• Added: 1st of October 2008
• Area: Boston
• Category: Restaurants

Boston PE21 6UF

CraigRJ said
Good, if inconvenient
Although the restaurant is fine and dandy, if a bit expensive compared to other eateries, and is very spacious, it has a couple of serious problems. Firstly, although there are a lot of seats, it's very crowded at lunchtimes...the local OAPs seem to meet here especially every Wednesday and Saturday (market days) and when they're in the house there's not a lot of tables being freed up from hour-to-hour.

This brings with it the usual attendent problems of queues moving slowly, people taking ages to choose what they want, and can extend a lunchtime snack into a full length company do. Very annoying.

Secondly, the restaurant is on the top floor - there are two lifts which are almost always crowded with OAPs and at the wrong end of the store for the restaurant, so be warned that it's far better to take the escalators in the middle of the store - this does mean if you have kids and pushchairs, you might as well forget it.

One upside of Oldrids though is a very small and easily overlooked cafe area, on the ground floor, at the back, by the kids books. They only do a few light snacks and drinks, but their smoothies are pretty fine and not too badly priced, and this place is ideal for those with kids.

• Added: 1st of October 2008
• Area: Boston
• Category: Restaurants

Boston PE21 6QX

CraigRJ said
Pretty good
One thing about Boston is there's a distinct lack of places to eat if you're in the main shopping area (Pescod Square and its environs) - there's only really Bakers Oven or Costa Coffee - maybe Subway.

Price-wise Bakers Oven blows both of these to pieces...variety-wise ditto...for amount of seating ditto.

The hot sausage rolls are gorgeous, there's a great selection of other hot bakery products too, all at very reasonable prices (and positively cheap compared to Costa). Pre-packed sandwiches offer little more than you can get at Tesco or Asda, but the fresh filled baguettes and cream cake selection more than make up for this, especially if you're in a hurry and want to eat on the go (much faster to get these (cheaper too) than Subway).

Of course this quality and convenience comes at a cost - and that's that the place is busy. However, there's a good differentiation between queues for people eating in, and those taking away, and the takeaway queue moves at a fast lick.

Problem used to be that they only took cash - so make sure you have cash rather than rely on card payment (that's where Costa scores higher ... mind you, no-one would be able to carry around the amount of cash a meal at Costa would require).

• Added: 3rd of September 2008
• Area: Boston
• Category: Bars and Pubs

Boston PE22 9NS

CraigRJ said
Not as bad as it looks
The exterior of this pub might put you off entirely - but then Old Leake has that sort of 1960s rundown feel to it, and it does have quite an aging population in parts. A facelift to the pub would be great (structural rather than just a lick of paint) and inside it can feel quite claustrophobic at times, especially when it feels like the whole village is there.

However, persist and go when it's a bit quieter, and you can strike up a good conversation with the bar staff and enjoy a few pints of a good variety of ales - it's a good place to relax in, and not at all expensive.

• Added: 3rd of September 2008
• Area: Boston
• Category: Restaurants

Boston PE21 8XF

CraigRJ said
Variable
Your experience here will purely depend on who is serving you and who's in the kitchen at the time you visit.

Good point first - it has its own car park (although you need to know Boston to find the entrance to it), you're never rushed and it has a takeaway area which is pretty fast.

Also, get the right staff serving you and you and your family will have a great time, the staff entertain the kids and it's thoroughly enjoyable.

Unfortunately, sometimes you get the miserable people serving you, and you can then expect to wait ages for someone to even take your drinks order up front, no-one to respond when you want a refill, and food to take absolutely forever.

They also seem to have quite a high staff turnover, so you can never guarantee which experience you'll have when you turn up - all I can recommend is to when you go, if you get the good staff, leave a good tip to reward them, and punish the rubbish ones with no tip.

• Added: 3rd of September 2008
• Area: Boston
• Category: Restaurants

Boston PE21 6SR

CraigRJ said
Really, really, friendly
As a sit-in restaurant I'm afraid this one leaves a lot to be desired, as the seating feels like a 1970s Bus Station cafe and isn't too encouraging.

