please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A dingy and cheerless place with a series of dull, plum coloured rooms. At lunchtime it feels like the run-down clubhouse of a golf club, that even if you played the game, you would never, ever want to be a member of. Why's it called 'Ye Olde'; it has two of ye olde fruit machines, a ye olde Gaggia coffee machine and it proudly advertises (ye olde) 'organic over ice' behind the bar. I hate this place; please turn it into a traffic calming measure.
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The worst food I've experienced in London. Midweek evening and my order consisting of nachos described as 'Corn chips, cheddar, guacamole, salsa and sour cream' and ale pie, veg + chips to which I wondered how difficult that would be.
The nachos arrived as cornchip with melted cheese, and then about 30-40 pitted pickled green olives from a jar, with a couple of random pieces of pickled baby corn. Ale pie wasn't fit for a dog to eat, and the vegs appeared to have lived in some pot for the better part of the year. Chips tasted like deep fried sand. No offer of refund when I objected.
This place is an utter dump and should be destroyed.
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This pub is the place where Hitler would spend purgatory.....apart from that its great.
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hi the swiss is my local and now is the subject to fame as it has a myspace site dedicated to it with all the going ons and they even have a canners league and pics of local its brilliant.
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Samuel Smiths pubs are usually pretty good, Ye Olde Swiss Cottage, however is something of an enigma. Resoundingly 'local', it is dimly lit and the overpowering stench of cheap tobacco throughout gives it a decidedly unfriendly buzz. Maybe it's because of its isolated location in the middle of two main roads or its comparative distance from the hub of activity that is the O2 centre, but it feels out of touch and looks poorly maintained. Great potential, but needs a lot of TLC.
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You find a bag of shite in a desert. Do you eat it?
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this is my local a is a great pub. it has so much potential i.e music and sky sports if they would bring these ideas in then the money would come pouring in.
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Easily the best pub on the roundabout!
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Funny that "I've driven past the place on numerous occasions and always made a mental note to go in one day." - i rate ya! Yeah its a bit like the start of that film Falling Down with Douglas,..stuck in traffic sweating,..you may as well have a neon sign over the top of this baby, flashing "Pint,...Pint",..big arrow underneath pointing at the juicer.
Come on,..ditch the chinkycento at the lights and get yourself in this baby.
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What a disappointment. I've driven past the place on numerous occasions and always made a mental note to go in one day. I wished I hadn't. The staff are rude and unhelpful unless you're a local, the volume of cigarette smoke in there borders on lethal and the food was horrible. One word- avoid.
Katef - 30 Nov 2006 10:21 |
i've always found this pub to be more than adequate for a good-value post-cinematic pint after frequenting the Odeon next door. convenient location (if not the best spot for a pub with balconies), and the food is, in my experience, very tasty. beer is as good as one would expect of Sam Smiths. Best boozer in an area not overflowing with alternatives...
gcc24 - 10 Nov 2006 19:56 |
We are a long time user's of this pub and now that my wife has become wheelchair bound it is not very accessable to the toilets as there is no DISABLE TOILET access for wheelchairs.
bob bev
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I remember being in Las Vegas and overhearing a yank bird descibe the Venetian hotel as "Exactly like" Venice,..Italy. We'll along these lines,..this place is "Exactly like", a Swiss Cottage,......I've never been to Switzerland,..and i doubt that young Mary-Lou-Porky-Sue even owned a passport...
This is just a Sam Smiths boozer on a roundabout.
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Miserable and cliquey.
anonymous - 27 Jul 2006 16:02 |
It's been most interesting reading comments on this pub, I did my Pub Management training there back in the sixties. It had 8 or 9 differently themed bars then. It was owned by Chef & Brewer and was very, very popular indeed. Seems like there's been a change or two since then ;-)
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gill and steve are from the glass house stores in soho and all there food is cooked (9 out 10) fresh, if you can try the Thai chilli its the dogs bits.....
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I have just got to share this with you all!!
I have just in my lunch hour taken my client out on a business lunch to this establishment and must rave to you all how fantastic the food is i give them 10 out of 10 the food is home cooked just the way i like it.
I must admit the decore is nothing to go on but I was advised while i was there that there is to be a referb next month.
So i definatly recomed this pub for great business lunches.
anonymous - 7 Apr 2005 14:27 |
in my last few visits to the public house, i have seen a substanshall difference in the running and especially in the catering side, the food has improved 100%, as it is now all home made, as i believe by the lanlady herself. i believe the new managements determination and abilities are deffinate to succeed, and make it one of the finest public houses in london.
anonymous - 7 Apr 2005 11:35 |
ye old swiss cottage!!!!!!!!!
yes old is the word, last year this pub was not a nice
venue but since january 2005 it has been taken over by a yorkshire couple who are working extreamly hard to turn this around!
the quality of the food is fantastic and now all home made ( I Strongly recomend you try it to belive it)
The couple are nice and friendly and always have time to chat to there customers. I really recomed going in for a meal or just a friendly drink!!
