please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Not too busy for late afternoon Saturday.
Only one serving behind the bar, an extra hand now and again would have been useful.
London Pride, Doom Bar and another ubiquitous poor beer for choice.
We ordered just two starter meals for a light bite to eat.
Should arrive quickly as it was well before the early evening rush.
Forty minutes later it came.
The breaded mushrooms were okay, but the crackling part of the pulled pork was just fried fat - most inedible.
A pub that does well without any real effort put into it.
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Food here can be a bit pricey. Pork Belly £12 and over £13 for a Lamb Shank. Portions are good - served hotter would be better.
Alcohol is not cheap either. 250cl Rose £5.35, beer £3.35.
Three real ales are normally on. Quality is okay but not tip top.
Two beers over the Christmas period had different pump clips but were actually from the same barrel (the barman confirmed this).
It is a dining pub rather than just drinking. Four of us this Sunday having four main meals and five drinks between us totalled £66. Not something I can do every week.
It is a comfortable place with nice surroundings, organisation could be better at these prices.
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Still called yesterday lunch time, Sunday 17th June 2012, despite having read the reviews as we were passing on the river and the sun was out. The patio was very pleasant with a guitarist playing. Service was reasonably quick. We had snacks which were reasonable both in quality and price. My wife chose an Italian Chardonny at �3.30 for a 175cl and I chose Doombar at �3.15. It was that good I had another four pints (no breathaliser on a boat). Last visited six years ago and enjoyed if just as much this time, but both times we sat on the patio. I think that the management has changed since the last reviews.
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Yesterday lunchtime - 1:30 pm. A small house Chardonnay please. Yessir - �4.85. How much - I asked for a small one ??? �4.85 sir. Say no more.
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We visited this pub fresh of a bike ride in the August bank holiday. It was a beautiful day with sub shining.
When we got to the pub there was a massive queue at the bar. There were only two people serving on what must be one of the key business days of the year.
People were queuing to complain that the food was taking over an hour to arrive.
There was no beer, no soft drinks and no juices. The only items that were alcohol free were J2O's. Great for a family pub.
The pub is a massive business, with prime surroundings, yet the management cant order enough drinks, enough food and cant manage staff.
The garden was disgusting, fag butts everywhere, litter and glasses left. The toilets were dirty and full of litter - it was a sham. When we asked one of the bar staff collecting glasses what was going on with such a poor standard, he didnt say anything - just shrugged his shoulders.
My advice to Vintage Inns would be to remove your current tennant from this pub and put in someone who has half a clue what they are doing. Get some proper staff and train them to at least be able to change a barrel.
My advice to anyone going to this pub - dont do it. Your custom isnt appreciated and you'll regret the journey, let alone paying for anything.
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Went here after a pleasant bike ride up the River Lea. Great location, with huge terrace overlooking the waterway.
Menu is extensive and reasonably priced, though only a single veggie main course (risotto), which seems a bit slack nowadays. How hard is it to put a vegetarian pasta or similar on there too?
The terrace is filthy: dirty paper napkins and fag butts everywhere. It clearly doesn't get cleaned very often, once a week or less is my guess.
The bar area is ridiculously dark, but at least it wasn't too busy and the staff friendly enough in non-committal kind of way.
The beer is like brown tap water.
The lowlight of our visit, however, was asking the barmaid to put the TV on in the bar so my friend and I could watch the last half hour of the Tour de France. She said no initially, and when we asked again she spoke to the manager who also declined but without making an appearance.
Being very keen to watch the event, we asked her (very nicely) to bring him out to tell us why - there's a small lounge area next to the bar where the TV is and no-one was sitting there,so we couldn't see any reason why having the TV on would interfere with anyone else's enjoyment.
Anyway, the manager came out and told us that he couldn't put the TV on because head office forbade it, and the last time he'd put the TV on without their permission he'd got a bollocking from some roving inspector type.
We left.
