Greg W.

Review of Raduno

06 Jun 08, 15:12

Below Basic Standards.

This pub is truly a testament to the tedium of slow service and substandard food. My overcooked steak (ordered rare), was generously garnished with about 7 chips, one half of a rotting cherry tomato, and a selection of mixed limp salad leaves.

It should come as no surprise then that this place sends out a surly waitress every so often to drum up some customers when almost every other restaurant in the area is rammed.

Given the choice, I would rather go to a grotty Weatherspoons. Half the price, all the charm.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of The Angel Curry Centre

22 Oct 07, 15:20

Bhuna Bing, Bhuna Boom!

With out a doubt the best curry house I have been to in London. I love this place, firstly because the service is absolutely second to none, and secondly the food is so tasty. You can have a big meal for less than £20 for two (bring your own drinks though), which is pretty reasonable considering you could pay that for a small plate of goop in a "McMasala Zone". The Thalis are seriously good, both the vege and carnivorous versions, and if you're not keen on the sound of one of the dishes just ask if you can swap it! The staff are my favourite in London too (not like at a snobby restaurant where you're paying someone to be nice to you), and they are happy to chat with you about the menu, and suggest stuff if you're not sure what's what. If you're really picky, you can even order how you like your naan baked; from a bit doughy (with extra ghee how I like it) to extra crispy. If Carlsberg made Indian Restaurants, I'd still go to the Angel Curry Centre.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Review of One Tun

17 Aug 07, 14:12

Lies! Bold faced LIES!

In my first review, I said I'd go back for a take away. I ordered a "Beef Jungle Curry" (A hot dry Thai curry with vegetables. No coconut milk). Ummm sounds so delicious. I was excited...

Unfortunately the waiter/waitress must have mistook the words "Can I have a Beef Jungle Curry with boiled rice please?" with "Please make me wait for twenty five minutes for a bowl of your most rancid bog water with mushy veg and skanky grey beef. Oh yeah and a watery side portion of rice gruel." It was literally the closest thing I have seen to a bowl of hot swamp. I was gutted. The worst thing? It wasn't even spicy! If I ever go back to that restaurant, I will have been reincarnated.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

Review of Slaughtered Lamb

22 Jul 07, 12:55

Yummy drink, Yummy food.

All I can say is, "Draught Kirin Ichiban beer vs Ultimate Chippie style fish and chips. Utterly Invincible." Such a great place, because you can also go down the equally fine Aspal Cider (also on tap) and homemade fish-finger butty route. In my opinion, this is without a doubt the best pub I've been to yet in Farringdon, and puts the others to shame. The furniture is all blatantly from second hand shops as every piece is "unique", as is the cutlery and crockery. Just writing this review is making me hungry for those chips covered with artery cementing amounts of salt and vinegar. I'll be back.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of La Pappardella

19 Jul 07, 14:28

Nice Little Italian

Since I'm a cynic, I doubted the Italian authenticity of this pizzeria. But the food is fine (both pastas and pizzas), the staff are polite, friendly and genuinely Italian, and the service is all it needs to be in a little pizzeria. Prices are reasonable ~ £30 for 2 with wine. I usually have a calzone because they make them big and stuff them with huge amounts of oozing cheese and toppings (or fillings to be exact), but I've not had a pasta dish I didn't enjoy there either. There's seating for two available outside at the front of the restaurant for (rare) balmy evenings. One of my favourite places for a meal on a spur of the moment because I haven't had a single bad experience here.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of The Court

16 Jul 07, 15:47

It's a pub dude!

Full of American students, who themselves are full of beans. Beer is pretty cheap for London, and you can get a burger-pint combo (or soft-drink) for £3.50. They have a large menu of the usual pub nosh, and whilst it isn't gourmet, what you do get ain't bad for the cash. There's outside seating (with heaters for the smokers when it's cold), and the time I went, it was visited by an over-friendly magpie who was addicted to the tobacco of discarded cigarette-butts. It's fairly well decorated, and it has some big screens for sport as well. The crowd are quite young, 18-25 with the occasional 76 year old hanger on. Overall it's exactly what I expected; an average student pub, and good enough to stop off for a swift one.

1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.

Review of Misato

15 Jul 07, 03:35

Loads of food, small bill.

This place is great to overstuff your face with filling japanese food (not an oxymoron). In fact, I don't think I have ever managed to completely finish a portion of food from here. Their cutlet curries are a bit bland for my liking because they lack punch spicewise (I love chillies), though they still pass as perfectly legitimate meals. However for about £5 you can get a really big plate of japanese style deepfried chicken (available with a variety of sauces) with rice and salad. The chicken is always tasty and succulent (I think it's basically chicken thighs), and it comes with a big dollop of "homemade" mayonaise, which happens to taste just like salad creme, but maybe I'm just a cynic. If you want to feel like a proper porker for very little money go here. It's one of my regular weekend easy lunches, however, sometimes you may have to queue for twenty minutes to sit down because it gets really busy.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

Review of The Porterhouse

15 Jul 07, 03:02

Decent Pub in Covent Garden

This pub is pretty big with three floors and a little court yard at the front. The beers are pretty good, (no tasteless wash) and there's a huge selection, including the Special Brew beating ~14% Santa Claus Brew. I like sitting downstairs, because the lighting is pretty low, the atmosphere is relaxed so you can just forget that it's still day on the outside. Another reason why I prefer downstairs is because the decor down there shifts away from that of the rest of the pub (where the same styling is ubiquitous throughout), so it doesn't have such a chain pub feel to it like that of the upper two floors. The music is probably to the tastes of the average Radio One listener, and it's not loud or obtrusive. There lots of comfy seating, and there's plenty of table areas for big groups too. And although I haven't tried their food yet, I will based on the fact the chips are big and fat and look really tasty. Not bad for such a huge tavern.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.

Review of One Tun

13 Jul 07, 14:33

Go here! Get takeaways. Run away!

As you walk into this pub, there's a hybrid Thai restaurant/chippie tucked away in the corner. I ordered my lunch to eat in (take away available) which was served about 20 minutes later on this busy day, and I expected it to be at best average. However, looks can be deceiving, and the food was actually really good for a fiver (I had one of several available types of red curries with rice), unfortunately I made the mistake of sitting down. If I had chosen the take-away option, I'm sure I would have been perfectly happy and given four stars. But, the plate was cold, so the food went cold really quickly and on top of this, upstairs is run-down and looks like a cross between a school canteen and a working man's club. Oh, and they have blue plastic school chairs too. I will definitely go to the takeaway again, because the food's so good for a fiver, but I will never again patronise its grotty surrounding canteen-esque pub. My advice: go here, buy a takeaway and avoid the chairs at all costs.

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.