BITE user comments - ebenezerscrooge
Comments by ebenezerscrooge
Nice pub centrally located in Surbiton, service generally nice and clientele generally allright (with some very rare, probably unavoidable exception). Good but not excellent choice of beers.
The best places are near the windows on Vicotria road, the back part is rather dark and less inviting. Prices are reasonable.
14 Jul 2010 19:38
Service disappointing as not one but two people were served before me with no crowded pub at all.
14 Jul 2010 19:36
Jerome K Jerome was utterly right.
The place is so impossibly idyllic on a quiet early summer afternoon that I could sit outside near the car parked in the court (something I generally hate to do) and still feel completely immersed in its country charm.
Choice of Fuller's beers on tap is excellent and even if I sat outside (just for a pint, no food), I could see how beautiful the inside is, the toilets are also above average.
An excellent little corner of England and one of my best pub experiences ever.
11 Jul 2009 21:05
What beautiful surprise.
Nice little pub, extremely kind service, good beer and good and abundant food, very reasonably priced, toilets in order.
Next time I'm in Hurley, I will certainly come back.
11 Jul 2009 21:00
Went there once and was so satisfied that in the following months came back twice.
You can't say it's cheap, but it has its own parking, the atmosphere is beautifully relaxing and full of charm, the personnel is always nice (starting from the landlord), the food/beer good and the toilets fully in order.
It has a small terrace at the back, which I never found attractive and avoided even on gloriously sunny days.
All in all a very good experience and a pub you can trust, much better than the Catharine's wheel a bit down the road, but this is clearly a more upscale establishment.
Abbot on tap is always a safe choice.
11 Jul 2009 20:56
Have been there often to have a drink, last Sunday for the first time I also ate there.
The salmon sandwich was above my expectation, and the Doom Bar (one of my favourites) proved again to be one of my favourite and at a reasonable price.
There was a TV set, but the volume was never invasive, I think the landlord has succeeded in striking the right mix between information/entertainment and the preservation of a typical pub atmosphere (of sort).
I have not used the loo so I cannot comment on its state; I rate the pub with 8 in consideration of the good atmosphere, excellent beer and good, sensibly priced food.
11 Jul 2009 20:41
Bishop Out Of Residence, Kingston Upon Thames
Very nice during the summer. Good choice of beers with the Directors standing out, salted nuts available. Big pub, with lots of seating possibilities both inside and out. Decoration and terrace do a good job in letting one forget the not too happy architecture in seventy-style, though worse things have been built in those god- and tasteless years.
A good pub, will come back again.
14 Apr 2009 17:55
The Ladbroke Arms, Notting Hill
Been there on a couple of occasions on early-ish afternoons, as the niceness of the place and its smallish dimension easily force to go to the "Mitre" instead.
Small terrace outside is very pleasant, particularly in summer, and therefore often full to the brim.
Expensive meals (more on the expensive side of an expensive gastropub, "The Mitre" offers good food at far more reasonable prices) means I never ate there. Beer choice and beer quality good, salted nuts available as well as free newspaper, pleasant atmosphere on the inside as well.
This place makes his job properly, at least to have a nice pint now and then, but I cannot comment on the food.
14 Apr 2009 17:49
The Prince of Wales, Holland Park
Went day on Easter Monday around 4:30 pm.
Place was relatively busy and, as others have pointed out, understaffed; still, extremely generous cleavage of female bartender helped to kill the time.
Excellent choice of beers; most notably, three German wheat beers on tap including Franziskaner, my favourite. They serve it on its own glass, but with a slice of lemon, which you will have to ask not to put inside if you want your "Weizenbier" not to be spoiled.
Nuts, salted or otherwise, are not on offer.
The pub's interior is nice but gives the impression of being slightly run down, might be part of its character but I'd prefer it to just look nicer.
Besides the beer, the strong selling point is the excellent terrace on the back, nice and quiet and pleasant throughout.
