BITE user comments - ndf9876
Comments by ndf9876
Aah The Abbot, where the dross of Redhill convene for a few beers before heading over to Liquid / Envy of a weekend.
A few years ago I remember this being quite decent - now it's just a bit of a hole where chavs can get the beers in prior to a night at the aforementioned nightclub.
I can of course only speak for evenings here - lunchtime at The Abbot might be a very different experience.
23 May 2011 14:38
I always knew this pub as 'The Dead Loss' and with good reason - however a recent visit turned that around. It serves a decent beer, the crowd is more pleasant and the Thai food is rather good. Plus they do live music on Saturday evenings - or perhaps that was a one-off when I visited!
Certainly a viable alternative to The Cage and well worth a visit.
20 May 2011 09:58
Visited for a beer a couple of weeks ago after a meal at Pizza Express opposite (I had good memories of this place from 10 years or so ago) and was pretty horrified (and embarrassed that I'd taken friends, new to Reigate, in there on recommendation).
The beer tasted alright to me, although the service was terrible and the interior was grim. Seems like a place for the little neddies to come and get drunk now - what a shame - this is one of those places that might really flourish given its location. Strange really as no other pub in Reigate is like this - even The Cage is not as great a hovel as The Market.
If you want a decent beer in Reigate, there are plenty of other choices - The Red Cross and The Bell (not the Blue Anchor, dear lord no) spring to mind, although I have not visited the latter for some time - the former being quite surprisingly decent.
20 May 2011 09:56
Used to live about a minute's walk from this place when it was The Drill, and it's gone from being a rough old boozer to a really nice place. Food is excellent, beer / wine choices great and staff very attentive, friendly and welcoming. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend - in fact whenever I visit my parents, we often visit the H G Wells as well!
18 May 2011 09:24
Judging by some of the other reviews here, not much has changed in a year or so in terms of the dining experience offered here.
Visited this place twice now - once in March for an evening meal with my wife and parents, the other for lunch over the Easter weekend.
Evening meal was pleasant although every single dish either had a component missing, or in the case of the steaks, undercooked (not a problem for me personally but a fault nonetheless). No cause for complaint but not the best meal ever (and certainly not up to what the menu seemed to promise).
Lunch was an unmitigated disaster. Sandwiches were tiny, pub couldn't cope with being full to capacity and menu choices were trimmed due to many ingredients being unavailable. It doesn't take a genius to work out that, in such a lovely location on a bank holiday, you may get busy - even a trip to the local Tescos to resupply would have helped.
Beer and wine choices were reasonable - some interesting bottled guest lagers (although I would hardly call Peroni 'exotic') but nothing amazing of note on the drinks front.
Shame really, because the pub looks great, the staff were great, and the menu reads very well, but what appear to be massive issues in the kitchen leave me unable to recommend this place at all. Best avoided.
16 May 2011 11:04
I've known this pub for about 15 years and during that time, it's gone from being lovely, to being a dump, closing down and now re-opening to become quite a pleasant little place.
Party of 6 went in for Sunday lunch - menu was limited (this is a good thing in my opinion) and the roast dinners and Ploughmans' were abasolutely fantastic. Just what we wanted - no-frills pub grub. Tasty and very filling. My only complaint was that we had to wait a while for the food, but as it's all freshly cooked, this wasn't really an issue.
The Badger beers were very nice although choice of lagers was a bit limited (I spotten only Kronembourg on tap and several other bottled ones) .
This place isn't going to set the world on fire or revolutionise pub dining, but for a keenly priced, hearty bite to eat in a relaxed pub, I'd definitely go out of my way to revisit The Dog & Duck.
16 May 2011 10:57
The Swan Inn, Monks Eleigh
Went here for dinner and was extremely pleasantly surprised. Yes, it's more geared towards dining than drinking, but the Adnams I drank was well-kept and tasted great, and there is a good and keenly priced selection of wines too. Would be happy to come in for a few drinks in the evening if I ever found myself back in the Lavenham area. The food is out of this world, by the way!
27 Jun 2011 13:47