BITE user comments - insekt
Comments by insekt
Definitely a vast improvement since the 'refurb'. (It's just struck me how rare it is to say that a 'refurb' has improved a pub these days!) Better range of lagers and ales, polite, friendly staff and an agreeable atmosphere making it all too easy to while away the hours. Well done!
26 Jan 2008 21:56
The Marquess Tavern, Canonbury
This place has a decent drinks selection of bottled lagers, ales and ciders, but sadly a workaday cask ale selection. Food is superb, staff excellent. I personally feel that this place suffers from the common gastro-pub ailment of giving over far too much room for the restaurant, so it kind of lacks the pub-like atmosphere. I suspect I'm in the minority for holding this opinion, but I do rather like pubs to be pubs rather than add-ons for restaurants.
26 Oct 2007 17:32
The Sierra Nevada is certainly worth mentioning as a plus point. The worst thing is the dreadful music - will we never be free of the tyranny of jazz-funk? Sometimes it seems like every bar in London pumps this stuff out. Have a bit of imagination, mix it up a bit for godsake.
26 Oct 2007 17:25
A very odd place with strange clientele. Will be relaunched as 'Chat' soon.
26 Oct 2007 16:19
The Rutland and Derby, Leicester
The rather suspiciously effusive previous review should be taken with a pinch of salt. From the food to the drinks, it is an expensive pub. (You'll find your Frulli, or soemthing similar, is served cheaper in the Criterion down the road.) The drinks list and range of beers is impressive (for lager that is, ale is not so well represented), but they are on the pricey side. Anyone who knows pubs in Leicester will be aware that it has several pubs which boast impressive drinks list, so the claim about taps and range of beers is laughable. The food is overpriced given that it is really not that amazing - it's not bad, but nothing more. The luchtime menu is not far off the price of eating at The Case restaraunt, which is in a different league entirely.
Having said that, it is a nice place, especially in the summer. The staff are friendly, it's true. But it is more of a bar like atmosphere than a pub, so it tends to attract an identikit kind of punter, rather than a more cosmopolitan mix that you would get in a classic boozer. Of course students don't drink in here, it's firstly too expensive and students are so timid and parochial these days that they only drink in their designated 'student' pubs.
26 Oct 2007 16:17
Got to concur with the opinions that this place is in decline. There's quite a bad vibe in here now, seemingly coming from the owners/staff. That would be bearable had the keeping of the ale also not degenerated. And yes, it's a filthy, filthy pit of a place.
26 Oct 2007 15:58
The Dog and Duck, Winchmore Hill
Great local boozer. Well kept ale and friendly staff.
28 Nov 2006 02:18
This is part of the dying breed of truely great London pubs. Please God don't let it ever be gastro-ised, it's perfect as it is.
28 Nov 2006 01:48
I sort of don't mind this place, even though I'm no fan of the pointless DJ bar thing (why, oh why? No-one's listening/dancing). It's one of the few on the Broadway that's palatable, so maybe that's it.
28 Nov 2006 01:44
Charmless formulaic gastro pub, with overpriced, poor food. Snotty staff and elitist ambience. Rubbish.
28 Nov 2006 01:35
Far and away the best pub in Ealing. Beer and food is top notch, with a great atmosphere. Never had any problems with the bar staff, even when they're really busy. Can see how they might get pissed off with some of the braying sorts that barge the regulars out of the way, and think they have some sort of right to treat all and sundry as inferiors.
It's a London classic, not to be missed.
28 Nov 2006 01:31
C'mon, this place is laughable, really! Identikit blandness bizarrely forced on to an old pub. Why do breweries insist on this faux nonsense?
28 Nov 2006 01:23
The ale could be better here, but it is a very good pub, with a nice atmosphere. Easy to stay and get drunk in, which for me is the mark of decent boozer. Yeah, it's better than the boring Wheatsheaf.
28 Nov 2006 01:19
The Rose and Crown, Stoke Newington
This is a good traditional pub, with good beers and friendly service. Has a nice atmosphere to it that is conducive to the quick pint or a longer session. Best in the area.
28 Nov 2006 01:00
One of the birth places of ponce. Pointlessly rude staff who take themselves far too seriously. There's nothing to really recommend about it.
28 Nov 2006 00:42
Just awful. Even worse than the one in Brixton, which is going some. Sneer city.
28 Nov 2006 00:37
Off the main drag, nicely maintained Victorian pub. Service was fine when I was last there.
28 Nov 2006 00:31
It's a great place to sneer and be sneered at. Grab yourself a sneeringly expensive drink served by a sneering member of staff, and sneer away at girls who won't even lower themselves to sneer at you, and get sneered at be men who couldn't exist outside of this square mile of London.
27 Nov 2006 23:52
The Metropolitan, Westbourne Park
Dispicable hellhole populated by . . . Oh I can't be bothered anymore. The same as the Grand Union, The Cow and every bloody where else . . .
