won't be rushing back.
13 Dec 2010 07:45
Expecting this to be a bit touristy but not at all. Fabulous pub, great range of beer & cider, amazing food (not cheap but well worth the money), friendly staff - what more can I say? Going to go back next spring to stay for a few days we liked it that much.
15 Nov 2010 07:58
The Blacksmiths Arms, St Albans
This pub has improved so much recently - excellent beer, good food, friendly staff. Don't go anywhere else in St Albans now. Worth a try if you haven't visited recently - you'll be pleasantly surprised.
9 Nov 2010 14:19
Just called in for a drink 'cos my partner used to come here years ago. Looked very inviting & although we didn't eat, the food looked good. Will definitely return some time in the future for a meal.
23 Aug 2010 14:40
The Crooked Billet, Colney Heath
Nice pub & I believe the beer is good. But was disappointed with the food. We had cheesy baguettes - I had the Hawaiian one which I thought was overpriced for what you got (pineapple was only just there & only 1 thin slice of ham). Also didn't help that it was only just lukewarm. Might have tasted better if it had been hot.
18 Jan 2010 10:03
Haven't been in here for years & chose a day when the England rugby international was on the TV so the atmosphere was a bit strange! But there was a quieter bar with no TV so we could have escaped it if we wanted. Agree that it is probably more of a locals pub but was OK.
3 Dec 2009 09:02
The Blacksmiths Arms, St Albans
Haven't been in here for many years & only really went in to escape the rain but was pleasantly surprised. My partner reckons the beer choice was good & although we didn't eat, the food looked good & was reasonably priced. Only drawback really was the TV screens which were huge & seemed to be on every wall. Agree with previous coments that the staff were friendly & would suggest that the current 4.7 rating should be higher. Would definitely go back.
3 Dec 2009 08:59
Never been here before but was very impressed. Very friendly & helpful landlord. Good beer, good food, reasonable prices - what more could you ask for. Will definitely be back.
16 Jun 2009 08:15
Very disappointing. Hadn't been in for a while but went in last weekend only to find the place completely deserted. Found that the prices had increased significantly from last time we were here - probably why the place was empty & the choice of beer wasn't as good. Such a shame as it used to be so good.
16 Jun 2009 08:14
Stumbled across this pub by accident. Beer very reasonably priced for central London as was the food although we didn't actually eat anything so not sure on quality. But will definitely be returning one lunchtime to check it out.
3 Feb 2009 08:27
Bit quiet for a Saturday lunchtime. But beer & food were good & reasonably priced for central London.
3 Feb 2009 08:23
Lovely pub in fabulous surroundings & a wonderful view. Friendly staff, good beer & good food - enormous portions! Recommended.
24 Sep 2008 09:37
Has to be the best pub in St Albans, nothing else comes close.
8 Sep 2008 10:27
Consistently good pub with a good selection of beer & friendly staff. Highly recommended.
8 Sep 2008 10:24
Good beer choice as was a beer festival when we were there. Staff were friendly enough & the service was fine. But, the food was nothing special and very overpriced. Would return for a drink but wouldn't eat there again.
2 Sep 2008 08:48
The Strathmore Arms, St Pauls Walden
Always a pleasant enough pub whenever we go there with a reasonable choice of beer. Nice place to stop & have a drink when you're out walking.
2 Sep 2008 08:44
Lovely view & nice hanging baskets outside but that's about the only positive thing you can say about this pub. Service was dreadful & I ended up with a dirty glass -not nice to have someone else's lipstick on your glass. Food looked OK but they've obviously had complaints about their chips. The menu says you'll get "hand cut chips" with the fish & chips but what you actually get is frozen McDonalds-style oven chips - not exactly hand cut. There was a disclaimer on the bar that they aren't actually hand cut 'cos they've had a problem with the hand cutting machine!!! Apparently it used to be a lovely pub, it's got a long way to go to get back to that sort of description.
7 Jul 2008 11:45
I would agree with baxterfish. We had lunch there on Saturday & the Landlord both greeted us as we walked in & thanked us as we left. I've experienced far worse treatment at other pubs. Nice pub - went there because their pies came highly recommended but they don't serve them on a Saturday so will have to go back during the week.
23 Jun 2008 14:33
It's a nice pub in a lovely setting but the food is awful. I had prawns with salad in a pitta bread. There was no mayonnaise or anything on the prawns & the salad was mainly lettuce which was absolutely drenched in dressing, so much so that the pitta bread was completely sodden & fell apart at the bottom when I picked it up. Go there for the beer (which I believe is OK) & the pub but eat elsewhere.
4 Jun 2008 16:25
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The Tiger Inn, East Dean
Stopped here for lunch before walking the 7 Sisters & South Downs Way. Friendly helpful staff, good beer & good food - some things seemed a bit pretentious but there was "normal" food there as well & it was very good (I ordered a small portion - glad I didn't order the large!) Pretty busy - obviously very popular. We will no doubt return if we are in that neck of the woods again.
9 Aug 2011 14:51