On the whole the pub has some shortcomings, but the terrace and the Franziskaner more than compensate for them. Best to avoid it on busy times, though.
14 Apr 2009 17:40
Went there on two occasions last saturday and sunday.
On the saturday it was just a quich half pint and a magazine before the evening really starts.
The place was nice and friendly, and attractively lit.
There are big tables very suited to big group of, say, 10 or 12.
The pub is divided into a proper pub section on the road side, and a more formal dining/restaurant section on the back. I sat on the pub section with my half pint of Staropramen, and my drinking experience was certainly pleasant, this pub being of the sort I like, that is: lively but reasonably quiet.
Having been satisfied with the experience I came back for lunch the day after, after noticing that the prices in the nearby (and by far nicer) "Ladbroke arms" do cost a ladbroke arm and a ladbroke leg.
In the Mitre the prices where on the upper region of what you would call reasonable (which is perfectly fine considering the location), and I ordered a steak and ale pie with a pint of Abbot IPA. I was slightly annoyed, though, that I could not sit outside in the beautiful springtime sun because the rare table were already occupied; whether this is because of licence issue or not I cannot tell, but the terrace outside could easily host double the tables they had. Therefore I sat in the restaurant section on the back, which is nice and peaceful and with a good service.
The pie was actually very good and above my expectation, though not huge as you would get it in, say, the bunch of grapes in Knightsbridge. With mashed potatoes and vegetable and a tasty and abundant gravy it was exactly what the doctor ordered.
The beer was, as always by the IPA, something that would like to be an Abbot, and will never be. How a pub can serve the Greene King range and NOT have the Abbot is beyond me. The IPA was also the only ale available, this I find upsetting (see below).
The bathrooms were acceptable for the standard of the pub, though slightly uncomfortable because of the pretty steep and narrow ladder necessary to reach it.
This pub is a good place to come now and then for a quick pint particularly if you drink lager.
For the ale lover I am afraid the place is simply not good enough and I think that the management will have to try harder to remember what a pub is for.
I would have been a 7, but considering the lack of a decent choice of ales I will give it a 6.
All in all this
16 Mar 2009 09:45
The Porterhouse, Covent Garden
Very nice place, when it is quiet.
Avoid the evening hours unless you like very crowded places, music is also far too loud.
When not too crowded this place is very good, excellent beer choice and tons of atmosphere.
27 Jan 2009 23:31
One of my favourites.
very attractive both inside and outside.
Have eaten there with friends several times, and was always extremely pleased.
Sunday roast in particular is extremely generous and will make a dinner superfluous.
Service is not overly friendly, but fine anyway.
Loo is okay.
Take with you something warm in summer too, as the terrace (with beautiful view of the river) can be pretty windy.
Nice place, will eat there again.
27 Jan 2009 23:26
I had walked pst this pub several times, but without ever going in because from outside it looks very dark and cavernous.
Once I gave it a try, though, and was pleasantly surprised. very quiet and nice, lots of separate spaces where one can have some room for himself. beer was good, did not try the food, personnel all right and loo in order.
Will go back.
27 Jan 2009 23:18
Went there on several occasions last summer.
Good place for a drink outside, peaceful and nice.
Service always efficient, once the beer was not good and it was replaced immediately and with apologies (one expects that, but still...).
Pub itself was not my favourite, I found it pretty dark, uninviting and devoid of character; more a TV watching place than the cosy retirement a Chelsea pub should in my eyes be.
27 Jan 2009 23:14
The Zetland Arms, South Kensington
Went there on a sunday afternoon. Only a beer and crisps.
Beer choice was not very good. Local itself a strange mixture of traditional style and more modern furniture and fixtures (TV set with sports going on).
All in all a pleasant atmosphere, though.
Toilets were clean, but not really nice.
I would come back there, particularly to check on the food.
27 Jan 2009 23:06
The Catherine Wheel, Henley-On-Thames
Went there for lunch and a pint on a Monday.
They have several offers, both limited to certain days of the week or valid every day.
