Latest reviews by dizzle

Suk Saran

dizzle — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 12:53:00 +0000

Rating: 5.0

Location: 29 Wimbledon Hill Road, SW19 7NE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8947 9199

Tags: expensive, thai

Suk Saran ThaiA very intensely flavoured array of food, highly recommended. Book on the usual busy nights, just in case. One of the best Thai Restaurants in the area. Plus the place is nicely done.

Duke Of Wellington

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 21:24:38 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 63 Eaton Terrace, SW1W 8TR, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7730 1782

Website: http://www.shepherd-neame.co.uk

Great pub, great atmosphere.
It can get quite busy on the weekends, so get there early for a table/stool.
But when it's not busy, and you're looking for a quiet pint, this can also be the place.
The food varies, more so on the weaker side though.
A classic London pub.

Bar Sia

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 16:22:21 +0000

Rating: 3.7

Location: 105-109 The Broadway, SW19 1QG, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8540 8339

Website: http://www.barsia.com

Big place (there's a downstairs), it's industrial meets insane asylum, but in a good way. The seating at the front is spacious, and the first bar is quite handy.
The downstairs bit is for breaking it down, housy music, there is also decent seating there too, plus a small bar.
Loo's are in between up and downstairs, and are manned.

Po Na Na

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 16:16:03 +0000

Rating: 3.0

Location: 82 The Broadway, SW19 1RH, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8540 1616

Website: http://www.ponana.co.uk

It's your standard Po Na Na really, dark and cushiony, but a bit smaller.
Good bar, with good drinks and cocktails (though I've not been in a while).
The music can be housy, but they have been known to play a bit of R&B for the kids.
The queue can be a bit time consuming.

Walkabout Inn

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 16:11:48 +0000

Rating: 3.0

Location: 74-78 The Broadway, SW19 1RQ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8543 8624

Website: http://www.walkaboutinns.com

Tags: relaxed, pub chain, young and fun, students, friendly

I'm going WalkaboutBig place, gets busy, long bar, very necessary.
My favourite thing is the wall to wall plastic lining, which is presumably there to allow for easy hosing down once the night zoo has left. Joy.
The above isn't a negative by the way, if that's your kind of thing. Don't wear your friday best, and bring a bib.
And I hear they do a bikini competition every now and then.

Common Room

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:55:23 +0000

Rating: 3.5

Location: 18 High Street, SW19 5DX, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8944 1909

Website: http://www.hartfordgroup.co.uk

Yeah, nice bar, biggish too. Closes at 12 (at the moment).
Drinks are your usual suspects.
Seating's reasonable.
Unsure about the food, but there are various restaurants opposite and nearby.

SWnineteen

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:51:59 +0000

Rating: 3.0

Location: 4 High Street Wimbledon, SW19 5DX, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8879 7020

Reasonable bar, nice decor, good selection of drinks, decent seating (when available, keep your eyes on the prize).
Can get busy, I think it closes at 12 these days.
They also have a Single & Divorcees night, which speaks volumes for the management. I've not been to this night (really), so I can't comment ;)

Dog & Fox

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:47:45 +0000

Rating: 3.5

Location: 24A High Street, SW19 5DX, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8946 6565

Website: http://www.thedogandfox.co.uk

The restaurant is a nice, recent addition, which also gets fairly busy. There are things they do very well, other things not so well (the risotto for one). The service could be better too. But, once the place gets busy in the bar bit, it can sometimes take a while to get served, which is why it can be good to sit in the restaurant for table service, if the drinks don't take forever to arrive..
The rest of the place has character, but a little awkward for moving about in when it get's packed, which it does. For example, it's sometimes quicker to go out one door, around the outside and in the other to get to the loo, not funny really.
In the summer it's nice to drink outside, and you're close to other restaurants and bars.
I still miss Finches tho..

Finches

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:41:19 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 24 High St, SW19 5EA, London, United Kingdom

Sadly, this place no longer exists, it is now the Chinese restaurant that was next door to it. And what was the Chinese restaurant has been eaten up by the Dog & Fox.
Finches was good because it was a bar, and you could have a dance, almost always busy, it will be missed. The Dog & Fox doesn't make up for it.

Thai Tho Restaurant

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:38:21 +0000

Rating: 2.0

Location: 20 High Street, SW19 5DX, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8296 9034

Tags: lively, oriental, good value, crowded, thai

Yes, a certain female tennis player calls this her favourite restaurant when she comes to play in Wimbledon, but that doesn't make her a good judge of Thai food.
Mediocre, at best, there are various others in the area which beat this hands down. And because it's in Wimbledon Village, it's also over-priced.
The service was good though, and they were quite attentive, despite not really knowing how to explain what was on the menu. Again other Thai Restaurants in the area are better.
If you go down the hill (into Wimbledon), there's a fantastic place next to The Alexandra pub called 'Suk Saran' (it's on Trusted Places).. 5 Stars.

Ma Potter's

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:30:58 +0000

Rating: 3.0

Location: 31-37 The Broadway, SW19 1QB, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8947 8225

Website: http://www.mapotters.com

Food, not so good.
Drink, well fortunately they don't have control over it, and they do have a little more choice than average. Nice to sit outside in the summer, and The Odeon is just next door.

Tapanco

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:27:19 +0000

Rating: 1.0

Location: 20 Wimbledon Broadway, SW19 3LD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 86612626

If you like industrial strength, tapas en masse, more tables than the eye can see, then come here, else find a real tapas place.
Yes, they usually have a band (who I didn't think wanted to be there), yes it's big and shiny, but the service was crap (our guy was a kid with attitude and no sense of service).
The food, ugh, don't order the meal for 4, it came on a bed of cheap dorito knock-offs, crusty, dry whatevers, and some pathetic chicken.. I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
Please, please go elsewhere. There are some great places in Wimbledon, though tapas does need new/more representation.

Coffee Republic

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:20:10 +0000

Rating: 3.0

Location: 1-3 Wimbledon Hill Road, SW19 7NF, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8946 5247

Website: http://www.coffeerepublic.co.uk

A bit small, but they've got their deli thing going on now, so that gives it an edge over the enormous Starbucks opposite.
Coffee's pretty good too.

The Sun Inn

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 15:06:17 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 7 Church Road, SW13 9HE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 8876 5256

This is one of those dark pubs, the kind with dark wood interior, an almost oldish smell (in a good way), classic stuff.
The place has some nice nooks for groups, and two bars.
They have a decent choice of drinks, and the food can be pretty good. It's a fairly young crowd in there, and can get lively in the summer.
It's also opposite the pond/mere & park, and within reasonable walking distance from The Idle Hour. There are also quite a few close pubs/bars/restaurants, which is always handy.
Barnes village is a nice area.

L'Auberge At The Castelnau

dizzle — Wed, 09 May 2007 14:59:36 +0000

Rating: 3.0

Location: 201A Castelnau, SW13 9ER, London, United Kingdom

This place used to have a wide selection of local and foreign drinks, since the L'Auberge (restaurant) addition, it's since become a bit of a giant, generic pub, which looks good on first impressions, but is so big it feels a bit vacuous, lacks atmosphere.
But it 'is' big, does do parties, and is pretty good for watching sports.
The food used to be good, but I've not tried it since the change-over.
To summarise:
- Not bad for drinking in groups.
- They sold out.
Go to The Bridge (opposite-ish).