Rik's reviews
Review of Le Mercury
09 Dec 07, 21:17
Great french food 
For some reason, I'd always thought that Le Mercury was an expensive French restaurant. I don't know why, maybe to do with the rather nice exterior and being situated bang in the middle of Upper Street. When I checked out the prices, I knew that I had to go in! It's a great idea to price all main courses (and starters too) at the same cost, and at only £6.45 for a main, it's great value for money.
I ordered the tilapia with couscous and fruit. When it arrived, it didn't look too great, but it tasted delicious. The combination of tangerine segments and fish may not have sounded too nice, it worked particularly well.
We managed to get two sets of starters, mains and side vegetables for under £30, which is an absolute bargain. Definitely worth going.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Oregano
01 Nov 07, 10:37
Good Italian food, just needs better presentation 
Oregano is a little Italian restaurant, tucked away down a little side street from the busy Upper Street. I'd heard of a lot of good things about this place, how it was the best Italian in Angel - it's not quite that good, but it is a rather nice place to eat.
The restaurant is quite small, but there's quite a bit of space between tables, which doesn't make you feel claustrophobic. The food was rather good, I had garlic bread starter - on the dry side though, bit like a pizza base with some herbs sprinkled on it - and a creamy sausage and broccoli pasta main course, which was delicious, the sausage was tasty and the pasta was cooked to perfection.
I feel that the place could do with a bit more work on it's presentation. The tables are covered in this strange wipe-down plastic material which makes you think you're at a greasy spoon cafe and the menus are a bit unprofessional in a laminated-plasticky way. It does have a lot of potential to be a great Italian though, and I would recommend going, if only for the food.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Afghan Kitchen
20 Oct 07, 21:34
Good, but not that good
All I can say is thank god I'm not claustophobic. If you think Wagamama style seating is bad enough, then at Afghan Kitchen, you're literally sitting on top of each other. The woman next to me had to apologize several times because her elbows were getting in my way.
If you're not claustophobic however and don't mind very small spaces, then the food here is rather good. The chicken in yoghurt is rather nice, although they could do with bigger portions as it's not as satisfying as I would have liked.
It is pretty cheap though, and there's not too many things on the menu (which is a good thing), it's not as good as the other reviews say, but it is worth going at least once, just to try.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Review of Parveen Tandoori Restaurant
08 Aug 07, 23:44
Good but not great
I visited the Parveen Tandoori, mainly based on these reviews and recommendations. My thinking was that there was a great curry house in Angel that I haven't been to yet, so the only thing to do would be to go round and check it out. Which is exactly what I did.
Getting sat outside when it was getting cold wasn't the perfect start, but the free poppadoms soon quietened my moaning. They were crisp, nicely cooked and tasted good, and the accompanying sauces were tasty too.
After picking my choice of curry (chicken Sag), rice (pilau) and beer (Tiger), we waited at our now rather chilly outside table. When the food eventually came, it was good, not great, but still good. It tasted fine - the curry was flavourful but the rice was slightly dry. However the portions was slightly smaller than I expected, which didn't quite satisfy my hunger, so maybe it would be worth getting side dishes.
The Parveen is a good Indian, but it's definitely not the best. There are a couple of curry houses nearby which are just as good and if not better.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Giraffe
31 Jul 07, 18:08
Mmmm... chips
My missus had recommended that we go to Giraffe for tea as she visited the branch in Marylebone and enjoyed it. From the outside, it looks like quite a posh bar, but inside, the feeling is definitely more Wagamama crossed with a children's jungle adventure play park.
The food was good, we shared a meze for starter, which for £6 was a bit of a rip off considering the amount of food there was. I was expecting a mountain of meze-tastic food. Instead, it was a bit of hummus, one falafel and some salsa. I could go to Gallipoli around the corner and get ten times more meze for £10. Anyway, I digress.
For the main course, I had a burger and chips. The chips were possibly the best I'd had for some time. The burger was nice, nothing particularly special, but definitely edible after a long day shopping. It was pretty expensive though at about the price of 3 and a bit meal deals at McDonalds. The list of drinks wasn't amazing either, especially if you don't want a cocktail.