It's a sad day when bar managers are unable to use their judgement to decide what's the most suitable course of action in their own pub.
In a nutshell, one's forced to conclude that this hostelry is the epitome of mediocrity, run by a combination of spineless automatons and suited marketing executives with no thought for their customers beyond their (no doubt) massive profit margins.
Avoid this place before it eats into your soul...
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Appalling! Avoid at all costs. Intenet booking comppletely ignored, including request for seating for 2 people with mobility problems. Told to get in queue and wait for key to disabled toilet! Took 3 attempts before they got key for me. Interminable wait for food. hardly any staff and they seemed to have no idea about what they were doing.
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I don't remember this being a Vintage Inn earlier in the year, mainly because the menu has changed.
Found it to be busy again 2pm Saturday, wasn't sure whether to stay or not. Three staff were serving which is the minimum needed here.
Bombardier and the 6X were on again, with the third pump not in use. The 6X was ok but still not in tip top condition.
I seem to have visited a few Vintage Inn pubs lately - not by choice but because that is what they happen to be. Their menu is quite reasonable - choice and price wise.
I recommend the Chicken, Ham and Leek pie. Oh, and the chips have improved since the last visit. Served in just under 20 minutes was surprisingly quick - maybe the chicken could have been a bit more tender had it been cooked slower.
And it is still rather dark around the bar area.
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the fIsh & eels is in a good location with lots of parking, make sure you take your sunglasses off before entering as for some reason it is very very dark inside, however most people sit outside on the river terrace which is not as clean as it should be. The choice of beer is same as most other places but the beer tastes watery. The licensee is extremely abrupt and unpleasant. I would say this pub is ok if you really need a drink otherwise look elsewhere.
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Fantastic riverside location with plenty of room inside for dining.
12:15, one Saturday lunchtime inside was deserted, which made ordering food and drink easy enough. Within ten minutes there were nearly twenty people queueing to order. Not good with only two bar staff on duty.
It was hard work trying to get the barman into any sort of conversation. He wasn't rude but just did his job without any pleasantries.
I would say everything about this place was average. The choice of food, the price, the taste, and the real ales were all average.
I had the Gammon (�6.95) which came with two eggs and pineapple (I do hate it when some places only offer you one egg or pineapple, not both). The chips were on the thin side and not that tasty.
There is a choice of three regular real ales. London Pride (I wouldn't touch that with a barge pole - totally overrated). Wells Bombardier - ok but nothing special and Wadworth 6x. Now this is one that I like and this is the one I chose.
Something about it didn't look right. It wasn't a dark copper colour, it didn't taste off but it wasn't full bodied and tasted watery if anything.
When I went to get another drink the barman had just taken the 6x off. I told him my pint was disappointing so he gave me a free pint of Bombardier........it tasted just like my first pint.
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Haven't visited this pub for many years until yesterday. Was a bit disappointed that they have turned it completely to a gastro pub style restaurant. I think they should have kept some small area of the place just as a bar.
Had a pint of Staropramen which was spot on but unfortunately the Sunday Roast dinners we had were not very nice and the portion size seemed a little on the stingy side.
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Excellent pub, nice big beer garden , nice food -deffinatley be returning !
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In a nice location by the river but there is not much else to recommend this pub. It is a 'family pub' in the Harvester sense of the word. The beer was acceptable but nothing to write home about and the food is of the churned out variety that you find in most of these chain pubs. Acceptable on a nice summers day if you are desperate and don't mind rthe crowds flocking there with you but apart from that, very unispiring.
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The location, on a kind of island surrounded by water on the River Lea, could hardly be bettered: this is a very beautiful spot. A very attractive pub as well. On both occasions I have paid a visit I haven't stayed here long enough to really find out what it's like, but seems pretty decent.
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wow the food is great value and a fantastic garden. the interior is to die for atmosphere wicked take the misses and earn some serious points. the staff are great
anthony miller - 19 Jan 2007 23:52 |