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A real taste of Switzerland. In case you've never been, Switzerland is notorious for its cheap beer, smokey interiors, love of chintz and hunting imagery and its population of drama students, alcoholic old ladies who go nuts if you sit in their chairs and other down-and-outs. There are 'better' pubs in the area, but they're not worth paying twice as much per pint for now, are they?
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I can't really put it much better than Muff really. It's not terrible, but I don't recommend sitting outside. I feels like you're having a pint in the slow lane of the M25.
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London pubs are normally pretty smokey, but this one takes the cake - a misty pea-souper that makes your eyes water!
So not one for asthmatics, the virilant anti-smoking lobby, or anyone who wants to maximise their life expectancy.
The fumes outside are likely the healthier option.
Adam - 12 Aug 2004 11:08 |
i live nearby and often go for a few drinks. its beer isn't swiss as col (22 mar 2004) might have thought. it does serve german weiss (wheat beer) beer which my friends rate as being ok, though i'm not a big fan of it. doesn't mean its not good, though...
Its right next to the tube (Swiss cottage, jubilee line) and the cinema (odeon swiss cottage) and thus its good as a meeting point.
In better weather, you can sit in the large beer "garden" as long as you don't mind sitting metres away from the delightful vortex of traffic fumes that is the swiss cottage one-way-roundabout-traffic-system-thing. The hedges do a good job of masking the noise and fumes, so unless you're super fussy or with special friends, etc, its fine.
If you want quaint pubs, go to hampstead.
However, if you want something laid back and cheap where you get 3 pints of decent beer and change out of a fiver, then this is for you.
The spirits and mixers can be expensive and "unusually flavoured".
If you're on a first date, i'd recommend elsewhere (again, hampstead).
The staff are ok. Not an exciting pub, but its ok. Often gets a quite young crowd (au pairs, cinema goers and young people who like cheap places, but some of the skankier locals also like cheap places!)....
Overall, its a good local.
muff - 6 Apr 2004 17:25 |
Nice pub, good to know you can get a nice pint of swiss beer in london, pity no swiss food too.
col - 22 Mar 2004 13:17 |
Visited here a few times when living locally 99/00. Actually had our post-wedding drinks in the back room where all the sofas are. Might sound sad, but the pub is easy to find and the room out the back is handy for 40-50 friends (relaxing and well laid out). Do agree with most other comments though (staff, beer, location, clientele) - it has potential and could do with an owner with imagination.
Paladino - 23 Jan 2004 20:35 |
Grim. I expected a choice of good value real ales in fine condition.
There were none.
For the first time in my life I had a cup of coffee in a pub, and left to go to work two hours early.
Malcolm - 2 Dec 2003 19:57 |
This pub is a jike. Besides the ridiculous prices - £3.90 for a bourbon and coke, there isn't even any brand alchol, only a very cheap and unpleasant tasting equivalent. The staff are pretty moody, and it wasn't at all clean. ALso, I waited for almost an hour for a toasted cheese sandwich. hhhmmmm!
anonymous - 23 Oct 2003 00:07 |
Typical low prices of Samuel Smith's pubs. Interesting collection of au pair types around the place - some of whom are female! Can escape the tv screen in a seperate bar.
mikem - 11 Sep 2003 10:09 |
Nice pub if you want to die early through intoxicating fumes.
Barry armstrong - 4 Sep 2003 17:39 |
They tell me location, location, location. Well, don't expect alpine slopes or rolling glades. Potentially the most harmful pubs in the country if you sit in the garden due to it's position on the Swiss Cottage Roundabout.
The actual design of the exterior is fascinating and I really think they could have/should have extended on the theme inside. The beers are your usual fare for a Samuel Smiths, very well priced and very unique and tasty. The service is temperamental due to the high number of staff. The food, well in my opinion was rather surreal, it reminded me of - in fact I don't know, just that there wasn't something quite right, I don't know why and the pricing was a little radical too, with the nacho's being a similar price to the meat dishes.
Doofer - 6 Aug 2003 16:12 |
Crackin' old boozer despite it's M1 Service Station status... cheap lager, friendly (if not local/one-eyed bar-flys) beer garden (no grass, plenty of concrete though) personality and character in abundance... well worth a visit
Craig - 24 Jul 2003 23:22 |
great for having a pint , then going to the movies
ryry - 22 May 2003 07:41 |
This pub has comfy seats and a nice interior but the lager tastes like piss!!!
also the german barmaid looks like a baboons arse!!
dxbn fgfgfdg - 28 Jan 2003 10:03 |
I'm with techno, even if he has got a stupid name
keith - 18 Dec 2002 13:23 |
A nice Sam Smith's? Inconceivable!
Techno - 9 Dec 2002 15:14 |