I know I've had a bit of a moan, but I did enjoy going there. It's a bit dearer than I would have liked, but worth it for those chips... mmmm... chips.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Angel Flowers
04 Jul 07, 13:40
Very helpful
Today, I wanted to add things to my ever-expanding collection of things on my desk by buying a plant. I don't really know the first thing about plants, so I thought I'd go somewhere they did know.
Fortunately, the staff at Angel Flowers were pretty helpful. They told me what I should be looking for and showed me what would be suitable. I left with a very nice red cactus that's sitting on my desk as we speak.
The shop is pretty small but there seems to be quite a choice of flowers, and everyone seems really nice, so it's an enjoyable experience to go there.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Review of Miso Islington
03 Jun 07, 21:48
Top of the flops 
If I'm reviewing bad restaurants, I use a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being slightly bad and 10 being Miso. There is absolutely nothing redeeming about this place at all.
If you enjoy eating duck noodles where the duck is actually 99% unchewable fat and the noodles taste, and look, more like worms, then this is the place for you. However, if you're even slightly sane, you'd go to Wagamama just down the road. Now, I'm definitely not a fan of Wagamamas, what with their terrible service, but at least they have consumable food.
Talking about Wagamama's terrible service, Miso also does suffer from exactly the same problem - not enough competent staff. It's not exactly service with a smile either, with waiters literally slamming your food on to the table without saying anything. They certainly know how to stop any repeat custom.
I would say the food is cheap, which it is for an Asian restaurant in Angel, but you would have to pay me to eat at this place again. In fact, I'd pay not to.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of The Screen On The Green
16 May 07, 11:54
Alt/Indie Cinema
Although the Screen on the Green isn't as large or as comfortable as the Vue cinema down the road, it's certainly a lot better in other ways.
They show the best independent films which is great if you fancy something stimulating rather than Die Hard 4 or Spiderman 3. You actually feel like you've paid for something worth watching. The price is nowhere near the rip off pieces of Vue, but is still quite expensive.
The owners and staff seem to love film and are interested in catering to an audience that want to see alternative films, which is genuinely refreshing to see.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Islington Green Dental Practice
11 May 07, 22:20
Recommended 
What with the NHS being in the state it is, when it was time for my yearly (well, 18-monthly) check-up, I found no dentists would take any adults on the NHS, so I decided to go private. Having never gone private before, I was expecting to get completely ripped off. Luckily I didn't. In fact, my check-up only cost slightly more than I would have expected to pay on the NHS, and rather than being treated like the next patient on a conveyor belt, I felt the dentist seemed genuinely interested in what was going on in my mouth. My teeth had never felt as clean and I could actually do one of those cheesey smiles like the people on the leaflets in the waiting room!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Cafe Gallipoli
08 May 07, 22:28
Nice food, but cramped
Gallipoli have three restaurants on Upper Street, all within very short walk distance. It's quite easy to get confused about which one you booked. Luckily, we did go in the correct one after some debating. We got led through a mass of tables, right to the back of the restaurant into a little alcove, which would have been nice if it wasn't for the table of 4 and the other table of 2 right next to us. Talk about cramped... the waiters had to serve food over my table to other tables. The restaurant owners equivalent of how many clowns can you fit in a mini. We ordered some food - a meze - which arrived lightening fast, and a bottle of house red wine, which was average. The meze was good, lots of bowls of food kept arriving, with no room left on the table to fit them all on. That's a good thing, I like lots of food. The food itself ranged from delicious to average. Nothing bad though, which you kind of expecting from such a range of food, so that was a bonus. As we were eating, we noticed how warm the place was. For a winter month, it was decidedly hot in the restaurant, not made any more comfortable by the fact we were sat next to a radiator pipe. We were in and out in an hour. That could either mean that the service was quick or they wanted us out as soon as possible. I was expecting more of a meal from the meze, but I did leave very full due to the sheer amount of bowls there were. I think the place would be much nicer at a less busy time, not Friday nights for instance. Maybe, I should call back then.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.