BITE user comments - DaveTheDog
Comments by DaveTheDog
The Ship and Whale, Rotherhithe
Another update! The new guys running this place are great. Very friendly. They're running table service, which is a bit disconcerting at first, it being a pub and all, but it works well enough. Good food, as always. There seem to be a lot more punters than there used to be, so they're obviously doing something right. Let's hope these guys last longer than the previous landlords.
17 Nov 2005 13:15
"If Dave doesn't like the Captain Kidd, it must be great!" Well, that's not very nice! The pub itself, the location, the views, they're all great. But nobody I know, whether they drink lager, ale, cider or whatever, can stomach the drinks served by Sam Smiths.
The lagers taste vile and you're guaranteed a throbbing head the next day, even after a moderate session.
21 Sep 2005 12:44
The Ship and Whale, Rotherhithe
I'm going to have to update my comments - I've been here twice recently. On Friday, they ran out of all beers and we had to drink bottled stuff. We would have left, but we'd ordered food. Last night, all the ales were off, so we didn't bother staying. Come on, guys! Poor show.
10 Aug 2005 13:46
Looks like a drug drop-in centre from the outside, but inside is a revelation. The service is great - even on a busy Saturday night, I was served immediately every time. There was a free barbecue at the back and a very entertaining sausage-eating dog. We were there to see a band - unfortunately, the stage is so low, I couldn't actually see anything. Apart from that, it's a surprisingly great place.
8 Aug 2005 10:23
The pub at the front is OK but nothing special. However, the dining room at the back is one of my favourite places to eat in London. Great food and the staff seem a lot friendlier than the bar staff. It can get very busy and a bit noisy, but I've never had a bad meal or a bad night here. It's best to go in winter when you can really appreciate how cosy it is.
28 Jul 2005 11:09
I've eaten here twice and while the food is a bit expensive for a pub, it is definitely a notch up from usual pub grub. Unlike the nearby Angel, the beers are drinkable here. I've not been in summer, so I've yet to see how popular the terrace is, although it doesn't seem as inviting as the outside spaces wasted on Sam Smiths pubs like The Angel and the Captain Kidd. The front room can get extremely smoky on quiz nights, although this was in winter. Maybe they open the windows when it gets warmer.
19 Jul 2005 17:43
What is it with Sam Smiths? They manage to find the most beautiful pubs in the most wonderful locations and then make us suffer their revolting drinks! This lovely wooden pub with riverside terrace would be a great summer hangout if any other brewery owned it.
19 Jul 2005 17:37
Breathtaking views from the upper floor - Tower Bridge, the City, Telecom Tower in the distance, boats on the Thames. What a shame it's Sam Smiths. With the exception of their bottled organic lager, everything they serve is practically undrinkable.
18 Jul 2005 16:22
First off, the pub is called the Wibbley Wobbley, not the Wibbly Wobbly. It's written in huge letters on the side. I've only been to the restaurant upstairs once. We were the only people in there, but the food was great. The pontoon beside the boat is a great place to drink in summer. It's a shame that it's so smoky inside. It's a shame they can't sort that out because if you could actually breathe, it would be a very atmospheric place to spend an evening.
18 Jul 2005 16:16
The Ship and Whale, Rotherhithe
I'm not keen on the lagers, but the staff are very pleasant and we've had a few good meals. The crowd can vary. One night, it'll consist mainly of people from the new developments sipping wine and chatting politely. The next night, it may be full of tattooed old-timers yelling at their kids. Large and colourful beer garden is great in summer.
18 Jul 2005 16:09
The Red Fort & Akbar, Soho
�3.95 for a small bottle of Kingfisher... and then they stick a 60p service charge on top! $4.55! The only good thing about this place is that you get served pretty quick because nobody is buying too many drinks at these prices. Shameless rip-off merchants. Avoid.
5 Sep 2006 16:48