BITE user comments - rlm
Comments by rlm
A reasonable pub but the screen is too big unless you are specific there to watch dull sport.
13 Apr 2006 22:37
Quite a nice pub and good food which arrived pretty fast even though it was rammed. There was nowhere to sit first of all, but the staff came & told us when a table came available. Most of the pictures on the wall are of the Royal Family, past & present, although I think the dates of Charles I reign on one of the tables was wrong since technically he was not King until after the restoration.
13 Apr 2006 22:35
It was goog fun, but they let too many people in at one time. You go in and stand around admiring it for a bit, then it takes ages to get a drink. If they maybe allowed 10 less people a time it would be better. Alternatively, are they open at lunch-time....
28 Mar 2006 22:36
The Duke of Kendal, Marylebone
Really nice Thai food but very cramped. It's a funny shape, ie triangular. We went Friday, and had to severely hold our noses when going downstairs to use the loos.
28 Mar 2006 22:26
This is the worst Wetherspoons pub I have ever been to.
We arrived at 1 minute past 12 and were too late (by 1 minute) for breakfast. The veggie burger & chips we ordered was OK but everything else was dire. They ran out of caesar salad dressing so offered us vinagrette instead but came back to say they only had mayonnaise (not a pleasant mix). The beans on the jacket potato were luke warm and tasted really cheap. The coleslaw and salad were warm.
The serving staff were quite friendly.
28 Mar 2006 22:22
This was a nice and quite friendly pub, and has names of all the people who have swum the channel on the ceiling and wall. They gave us free nuts, and it was in a nice location close to the remains of a ruined church....
28 Mar 2006 22:19
The Westbourne, Westbourne Green
This pub is always very busy, with people sitting and standing outside.
The best time to come is in the summer, either evening or day-time. If you persevere, you can usually get a seat and if you have to share a table then the people are usually pretty friendly. I have however had my card stolen out of my Jeans here but that can happen in any pub.
Watch out for the "celebrities". Jamie Theakston knows the guy who used to own this (or something) and previously hung out here a bit. Before we've seen some blokes finding it funny to say 'A-ha' to a very annoyed Steve Coogan. Once we also saw Sanjay from Eastenders with his clone / boyfriend.
24 Dec 2005 17:40
Does anyone remember the ad when someone (maybe Johnny Vaughan) is jogging through Hyde Park and then stands outside a pub where people are wearing trendy trainsers and makes a funny comment to them? Well this is the pub.
I've lived in the area 5 years and never managed to get a seat inside. The food is all fish and is meant to be really good but not if you're veggie.
It's really nice to sit outside during the summer though and people-watch on the old-fashioned wooden pew-like seats.
24 Dec 2005 17:36
This is a restaurant not a pub!
Decent pizzas though and once they had a very good-looking waiter!
24 Dec 2005 17:34
The Metropolitan, Westbourne Park
This bar recently (last couple of years) underwent a makeover to try and turn it from a scary but sleepy old man's pub into a trendy bar. They haven't quite got it right though, as the clientele either fancy themselves (someone has to) or look like they want to mug you with their walking sticks! It is bearable in the summer because you can sit in the beer garden outside and the food there is apparently also quite nice.
If you fancy a drink in this area, turn left rather than right out of Westbourne Park station and try the Grand Union.
24 Dec 2005 17:33
At least you can normally get a seat here when the others all around are full!
The food is a bit suspect. I had a mushroom risotto once that clearly came out of a microwave packet marked 'Tesco' or 'Sainsburys', and another time they forgot to wash the soil off my salad!
24 Dec 2005 17:30
The Bricklayer's Arms, Marble Arch
This pub is quite nice for lunch-times and the clientele is pretty much all from the local offices. The food is quite plain & relatively good value and OK to eat. The pub isn't bad although the staff can be a bit grumpy, and the toilets are up some scary stairs that you could easily fall down if you were a bit sozzled. It doesn't really have any atmosphere and on Thurs/ Fri lunch-times it can be hard to get a seat but there's nothing actually wrong with it.
24 Dec 2005 17:28
This is a bar rather than a pub and is located in a premises that quite clearly used to be a small shop (ie it is long and thin). The lighting is red and flashing and they seem to have a comic book theme. The drinks were much more than in the other 2 Hoylake bars we visited in the same night (�7.50 for a g&t & vodka & tonic) and the music was slightly too loud to even shout above. The clientele were either about 15 or looking bemused at being there, and the bar-staff even had 'Cuba' embazened across their Jeans. They seemed suprised when we refused �15 per ticket for New Year's Eve.
24 Dec 2005 17:08
If you are forced to go south of the river, then the Freemasons is not a bad place to go. The food is pretty good and the veggie selection is nice. Sometimes they have a dj,eg Groove Armada! It is a bit of a nightmare to get home from though especially if you have to go north as it is miles from proper public transport and a walk to get either to the British Rail station or on a decent bus route. If you drive or live here though, it is quite a nice pub.
