BITE user comments - amartian
Comments by amartian
I could complain about the service, but they're under-staffed at the moment -- any qualified jobseekers in the area would be doing us all a favour if they helped this place out.
Food as has been noted is good, they no longer serve sauces in sachets! Doom Bar and Lond. Pride are typically on with a guest ale, often quite interesting. Interestingly royalist decor, lots of coronation memorabilia.
Family friendly, which may as well be a negative point from most visitors' perspectives, as there is also a fenced off area in the garden with a few pets (rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens) that children, I presume, are encouraged to interact with. Not that the pets seemed enthusiastic, and both pets and children are left unsupervised. Perhaps an issue with the clientele rather than the staff -- again, understaffed, and pubs don't generally include childminding in their services. Frankly you'd have to leave tips if they did. Friendly though.
15 Aug 2013 19:49
The Windsor Castle, Kensington
Well run, good drinks, traditional service, hedonistic food. The locals are very fond of it and it's almost as crowded as the churchill down the road most nights. If you get a table, you need to guard it with your life.
15 Aug 2013 18:47
As nearby establishments' stars falls so another rises in the King's Head, which has taken on new management and furnishings and moved itself impressively upmarket accompanied by a normally unheard of increase in capacity.
I believe there may be a bed and breakfast attached; I haven't tried the food, but the accommodation is satisfactory by the standards of business visitors who often have prolonged stays.
Does everything it used to, with the sports tv and the beer garden, offers more and better drinks at the same time. Great.
15 Aug 2013 18:40
A rightly popular establishment that gets most of the visitors to wye due to its picturesque location immediately after the bridge and rail station into the village. Evidently typically well-reviewed by the media that londoners pay attention to, as many visitors come to the village specifically for the trout.
The food has got better, though not exceptional, the ales have always been excellent, and at this time of year, after more than a decade of strict environment management by Kent County Council, there's not really much of an argument to be made against children dabbling in the shallows. In my experience it's always been a pleasant place, definitely family friendly too.
15 Aug 2013 18:25
This pub/restaurant is now under new and regrettably misguided management. The decor and service standards have been violently changed at the cost of community/supplier relationships and variety of drinks available, without a corresponding lowering of the prices normally commensurate -- it's a place still marketed as the posh country club it once resembled.
Knowing employees of the pub, I have to say that this place is likely to undergo a lengthy period of poor administration while Shepherd Neame try to find new senior kitchen staff and management that will somehow take what has become a notorious posting with little benefit or extra remuneration.
Thankfully as this establishment's star falls so another rises in the nearby King's Head, which has also taken on new management and moved itself impressively upmarket accompanied by a normally unheard of increase in capacity. There's also a new microbrewery bar on the road from the station that leads to both the Head and the Horse, colloquially named the Queen's Head with very attractive prices.
The food here is still good, but large parties simply have to make contact a week in advance; while any drinks other than the shepherd neame staples of ales and franchised wines are likely to be mis-served or difficult to obtain. Not really recommended for the time being, but the garden remains lovely for groups on good days.
TL;DR not what it was, barely worth your time when the King's/Queen's Head, Tickled Trout and a varied range of better restaurants are within lurching distance and closer to transport links. rating reflects this and an adjustment of the average score.
15 Aug 2013 16:54
The Blacksmiths Arms, Willesborough
Really well situated, but limited and expensive. Never really felt comfortable as it is very much the William Harvey Hospital's watering hole.
15 Aug 2013 19:54