I chose the luxury burger with pint of beer.
Beer was fresh and food was good. Service was acceptably nice. Place was quiet and inviting. value for money was in my eyes very good.
Some observations:
1) decoration does not look entirely right: it is as if they had made an effort to create a cottage/country style atmosphere, and had stopped half way.
2) Loo was not entirely satisfactory (that is: noticeably smelly).
All in all and in consideration of the moderate price, I can recommend the place. If there were no special offers available, though, I would consider it not very good value.
27 Jan 2009 23:01
The Bunch Of Grapes, Knightsbridge
Beautiful atmosphere, good food. Mostly friendly staff.
Good beer choice, with the Greene King's "Abbott" certainly worth mentioning.
People who went there with me were also never disappointed.
Compared with other pubs nearby, perhaps a bit lacking in character. Otherwise all very fine.
22 Jan 2009 01:22
The Scarsdale Tavern, Kensington
A dream of a pub.
Truly beautiful on a Friday afternoon after working hours. A substantial part of Londoner seem to think the same way.
I also went there to eat on weekends, they always delivered on service, price and food quality.
Can only recommend.
22 Jan 2009 01:19
Very nice location, and beautiful tables outside.
Interior pleasantly old-style, if somewhat sombre.
Good choice of beers.
Service was appallingly slow every time I was there (perhaps seven or eight times).
They manage to be slow even if you are the only person at the counter!
As the landlord also seems to believe in making economies on personnel costs, service is truly appalling when the place is crowded, which is the case every late afternoon, particularly at weekends.
A very nice place, unable to deliver on service.
22 Jan 2009 01:17
First attempt did not go well, because the pub was too full (which is not difficult to achieve).
Second attempt more fortunate, good table and good food.
"Landlord" on tap is a must and sausages and mash were very good.
Atmosphere is the best feature, though, pretty dark and full of character.
One can stay outside, in a nice mews tucked away just a few yards away from Belgrave Square.
Ticks all the boxes.
22 Jan 2009 01:11
I have never eaten here, but stop relatively often for a beer on a Sunday afternoon.
Quiet, friendly atmosphere. Good beer choice, Leffe on tap particularly notable.
Bit pricey but considering the location, not a capital sin.
Nice and clean loo.
Time and money well invested.
22 Jan 2009 01:07
Very pleasant pub in winter, warm and cosy atmosphere (unless you sit in the strange corridor at the end).
Been there perhaps a dozen times in the last 18 months. Staff at the bar always friendly (though one does not understand why they must give you the change on a plate, after touching it with their hands anyway), staff for the food mostly friendly, beer choice fully in order.
Food is, if you ask me, more than a bit overpriced, but i was never disappointed.
This is not a pub for the weekend, where it is always full to the point of discomfort. A quiet evening in the middle of the week is the best time.
I brought Italian friends there on several occasions, hoping to let them taste a bit of "England" (both atmosphere and food), and they always were very satisfied.
22 Jan 2009 01:04
Excellent, stylish pub, tucked away in Knightsbridge, Belgravia side.
Extensive range of Fuller's beers, with the excellent seasonal London Porter.
The most stylish and cleanest loo I have seen in a pub, ever.
Staff has always been friendly, prices are more than reasonable considering the horrendous rent they must surely pay.
I have been there several times, never eating but always enjoying the atmosphere; in winter this pub is so cosy, you would want the cold never to go away.
Mind you, you cannot drink outside. Bad in summer and if you have the disgrace of being a smoker.
One of my favourite pubs.
22 Jan 2009 00:59
Back to ebenezerscrooge's profile
The Grove Tavern, Surbiton
Nice pub with a hint of an upmarket feel. Pleasant, vast beergarden.
Good choice of beers, excellent Grren King's "Abbot" on tap.
Service is fast and always nice, prices very reasonably considering the place.
My only negative remark is about the seating arrangement, rather meant for big groups particularly on the inside.
14 Jul 2010 19:41