BITE user comments - The_Slider
Comments by The_Slider
Quite seriously this is the worst pub I have ever been into in all my life.
It is ugly, freezing cold, staffed by people who are either invisible (I waited over five minutes at the bar last before anyone even appeared) or off-hand to the point of surliness, full of troglodite clientele (including a loud and foul-mouthed fishwife slattern complaining that she was being 'dissed' by being barred for smoking marijuana on the premises) and the food - though nicely presented and very cheap - made me ill.
They have no interesting beers or ciders and almost all the sprits were out.
I would rather walk the mile or so uphill to Crystal Palace where there are a few decent pubs than ever frequent this complete dump of a boozer again.
ha ha ha.
1 Oct 2008 14:08
The William Morris, Merton Abbey Mills
Blimey. The users below are obviously not fussy.
I popped in recently (just before Christmas) and had a limp sunday roast that might just about have passed muster as a school dinner and was charged an absurd amount for the diet coke that went along with my pint.
The glasses were not clean either.
I wouldn't use this pub again unless I were on the verge of collapse with thirst and hunger, and even then the KFC across the carpark might seem a better option. 3 points but only for the view out across the Wandle.
5 Feb 2008 13:37
Beautifully renovated and furnished in warm, aged wood. The winelist is good and sensibly priced, as is the excellent food - open kitchen area too so you can see what goes on.
This place is obviously aiming at the same clientele as the nearby Dolphin in Sydenham but beats it hands down on everything - ambience, price, quality of food (the fish and chips is to die for - though they could give you a few more of their chips!)and both competence and enthusiasm of staff.
I love this pub - it is a brisk 15 minute walk from my house but well worth the effort. Best pub in the neighbourhood by a long way.
20 Jan 2008 12:41
Hm.
Well this is the nearest pub to my home and the only place to drink in Sydenham where you can guarantee you won't be stabbed. The food is good and the beers are well kept and plentiful.It is a little overpriced though - maybe that is to keep the stabbers out.
The new garden is a lovely space to sit in and the pub itself is beautifully furnished with a lovely mixture of arts and crafts/art nouveau/deco.
But there is something soulless about The Dolphin.
It is a little barnlike and it is run too tightly.
It does, as people have mentioned, have bloody kids running about all over the place, which wouldn't really bother me that much but for the fact that the management have taken a unilateral decision to not allow dogs in - even in the garden.
I drink there occasionally, but frankly the management's attitude makes me walk the opposite direction usually, to the much more welcoming (especially to my small and well-behaved dog)Foresters.
As the Dolphin's management said to me in an email "The reason (for the dog ban) is that it is difficult to control the conflicting interests of users in a small public space and some customers strongly object to the presence of animals, especially when eating. The ban makes it easier for us and I'm sorry your little dog is a victim. I wish it were as easy to deal with rampaging children and the smoker versus non smoker issue."
It is. Make an area where Children can rampage and make an area where dogs can sit peacefully away from anyone who objects.
Rampaging children and smokers impinge on other people. Dogs, if properly contolled, dont.
21 Jun 2007 10:51
I just moved into the area and tried the Foresters out on Saturday.
It is a lovely pub. Theere is a good selection of beers and wines, friendly helpful staff (I left a rucksack there and when I phoned to enquire about it the barmaid had already tucked it away safely for me) and great decor.
It has good-ish music too, and it isn't played at that rediculous ear-splitting level that makes conversation difficult.
I am pleased to have it as my local. The only thing that slightly bugs me, since I gave up the fags, is that it is REALLY smoky in there. I don;t agree with the ban politically, but I will enjoy the Foresters much more once it comes in this summer.
Oh, I was welcomed in with my dog too - with the proviso that he stay at home on sunday lunchtimes when they are serving food. can't say fairer.
26 Feb 2007 17:26
The Blue Posts, Fitzrovia
The toilets have recently been refurbished and they are clean enough to eat your dinner off.
I'm not mad keen on SS beers and ciders - and their selection of wines is rubbish - but the pub itself (and the staff) is so pleasant (and dog friendly, which is important to me) that I don't care. My favourite place to drink in the west end - especially on the weekend when it is empty.
24 Aug 2009 22:21