Rob's reviews
Review of Namaste London
01 Jun 08, 20:33
Terrible customer sevice 
We ordered a take-out from here recently, having seen a pretty impressive menu through the door.
The food sounded good and, even though it was a Friday night, we took the plunge. We were given 50-60 minutes as a delivery time and settled back to wait.
70 minutes later, I called to find out where the food was. "It left 5 minutes ago, it should be with you in a couple of minutes." 10 minutes passed and still no food, so I rang back.
I was then talked at constantly for 5 minutes by the guy on the phone, telling me why the food wasn't there.
When I finally got a word in edgeways, I told him this was our first time ordering from them and having to wait an hour and 25 minutes wasn't exactly good service.
This simply started him yabbering on again about how it's a busy night.
When the food finally turned up, it was OK, but nothing special.
My advice? Give Namaste London a wide birth!
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of The Rosendale
08 Apr 08, 22:03
Smart, chic makeover 
Not that many moons ago, The Rosendale was a tired, unimpressive pub that struggled to get a regular clientele.
It's been taken over and revamped in the past year as a smart, chic gastropub and is set to win awards a-plenty.
There's a bar menu that is both affordable and good quality, but it's where the bar ends and the restaurant starts that the biggest change is evident.
The decor is dark wood and large tables (a blessed relief, compared with many similar places) and the menu is very 21st century - full of 'clever' words like 'chiboush' or 'remoulade' and with prices to match.
However, the food more than delivers. The South African chef influences the menu with things like ostrich, which was sublime.
Puddings are possibly what lets the side down and it's a little pricey, considering it's a long way out of the centre of town (an easy £50 a head before wine), but it's near Dulwich, so I guess it'll find the market!
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Westow House
04 Feb 08, 15:58
Well-fitted out, spacious boozer
An imposing building on one corner of the Norwood Triangle, Westow House has undergone a refit and name change in the past 6 months (having been The Bluebottle for a long while).
Inside, it's all dark wood, dark tables, leather-backed sofa seats and lots of books on shelves.
The food is good and they serve a rather lovely selection of Pieminster pies - yummy!
Music was quite loud, but not overbearing and there are a good selection of drinks available, averagely priced.
Downside was no draught bitter - a personal bugbear of mine - and for a Thursday night on the recent visit, it was terribly quiet.
If it's busy, it has a good vibe and deserves to succeed.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of The Three Kings
28 Jan 08, 21:51
Cosy pub
Tucked away off Clerkenwell Green, The Three Kings is a small, cosy hostelry.
Very popular in summer, when the locals (residential and work) spill out on to the rarely used road.
In the winter, it's busy, friendly and popular and also warm and welcoming.
If you get there early enough to bag a table, it's definitely worth checking out.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of The Saint
28 Jan 08, 21:00
Smart, chic city-boy hangout
Rather randomly, we ended up having our Xmas lunch here and pretty cool it was too.
The food is really good, the service is excellent and the booze flows freely.
If you work around here, you're probably already a city type, but for me the most off-putting thing about the place is the braying suits flashing their platinum plastic and ordering magnums of champers.
Great venue, shame about some of the clientele.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Monmouth Coffee House
08 Jan 08, 14:32
Coffee as it's meant to be 
Forget your Caffe Nero and Starbucks of this world - Monmouth Coffee is where it's at.
At the Borough Market branch you can get a cup of whatever coffee you desire and buy some to take home as well.
They really know the stuff here, so not only will they help you choose what's right for you, but they'll grind the beans, or leave them as nature intended, and even ask you what you're using them for, because different grinds, affect different methods of coffee-making.
Plus, they have two different types of decaff, made using the Swiss Water method, so no chemicals. Yippee!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Review of Daily Grind
08 Jan 08, 13:50
Ho hum coffee shop 
In the middle of a busy open-air shopping mall, you would have thought The Daily Grind could provide something a little more than something perfunctory.
It doesn't. This site has changed hands numerous times over the past few years, always attempting to be a better coffee shop than the previous one.
Coffee was OK. Selection of paninis and sarnies were average, at best.
The staff were very pleasant and friendly, though, and it was clearly popular, although I'm not sure if that's to do with the dearth of competition, or not.
If you're there and you need something to wet your whistle, you could do worse.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Review of Vue Cinemas
06 Jan 08, 10:08
Overpriced glitz 
The Vue cinema is pretty much what you'd expect. Shiny, colorful and with lots of popcorn, nachos and chocolate sweets... oh and they show films as well.
As far as the screens themselves go, this is a good cinema. The seats are spacious, there's a lot of legroom and they are tiered well, so you're unlikely to be obscured by someone with a big hat, or big hair.
What I object to here is the surliness of the staff and how much they charge for kids to see a film.
I expect to pay around £7.50 as a adult now at a big chain cinema (much to my irritation), but I don't think I should have to fork out more than a fiver (yup, £5.50), so my 4-year-old can see a film at 11am on a Saturday morning. That's quite literally daylight robbery.
If you live in the area, go to Hatfield Galleria instead!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Review of Bo Peep
10 Dec 07, 14:37
Run-of-the-mill pub/restaurant
Parents live nearby, so we looked for somewhere that we could take our 20-month-old daughter.
The downside: even though my dad told them we were bringing my daughter, they neglected to mention they have no high chairs - and we weren't the only family with young'uns in.
The landlady was a little bit short and sharp with us - not exactly hospitable.
The food was pretty OK, though. Reasonably priced and the Sunday roast wasn't bad. good selection of beers and the place itself is deceptively big.
However, I wouldn't make a big diversion to go here. There must be plenty of other pubs in the area that are as good, if not better
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Nationwide Autocentre
10 Dec 07, 12:21
Mechanics you can trust
I hate having my car looked at. I always think mechanics are going to rip me off in some way...
Sadly, I do need to get it MOT'd and serviced every year. This year, I tried somewhere different - and boy was I pleased?
You can book online (saves showing up my ignorance talking to someone), although the people I spoke to were really helpful.
The basic price of servicing wasn't too different to many other places, but best of all, you get money off, if you present your Tesco Clubcard (I mean we've all got one of them, haven't we?).
Not only that, you get even more money off if you're an AA member, so you can reduce the price dramatically.
Oh, and the service was done in good time and the car runs perfectly again. Job done!
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.