BITE user comments - SJohnson
Comments by SJohnson
Popped in a couple of weeks ago as was early to meet a friend round the corner. Fantastic little place with a really great vibe and a cracking pint of Deuchars - one of my favourite ales. Food looked great and not expensive although I didn't eat there. Will definitely be returning.
Worth noting also that they don't take cards for all you people that don't carry cash!
Staff were very friendly also. The lovely barmaid from Brasil, was happy to promote the party they were holding that night to celebrate the last day of Carnival, but alas I could not return due to a prior engagement.
11 Mar 2009 10:01
The Hoop and Grapes, City Of London
Pubs primarily are for drinking in, rather than eating, and the ales I've had here have been excellent. Not eaten there, but would rather the landlord had Cask Marque accreditation than an award winning kitchen, as he is running a pub and not a restaurant.
Keep up the good work!
4 Sep 2008 10:57
Zabadak - Young's have now stopped supplying Stella to all of their pubs and so none of them are allowed to stock it!
Strongbow now �3.55 per pint! This must be the most expensive about at the moment, when will it stop going up?
4 Sep 2008 10:21
Shut for a refurb at moment, apparently opening on Monday 28th Jan.
25 Jan 2008 15:10
Good refurb. Staff have all changed now and are a lot better than the old lot that hated serving people!
Worth a visit, even if just to get rid of the old memories.
Deuchars IPA and Bombardier on
25 Jan 2008 15:08
BITE. Why did my page long review not appear from yesterday?
Here it is again, slightly different wording I'm sure.
Very slow service as mentioned by HopMan1 and others on both food and drink.
Staff not trained properly therefore customers end up in situations where they have to send back Guinness extra cold as they only asked for Guinness - do you pour Diet Coke when people order Coke? No!
Not enough staff - spoke to the guv'nor and he said he'd just taken over a few weeks back and inherited three staff off sick. He also said they'd be closing for a big expensive refurb ready in time for Christmas. Good stuff.
10 Oct 2007 15:52
I know what previous reviewers are saving about the older chap behind the bar but if you give him the time of day he really is fine. He always remembers our round and pours an excellent pint.
Management has changed since the older dated reviews and the young lady who runs it is very pleasant. A lot of people tend not to venture downstairs and therfore get put off by the small upstairs bar, whereas downstairs is quite large and has an outside area for those who still like a smoke.
It's nothing amazing but it's good enough for a few beers and the food is fine, (big helpings), also fun to watch the tourists......
4 Sep 2007 16:49
Always been a good pint in here and staff have always been very friendly and helpful.
We had a company do here last year and they catered for us very well, even though some of us were a 'bit' rowdy and 'thirsty' they could see people weren't out of control and in other places the management are sometimes a bit over zealous in that respect.
I only pop in from time to time generally but the staff always say hi and remember me, which is what you want in a boozer.
31 Aug 2007 09:30
Fantastic 'proper' pub with a great atmosphere. Even better now the smoking ban is in force. Not full of suits like next door and always guaranteed a laugh.
Even if you pop in on your own you will no doubt become involved in a conversation at the bar, (probably with a tall chap called Steve - you have been warned), which will be highly amusing!
Has won cellar of the year on many occasion and the food (12-2 only) is of very high standard too, try the lasagne or steak and ale pie.
The place is run very well and I am surprised also, as mentioned earlier by JohnBonser, that there aren't more comments about 'The Retreat' as it's far better than others in the area.
Go pay a visit and check out the cast of 'The Office' round the corner of the bar.
30 Aug 2007 11:39
Awful service by most of the staff and the place is just a big room rather than a decent pub with atmosphere.
This is a shame as this could be a good venue for sporting events. However it will not be until the area manager comes around and kicks some butt.
As posted by 'Colonel' previously, the glasses were all filthy and when I asked for a clean one, (how dare I), the response was 'it is clean, they are all like that!'
This simply is not good enough, if you run a pub then you should give a monkeys about the state of your glasses. Perhaps your glass cleaning machine needs fixing! Oh and don't bother me with the 'it's just water marks' excuse, as this is not good enough, decent pubs clean their glasses properly. This simply means you are terrible at your job and can't be bothered.
While I'm on the subject of fixing, I'll mention the speakers. We went into watch the rugby on Saturday and the speakers in one half of the pub were not working. Instead of apologising and explaining when I asked the 'manageress', she snappily replied, 'the amp is broken, it comes on and goes off there's nothing I can do.' How about getting it fixed sweetheart?
Management:
First of all, sort yourselves out and then in no particular order;
Get your sound equipment fixed
Get your glass cleaning equipment fixed
Get some decent bar staff who can understand the English language and do actually want to work there
Clean and fix the toilets
14 Aug 2007 16:22
A classic boozer that doesn't pretent to be anything it isn't.
That said I was very surprised to find Strongbow priced at �3.20 a few weeks back. The P&P next door,that you'd expect to be more expensive, was still �3.00 for the same drink.
However this wouldn't stop me going there as I do like the place, but imagine my further disbelief when I popped back last week and it had gone up again to �3.35!
26 Mar 2007 11:10
Dirty Dick's, Bishopsgate
Still a great place to go for good service and well kept ale.
Prices are still on the up and although I love the place, I'm struggling to see how they can justify being so high compared to other venues. Pints went up another 8 pence last week and I thought they were expensive already. I'm not suggesting more one minute that they should be on a par with the likes of the Wetherspoon over the road for obvious reasons, but at over 50 pence more for a pint, is it justified?
I'll still go there, and that answers my own question I suppose. Without giving them license to take liberties, I think it is more important to keep the idiots out of this great pub by pricing them out. Maybe that's what the Guv'nor is doing, and on that note, he runs it very well.
11 Mar 2009 10:18