27 Nov 2006 23:39
The Grand Union, Westbourne Park
Ah yes, used to be the Carlton Bridge, when it was a pub. Yet another pub fallen to the braying hoardes of home counties troglodytes. Same as x number of former pubs in the vicinity and across London, except it's by the Grand Union Canal, so you can sit next to it in summer.
27 Nov 2006 23:35
Lovely building and pleasant enough interior. Food is reasonable, if a touch pricey. Ale is well kept. Tends to be overrun at the weekend with families who insist on bringing screaming children. Lacking in atmosphere.
27 Nov 2006 23:15
It's a tad characterless on the inside, lacking in atmosphere somehow, having the feel of a chain style family pub. It's okay.
27 Nov 2006 23:12
A cracking local pub. Nice mix of clientele, and well kept ales. Superb.
27 Nov 2006 23:08
Ye Olde Bulls Head, Woodhouse Eaves
Horribly refurbished into an atmosphere-free uber-pub/restaurant. Badly kept ale, poor range, food dire; seems to please the 4x4 brigade, though. There's a surprise.
27 Nov 2006 22:59
Well kept ales, relaxing country pub ambience, does the simple things well.
27 Nov 2006 22:55
Well kept ale. Nicer in the lounge than the bar. Very much a locals boozer.
27 Nov 2006 22:54
More of a restaurant than a bar. Great cocktails, classy interior, works well.
27 Nov 2006 22:51
The Globe's a decent traditional boozer that seems undecided about whether it's refrubishing or not. Still, it has a nice mix of clientele, and I've always found the staff to be friendly, heavily tattooed and pierced. Ales are well kept, and often have a couple of random guest ales.
27 Nov 2006 22:06
Looks awful from the outside, and while it does get better inside, it has an claustrophobic feel to it. Food in the restaurant is overpriced and average. Bar food isn't much better, although is slightly better value (but we're splitting hairs here, it' still not very good). Usual range of Everards ales, reasonably kept. Bar staff range from dour to faintly friendly. A locals place, really.
27 Nov 2006 22:02
Love this place. Simple and unpretentious, (which makes a change from the West Hampstead of today), and focuses on the things that make a bar great - drinking and atmosphere. Food's good too.
27 Nov 2006 21:16
A classic. Great ale, atmosphere, and service. Packed full of tourists, but hey, can't have everything.
27 Nov 2006 20:57
The cocktails here are great! Forget about the beer, though. Pleasant enough low-key atmosphere. Tends to be full of what Balham is nowadays, rugby shirted Tom's and braying Penelope's - just give 'em a good shove back as they barge past you in their usual arrogant way.
27 Nov 2006 20:51
Incredibly average pub. There's really nothing to say about it except how ridiculously pricey it is.
27 Nov 2006 20:46
The only problem with this pub is that the landlod will insist on closing. Other than that, it's hard to fault.
27 Nov 2006 20:37
The clue's in the name. Good if you're prangin', appalling otherwise.
27 Nov 2006 20:33
An okay, down to earth, locals pub. The ale is well kept, and it's a generally well kept place.
27 Nov 2006 20:25
Quirky and charming, with good tunes! Ale is generally not so good, though. I like this place a lot, good to get hammered in.
27 Nov 2006 20:23
Love this place. It's almost awe-inspiring to drink in such a great interior (dirty though it is!). And hmmnn, of course the Sam Smith's issue . . . Cheap, but deservedly so.
27 Nov 2006 20:16
Restuarant is great - the dining room is wonderful; the front bar is standard gastro-pub, and really nothing special.
27 Nov 2006 20:10
The Dartmouth Arms, Dartmouth Park
Friendly boozer, good mix, decent ale, food okay/good. Best and least pretensious pub in the vicinity.
27 Nov 2006 20:02
Not really a pub at all now. Food is good, but service is very poor. Expensive.
27 Nov 2006 19:22
Great tunes and lively atmosphere. Small, but perfectly formed. Just shows what someone with taste in music can do with a bar. Which rather begs the question why so many people with dreadful taste end up opening bars?
27 Nov 2006 19:16
Lovely in summer when you can inhale the intoxicating fumes of flowers, cars and buses as you gaze across the Rye. Otherwise, it's deeply average in an almost upsetting kind of a way. The back part of the pub feels like it's haunted or something. Very weird.
27 Nov 2006 19:10
The Wheatsheaf Inn, Woodhouse Eaves
Well kept ales, great food and a warm atmosphere. A great country pub.
27 Nov 2006 18:59
Deeply average all round, and could be so much better with very little effort - yes, de-clutter!
27 Nov 2006 18:52
Head downstairs for a decent drink from a wide selection of imported lagers. Friendly staff, music can be intrusive, otherwise not bad.