However, as a takeaway it's second to virtually none in Boston - the lead guy is hugely friendly and welcoming, they are always chucking in things like extra Prawn Crackers for free, round bills down and generally are very personable and make it such a joy to visit you just want to go back almost immediately.

It has the usual comprehensive menu, with a house special rice which my wife rates very highly! Personally, I find the BBQ ribs to die for.

• Added: 3rd of September 2008
• Area: Boston
• Category: Bars and Pubs

Boston PE21 9RW
01205 362307

CraigRJ said
Excellent, but not as good as it used to be
Burton House Family Pub is superbly placed on the way into Boston from Skegness next door to an expanding Travel Inn - it has a real friendly feel, nice decor and a pretty good indoor play area for kids (if a little small). This is perfect for younger kids, especially Mon-Fri at lunchtime, as the place is not busy as these times and the kids can play to their hearts content.

Usual Brewers Fayre menu (two meals for nine quid during the week from a limited selection) and nice kids menu (featuring three different level of kids meals depending on how old or how adventurous your kids are).

In the summer it's just taken a hit - it used to have a very large play area with some good equipment, but due to expansion of the Travel Inn this has been cut in half and although new equipment has been installed, there's not much of it and it's not very exciting (compared to the old stuff).

So, ironically, the place is better when the weather is bad and you're forced indoors!

• Added: 3rd of September 2008
• Area: Peterborough
• Category: Take Aways

Peterborough PE6 7TN

CraigRJ said
Good stop off, conveniently placed
Okay, so McDonalds is McDonalds, the food doesn’t change, the drinks don’t change, the prices don’t change from one outlet to another (unless you’re on the motorway).

This one is on one of two typical routes out of Peterborough to the north, and suffers at the time of writing (mid 2008) because of the extensive roadworks in the area for the new Peterborough bypass. These are going to continue for the rest of the year and into 2009, so be warned that at peak times (and even an hour or so either side) the roads are horrendous and although the place itself is nice and has a well-organised speedy drive through, it might take you quite a while to get there, and then get away.

Only worth it if you're passing that way anyway, don't go out of your way for it until later in 2009.

• Added: 3rd of September 2008
• Area: Peterborough
• Category: Take Aways

Peterborough PE1 2AF
01733 554198

CraigRJ said
Off the beaten track, but a cracker
Okay, so McDonalds is McDonalds, the food doesn’t change, the drinks don’t change, the prices don’t change from one outlet to another (unless you’re on the motorway).

This one is off the beaten track a little - it's on one side of a dual-road, it's next to a Toys R Us, it has its own big car park and its own drive through, as a result it's pretty quiet and therefore highly recommended.

Take the kids along to Toys R Us, then nip over to McDonalds for a relaxing and quiet meal to keep them happy, perfect.

• Added: 3rd of September 2008
• Area: Peterborough
• Category: Take Aways

Peterborough PE1 1NH

CraigRJ said
Typical Shopping Mall MD
Okay, so McDonalds is McDonalds, the food doesn’t change, the drinks don’t change, the prices don’t change from one outlet to another (unless you’re on the motorway).

This one is your typical shopping mall MDs - as Peterborough is a busy shopping town, and Queensgate is a busy shopping mall in a busy shopping town, this is one heck of a busy McDonalds.

The problem with this is that it's not really geared up for such business, it's quite a small footprint and therefore is almost always crowded, noisy and impossible to find a seat in.

• Added: 3rd of September 2008
• Area: Boston
• Category: Food and Drink

Boston PE21 8QN
01205 369207

CraigRJ said
Good food, one big downside
Ocean is mainly a chinese takeaway, although they good great business in "and chips" meals - chicken balls and chips, special fried rice and chips, bbq ribs and chips - so much so that they specifically offer a range of meals like this!

The chinese is quite good - although not the best in Boston - and the chips are quite weird, unique in their way, huge chunky things, bit greasy maybe.

The downsides are that there is no parking outside, so you have to run the gauntlet of single and double yellow lines. The other downside is they don't take card payments, it's cash all the way. No problem for a four quid "and chips" meal, but to feed a family don't forget to stop off at a cashpoint first!