Restaurant Spy - Rejected

The True Heart Inn High Street Bishopstone Swindon SN6 8PH

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:40:31 +0000

Address:
High Street Bishopstone Swindon SN6 8PH

Review:

It was only when we came to order that we were told that much of the menu was unavailable – pity they didn’t tell us when we ‘phoned to book. Only my 5th choice was available. We were told that they had no steaks but we then overheard the chef/owner offer rump steak to a local – a touch of rationing, I suspect. The treacle roly-poly was rock hard (probably over microwaved). The coffee machine wasn’t working and we were offered instant coffee but at the same price as the decent filter machine price. To finish the evening off an ‘extra’ bottle of wine appeared on my bill that we hadn’t had. Would I go there again? NO

The Battle Axes, Butterfly Lane, Elstree, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire WD6 3AD

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:36:58 +0000

Address:
Butterfly Lane, Elstree, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire WD6 3AD

Review:

About 20 family members assembled for a pub lunch at the Battle Axes on Good Friday. The food was OK, but very overpriced for what it was. Sirloin Steak, one grilled mushroom, two deep fried onion rings from a frozen catering pack, half a tomato and chips – almost £14. Service was sweet but slow and wrong: my crab soup was announced as “red pepper soup” and placed before L, while his red pepper soup was announced as “crab” and given to me. You could tell what they were by the colour and smell, but the staff’s English wasn’t up to it. There was quite a lot of this. The décor is shabby: the garlands of dried flowers overhead had been there for a few years, had turned to dust and doubtless been commandeered for insect overspill housing – so you have to keep an eye on any food directly below it, in case of falling bodies.

Ristorante Maffei, Piazza Erbe 38, Verona, Italy.

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:07:14 +0000

Address:
Piazza Erbe 38, Verona, Italy.

Review:

I booked the Maffei some months in advance, as part of a trip to Verona to celebrate my wife’s birthday. The online booking system worked well and the web site gave a lot of information with regards to menus, wines and historic location.

The restaurant premises are quite spectacular, being housed in a magnificent palatial building. We were greeted by very friendly staff and shown to our table, as well as ourselves, there was only one other couple in the restaurant, despite this being 9pm on a Friday night. I confess that the alarm bells did start to ring.

Palm Kerala 49, Grosvenor Road, Tunbidge Wells, Kent, TN1 2AY

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:35:25 +0000

Address:
49, Grosvenor Road, Tunbidge Wells, Kent, TN1 2AY

Review:

Kerala is just about alive in Tunbridge Wells but at a cost.... McDosa was a marvel: great food at a low price albeit with random service and somewhat dodgy surroundings. The revamped and sold on version still has some great Keralan specialities like parripu vadai and dosas but now costs far more with possibly even more random service.

In the McDosa days you could get more top quality South Indian specilaties than you could possibly eat and a decent dose of Cobra and wine for about £30. Now prices have risen and apart from a more even coat of grey paint on the walls there is little on the plus side to explain the 25-35% increase in price. The food is generally okay but £6.25 for a small quantity of some shop bought paneer and peas as a main course is about £3 too much. They also advertise the chutneys as a speciality but failed to deliver, returning only some Patak-style lime pickle instead of the promised lemon pickle (which is so easy to make in advance) and home made mango chutney. This came with achappam which was more akin to stamped on sugary square hula hoops than the flower shaped crunch that I remember from the delights of Rasa on Church St. N16.

Wild Honey, 12, St. George St, London, W1S 2FB

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:45:07 +0000

Address:
12, St. George St, London, W1S 2FB

Review:

Well I'll start by saying a very big 'Sorry' to Jim. It was my friends birthday celebration, and I talked him out of going to Langans (which has less than favourable reviews - food is naff and it's all a bit 'old boys club' for me - plus once told 'footballers eat there', I was convinced to avoid it like the plague) to go to much talked about Wild Honey, in London's Mayfair. It had, incidentally, just won a Michelin star and I was very anxious to try it out. Unfortunately, the only thing it had in common with Michelin is that it left me 'tyred'.

Unicorn Inn, Excise Street, Kincardine, Scotland

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:44:56 +0000

Address:
Excise Street, Kincardine

Review:

We ate on a Wednesday evening under a newspaper promotion: 2 courses plus a glass of wine for £10 each.

What should have been an opportunity for the restaurant to showcase their wares turned out to be an exercise in short-sighted penny-pinching. Most of the food was good, although the pate seemed to be plastic stuff from a supermarket, while the sea bass was fantastic. These two cancelled each other out, then.

The Edmund Tylney, 30–34 High Street, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 8AW

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:18:09 +0000

Address:
30–34 High Street, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 8AW

Review:

I had the unfortunate experience of eating at the Wetherspoons in Leatherhead recently. While the prices were typically inexpensive, the food and the service can only be described as cheap.

I first started to feel uneasy when, after ordering, my food arrived at my chosen table before I did. There is a not-so-fine line between quick service and reheating a cold dish. Not wanting to add to the rather awkward atmosphere that this created, I accepted the meal. After realising that ‘dilapidated’ is actually an adjective one can use in conjunction with ‘jacket potato’, I pushed my food around my plate for a while and reasoned that it was too cheap to complain about, besides, the whole meal cost what the free glass of wine costs in some bars.