27 Nov 2006 18:48
Quite possibly the best position ever for a pub, and somehow it contrives to be the worst pub in history. Several Ikea showrooms were raided for the interior, the contents randomly scattered about the place to create an atmosphere of unease and brightly lit suspicion. Appalling food at absurdly high prices. Rubbish wine list, badly kept ales, numerous ersatz crappy lagers, all at the same outrageous prices for a village pub. For an utterly contemptible experience after a walk in beautiful Bradgate Park, come here. Or alternatively, head to Swithland for far superior countryside pubs.
27 Nov 2006 18:43
Unbelievable range of imported lagers, good selection of ale. Pizzas are great value, staff are cool, great atmosphere too. All too easy to drink the day away in.
27 Nov 2006 18:34
The only real pub left in Braunstone Gate! Good range of ales, friendly staff, and decent music/live acts (sometimes!). Decent prices and comfortable surroundings - if you like your proper pubs, that is.
27 Nov 2006 18:32
Horrible vertical drinker establishment, with unpleasant staff, and corny/boring retro style.
27 Nov 2006 18:30
Awful, soulless, cavernous hell-hole. No, can't think of one redeeming feature.
27 Nov 2006 18:26
Bastard Scream pub that destroyed one of Leicester's oldest pubs. Suffice to say, that unless you're a mindless student from DMU, you'll hate this place. Crap, cheap, booze and rubbish food. Grrrr!!!
27 Nov 2006 18:23
Traditional boozer with local clientele (and footie fans). Friendly enough, decent ale, hope it doesn't change.
27 Nov 2006 18:20
Beautiful exterior, confused interior, expensive drinks, tepid atmosphere.
27 Nov 2006 18:18
The Rutland and Derby, Leicester
A world away from its previous incarnation, and somewhat overdone in its refurbishment. Feels a bit showroom-like. Wide selection of imported beers, some decent ales, all outrageously expensive. Nice beer garden. All a bit too clinical.
27 Nov 2006 18:16
Best selection of ales in the city. Basic and to the point pub, friendly and knowledgable bar staff, a great placed to hammered on fine ale.
27 Nov 2006 18:13
An oasis of sanity and decent music on the High St of despair. Good food at reasonable prices, drinks on the pricey side - but do serve a decent pint of ale.
27 Nov 2006 18:11
Crap cocktails, that's for sure. Good range of spirits and imported lagers, ale selection poor. Can have good live acts on. An odd place, that is not entirely conducive to relaxing drinking.
27 Nov 2006 18:08
Since it's all subjective fartingghost, I take your point. However, your comments are entirely subjective too - there's more to a pub than just the serving of ale (although I am inclined to agree with your assesment here). Having visited a few more times recently, it does appear that the ale isn't being kept very well, which is a real shame.
But, on balance, I think that the refurbishment was neccessary, and, like ChrisF, am pleased that my girlfriend and her mates will now enter the place! Hopefully the new owners will sort out the ale situation, as it is a real let down.
27 Nov 2006 17:59
Having witnessed the 'before and after' of this pub, I hope that I can try to give some sort of balanced viewpoint.
In its old incarnation, it was a grotty, sticky floored, unimaginative, dark and smoky boozer that while having its own charm, was clearly only going to appeal to a specific type of drinker. That being largely male, approaching middle age, who only eats for sustanance rather than enjoyment. The blaring TV's, nicotine stained decor and obscured Victorian grandeur of this pub was actually a relic of the past.
The new owners have done things sensibly and effectively. Yes, the pool table and TV have gone, as have the cheapo sandwiches, but in has come something that looks like it belongs to this decade. The changes have been simple and, I would suggest, neccessary: the stinking, swirling 70's nightmare of a carpet has gone, the dark oppressive colours on the ceilings and the walls are light and bright shades, and the bar itself has been opened up to reveal some exqusite Victorian cast iron work, that was previously covered with chipboard(!). The main change has been the opening up of the front windows by changing the paines of glass - you can now see in. This makes the world of difference, and makes it an appealing prospect for the many, rather than the few.
Yes, the food is relatively pricey - but it's damn good and the restaurant atmosphere is wonderful. If you want cheap sandwiches, there's a ton of options near by, or Sainsbury's down the road. Service is generally prompt and friendly, and they keep a good ale. Music is excletic and mercifully not overpoweringly loud and intrusive.
Yep, I like the changes, and will not mourn the departure of the old, because there was really nothing to romanticise about. If the new owners had ripped the heart out of the place, there would be justification to complain; they haven't, they have attempted to ressurect a grand old pub with style.
8 Nov 2006 20:11
Swan and Rushes, Leicester
Well maintained traditional pub, with a spacious bar area , lounge to the rear, and small outside space to the side (noisy due to the location). Like its former sister pub The Criterion, it has a wide range of imported bottled lagers (specialising in Belgian), and a rotating selection of well kept ales. Food is okay for the price. Staff are usually friendly and helpful. Generally low key and relaxed during the week, it does get very busy on match days. Wide age range of punters and does the simple things well. Highly recommended.
26 Jan 2008 22:07