The Fox and Anchor, Smithfield

Absolutely superp- Excellent ales including a top notch pint of Old Growler from the Nethergate brewery. Also excellent food - try the ham hock or fish and chips. A great refurb and an excellent (re) addition to the area.

24 Dec 2007 09:43

The White Swan, Richmond

A very reasonable message from Richard deserves a reasonable reply and I will therefore endeavour to provide one. On the evening discussed I was a member of a group of 8 celebrating an event and it is quite true that the majority of them highly enjoyed the occasion and found no major flaw with the food or establishment. I however did and was moved to comment via this forum. If this has served to focus some attention on an area that needs improvement then I will have achieved something but perhaps not in the way that Richard might find reasonable or fair. I did find the bar service to be what I felt was somewhat flippant but this might have been a misinterpretation of over-mateyness. The waiting staff, although seemingly not uderstanding the problem, was very pleasant. The duty manager did his best to try to smooth things over and at no time was anyone less than friendly. So, from many a view point, not that bad. The acid test, would I go back again. For a beer, probably. An attractive place with pretty well kept ale. For a meal, probably not. My friends might disagree with me but, in my honest opinion, for what is in reality pretty basic pub fayre priced at the upper end of the scale, things ought to be better in terms of overall quality and truly basic errors should not, under any circumstances, be made.

28 Jun 2007 16:21

The White Swan, Richmond

Beer ok but service rather flippant, perhaps a reaction to the generally low i.q of the braying customers. What was really astonishing was the food- an absolute shambles. Deep fried white bait that was actually microwaved- when pointed this out to the uncomprehending staff was finally informed that the deep fat fryer had switched itself off halfway through cooking! Mmm, that's ok then! Disgraceful!

14 May 2007 13:44