All Bar One, Moorgate

Avoid like the plague. Having been to the Barbican after work, we stumbled across this and decided to risk it for some dinner. We ended up ordering food at the bar, and the barmaid looked like we'd thrown up on her shoes by suggesting we'd like to eat there.

Having waited 40 minutes for food, I went and spoke to the bar staff again, and another 20 minutes later, half of our food arrived with no sign of the other half. Having (unsuccessfully) tried to get a refund from an increasingly annoyed barmaid (not as annoyed as me having not been fed!) I ended up having to speak to the manager to get my money back and went home hungry.

They were serving Doom Bar, hence they get a 1 rating, but steer clear if you have any sense at all.

29 Apr 2010 16:20

The Royal Oak, Oxford

This used to be a regular of mine from my uni days when I had a friend living on the way out of Oxford on the Woodstock Road. I came here about a month ago on a visit to Oxford for the water polo Varsity match, and not a lot has changed, to be honest. The pub is still an interconnected warren of little rooms that leaves you feeling a little disorientated on your first wander round (or your last if you've been there for a while...), the beer is still decent and the food is still really good.

The tables out the front of the pub never seem to move, but are a nice spot to settle in on a summers evening (it was definitely a bit too cold when I was there to contemplate using them). The bar staff are always friendly and attentive, which obviously adds to the charms of the place. And I would agree with the earlier poster who mentioned that the toilets are pretty nice - definitely a differentiator between a good and bad pub.

10 Mar 2010 15:46

The Bridge, Barnes

A group of friends involved in a squash ladder occasionally use the courts at St Paul's school on weekends, and this pub is perfectly placed for a recovery beer and dinner.

A group of six of us poppoed in on Sunday for dinner. I've been here a few times previously and it always seems a pretty nice place. The beer is always OK, and they had Doom Bar on tap at the weekend which is always a nice pint.

We also had a Sunday lunch while we were there - they do a special menu on Sundays - 4 courses for �19-�20 (starter, main, pudding and cheese), but having played squash I wasn't really in the mood for a massive feast. I couldn't pass up the roast completely however - I had the beef, and it was very nice. Good quality food for a pub, although the roast on it's own was still �14 or so, which isn't cheap.

I would have to agree with previous reviewers on the quality of service - we were waiting a long time for the food to come, and I can imagine that this would be problematic if you were in a rush (fortunately, we weren't so it didn't really affect our experience badly). The waiting staff did seem quite helpful, although there was a bit of confusion when we tried to pay our food bill at the bar - apparently these are on "two different systems".

One thing to note is that if you are planning on coming for food on a Sunday lunchtime, it's probably worth booking in advance, as it was pretty rammed when we arrived (although we did still manage to get a table eventually).

All in all though, it's not a bad pub, and the food is well worth a look.

10 Mar 2010 15:29