18 Dec 2005 17:44
Very busy at lunch-times and straight after work on Thursdays & Fridays because of all the nearby offices. They could probably be done for trades misdescriptions re their 'fantastic new menu' tho which really should be called 'slightly below average menu but quite good value for money'! Very easy access if you need to escape from Oxford Street though... turn left by the flagship New Look close to Marble Arch then first right. There's not that many other OK pubs as close to Oxford Street that I can think of either....
17 Dec 2005 17:07
This Wetherspoons pub used to be a supermarket and it had better atmosphere then.
The last time I went it was full of 65 year old women in boob tubes and leopard-print mini-skirts accompanied by their 40-year old beer-gutted toyboys.
6 Dec 2005 23:29
The Hillgate, Notting Hill Gate
Do go for the Christmas decorations which are sometimes (once) up all year.
White bread chip chutties as well.
6 Dec 2005 23:24
The Churchill Arms, Kensington
Dingy dark and horrible. Smoky and men watching football. The Thai food is nowhere near as good as any of the other pubs / restaurants in the area. Don't believe the hype.
6 Dec 2005 23:22
The Devonshire Arms, Kensington
Quite good but we had to wait ages for food and to get served in the summer. It has a nice beer garden. Toilets are really difficult to negotiate when slightly intoxicated.
6 Dec 2005 23:16
Really loud dance during the weekend which does not match the decor of soft cosy sofas. I wouldn't recommend it. Opposite a Spanish restaurant called Galicia which looks quite nice.
6 Dec 2005 23:13
Quite a good pub although usually rammed and the stairs to the toilet are very steep so not good if you have had too much to drink!!!!
6 Dec 2005 23:06
Bit of an old man's pub with no atmosphere and very few females! Better than most Wetherspoons though and very cheap.
6 Dec 2005 23:04
The Tavistock Arms, Westbourne Park
This pub has changed it's name to The Mother White Cap. I would have given Babushka and 8 out of 10, but the new pub only rates a 2 if that. No longer plays cool music and they got rid of all the candle wax and most of the vodka.
28 Oct 2005 17:47
The Golborne Grove, Ladbroke Grove
The staff have attitude, but is that a bad thing?
Much better than nearby Bed Bar but not as good as the Grand Union.
28 Oct 2005 17:46
Paradise By Way Of Kensal Green, Kensal Green
Much better than any of the other pubs in the immediate vicinity. You can sit outside at the back but it smelt a bit of toilets last time. Nice decor in the pub-side. There's not much veggie choice for mains, but last time it was nice if slightly over-priced. I hear the meat / fish dishes are better value for money.
28 Oct 2005 17:40
Came here when there was a free drinks promo from Time Out. It was described as a leading gastropub but the menu looked totally over-priced. We sat in the restaurant side which was at least better than the drinking side. I wouldn't come here again though.
28 Oct 2005 17:37
Much better than the Salisbury because it is much less crowded. Main problem with this bar is it is too big and the food takes ages. Nice and cheap to eat though, and the sort of place you can take your parents. We overheard some hoodies talking about how well they did at robbing people here, but I can't see how as it is always so empty! If you live in this part of Queens Park though, where else can you go for a drink in the rain?
28 Oct 2005 17:35
This pub is very over-rated but there's not many other places to drink in the near vicinity and it is conveniently located. The people are a mix of trendies and old men with dogs and if you drink inside you come out stinking of fags. It is the least air-conditioned place I know. If you stand outside, you find yourself watching people as they walk up and down the road which ruins conversation. Loads of people think it is great though.
28 Oct 2005 17:31
This pub was much nicer before they did it up. It now looks really odd cos it is traditional on one side and modern on the other. In case you don't know the history, the booths are so people could drink privately in the olden days without having to mix with other classes etc and the little doors were for the serving people to go through.
28 Oct 2005 17:27
In the summer you can never get a seat cos it is so rammed, mainly full of Australians. Nice location though. The restaurant is quite over-priced.
28 Oct 2005 17:26
The Grand Union, Westbourne Park
Really good in the summer as you can sit outside. Don't think it has been sold. Much better than the Metropolitan which is down the road. For the guy who wants to watch football, there are plenty of others with screens in the area and the pub hasn't really changed much since it was the Carlton Bridge. The food was really good here until early 2004 when it changed hands and they changed the menu. It takes ages for your food to arrive tho so don't come here if you are in a rush. If they still do pumpkin risotto that was great, but the chunky chips are a bit greasy now!
28 Oct 2005 17:23
The Walmer Castle, Notting Hill
I used to come here a lot as it does the best Thai food I know. Recently however they admitted on their menus to using fish in the curries which had previously been marked as veggie. I don't eat fish so can't order their curries, but would not rate any of the other veggie dishes which all taste quite salty. They are honest for admitting to the fish though so good for them, but shame I don't like anything I can still eat!
28 Oct 2005 17:14
The North London Tavern, Kilburn
This is quite a disappointing pub.
It looks really nice from outside and is always really busy. The bar bit was alright, tho it was quite hard to get a seat & was more smokey than many other places.
If you order food, the dining room has a really nice ceiling but the menu choice is quite limited, especially if you are vegetarian. We had the same girl serving us both times we have been (several months apart), but last time she was too busy talking to her friend to bring any drinks / food or take any orders, tho she was wearing a nice top.
13 Apr 2006 22:41