12th February 2008
Disappointment at the Dirty Duck!
We had thoroughly enjoyed our meal the night before at The Garrick, on the High Street. The Black Swan/Dirty Duck has the same owner and menu, and we thought it would be a good choice for a Sunday Roast!
On the walls there are autographed pictures of famous people who have visited here whilst performing for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Garrick has the charm and the service, and this pub/restaurant doesn't I am afraid.
We ventured to the back of the pub, where there is a newly built conservatory-type area (Black Swan). The lovely 18th century part of the building is used by the bar area (Dirty Duck).
Service was slack, and even though this was the non-smoking section, the smoking section (which we had to walk through to get to the non-smoking section too, which isn't pleasant!), was right there and it infiltrated the room annoyingly.
The Dirty Duck seemed to be a bit of a dive in comparison to its sister pub in our opinion.
They were out of roasts and all things chicken. We ended up with one of only two things they had left on their menu. Fish and Chips.
Now, the fish was nice, but we thought this was bad as we weren't that late for lunch, it was about 2pm we ate.
We had to eat though as we had a car journey ahead of us and needed to eat something. Would have preferred a choice though...