Café Rouge, 6-7 South Grove, Highgate, London N6 6BP

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:26:14 +0000

Address:
6-7 South Grove, Highgate, London N6 6BP

Review:

Twice recently I’ve been out with a friend, and they’ve suggested Café Rouge. The first time was the Hampstead branch, half an hour before they closed, and they didn’t have much food left, or much enthusiasm for serving it either. We paid over a tenner each for lamb chops and some lukewarm pasta in gloopy sauce with about four mushrooms. We shovelled it down because it was only minutes to closing time, and anyway we were hungry. It didn’t seem fair to make a judgement under the circumstances, there are many restaurants which won’t even sit you down at 10.30pm.

Moe's Mexican Bar & Grill, 106-110 Firebrace St Horsham, VIC, Australia 3400

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:27:22 +0000

Address:
106-110 Firebrace St Horsham, VIC, Australia 3400

Review:

Now, Mr RD and I know our mexican food and restaurants and we wanted to see what this place had to offer.

The young waitress showed us to our lower level table next to the bar. She asked if we wanted to order a drink. Water would be fine. Normally we'd order wine but not this time. Leaning over the balcony from the bar giving us a lovely view of her armpits as an appetiser ... she plonked glasses on the table.

Bonaventure, Aird Uig, Isle of Lewis, HS2 9JA

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:02:48 +0000

Address:
Aird Uig, Isle of Lewis, HS2 9JA

Review:

My wife and I dined at this restaurant on 23 August 2007. I had been induced to seek it out by the rave reviews on the home page of the restaurant's website and in local tourist brochures. We looked it over on 22 August and we were (or at least I was) enchanted by its position. Anticipating an excellent meal we arrived ravenous having spent the day motoring around the island.

The intrusive piped music that we heard on arrival should have warned us; but it was a wet day and the open fire seemed very welcoming. A table by the window with a view over the sea took our minds off the background noise and we ordered our wine.

The Black Pig, 18 Grove Hill Rd Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1RZ

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:20:25 +0000

Address:
18 Grove Hill Rd Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1RZ

Review:

The Kentish Yeoman / Orson Welles has re-opened (just yesterday, in fact) - and although I can't speak for the quality of the food (but £28.50 for a T-Bone Steak and "Pommes Allumettes", anyone?), I'm afraid it's going to have to be REJECTED force majeure, all down to the nonsensical prices and particularly the following little ditty taken from the foot of the menu:

"10% service charge will be added to all bills, Thank you"

Mana Greek, 10 St Sampson Square, York

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 08:34:22 +0000

Address:
10 St Sampson Square ,York

Review:

We visited the restuarant on Saturday the 23rd June 2007. We ordered the vegetarian meze however queried why this included fish!?. We were told that something be done excluding the fish. The first dishes arrived which included a sausage dish!. We were served a selection of greek dips with pitta bread and a cheese pie which was cooked from frozen because it was still frozen at the centre. The next dishes arrived which consisted of a plate each of stuffed vegetables not the lots of little dishes that you would expect a meze to consist of. A greek salad was served with some of the most salty unrecognisable cheese. It should have been feta but it was vile. This was challenged with the waiter who simply shrugged and walked away. I paid the bill "under protest". Overall I found the staff to be unhelpful , dismissive and the food represented poor value for money. I asked to speak to the owner but simply ignored. So rather than spoil my evening any further we left. Broadbean

Applebee’s, 17 Cambridge Park, Wanstead, London E11 2PU

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:09:30 +0000

Address:
17 Cambridge Park, Wanstead, London E11 2PU

Review:

On Saturday 05/05/07, I booked a table for 7 people for a birthday celebration.

Whilst the service was quite good, the same cannot be said of the food.

Portions extremely miniscule and each plate was unnecessarily overly decorated.

The food was undercooked and tasteless. The wine was extremely expensive.

The menu was priced in accordance with a London restaurant. The whole experience

Frankie and Benny, Unit 4, Shepherds Hill, Reading, RG6 1BB

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:42:57 +0000

Address:
Unit 4, Shepherds Hill, Reading, RG6 1BB

Review:

This restaurant has recently opened in a convenient location on the A4 heading out of Reading to the East. The restaurant has an inviting frontage and adequate parking. In line with this chain’s style, the restaurant is decked out to mimic a US diner, which is friendly and informal.

We ordered a starter of crispy chicken strips at £4.75. Thinking that the quantities would follow the US style also, we decided to share this one between two. Big mistake. The dish arrived after 20 minutes wait as 2 piece of reconstituted chicken in breadcrumbs on a bed of dead iceberg lettuce with a hint of some kind of mayonnaise dressing. The taste was poor and the presentation was well below ‘Little Chef’ level.

The Spotted Dog, Smarts Hill, Penshurst TN11 8EP

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:31:56 +0000

Address:
Smarts Hill, Penshurst TN11 8EP

Review:

The Spotted Dog, Penshurst had been recommended by several local people so my husband and I decided to try it out on a Saturday evening. The food and the service was what I expected but there were only two of us and the pub was reasonably quiet. A table was booked for my family of 12 to celebrate my birthday for the following Sunday. We had to leave £60 as a deposit. My family are scattered around Hertfordshire, Hampshire and London, some making a 100-mile round trip to get there. When we booked we asked for a table outside if the weather was good. The person who took the booking neglected to tell us that if we sat outside that we would not be at the same table and we ended up sitting back to back. He also neglected to tell us that if we sat outside we would have to place our own orders at the bar. On the Saturday the manager was charm itself but on the Sunday his whole attitude had changed and was extremely unhelpful and rude.