The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘experiences’

While visiting the in-laws in Gloucester, we found ourselves dining at Bowden Hall in Upton St Leonards on Monday evening (13th April). An impressive building, set in large grounds, the expectations were high as we entered the main reception. However I noticed that this hotel is owned and operated by Ramada Jarvis from the literature that was lying around and given my previous poor experiences of this company at their Hemel Hempsted hotel I dampened my expectations.

We were shown to a table in the large restaurant near the window and the views across the hills and trees was fantastic. With the sun just setting, it made for a very nice end to the day.  I was however concerned by the state of the drinking glasses; not just on our table, but on every table. While they had clearly being washed, they were all water marked and I spotted one that still had the remnants of lipstick. The light from the sun set only made them look worse. This was a pretty poor start for a restaurant that offers according to the menu, fine dining. The restaurant manager needs a bit of a talking to in my view.

Anyway, we ordered up our food from the waitress who was less than friendly and enjoyed each others company until it arrived.  As it happens the food itself was quite good, but unfortunately the waitress had neglected to mention that we needed to order up our vegetables separately.  This spoilt what was an otherwise pleasant and well cooked meal while some of us waited for vegetables to be hastily prepared.

In the end the meal itself was ok, let down only by the poor service and disgraceful state of the glassware. Unfortunately the price was sky high for what we got and I doubt we will make the same mistake again by returning to this restaurant.

Pryordurkin rating. 2 stars.

Telephone 01452 614121

This pub opposite the duck pond in Warthill has been a favourite of ours since moving to North Yorkshire in early 2007.  Over that time, we have made a number of visits to the Agar Arms particularly because of the very good steaks served up in the restaurant.  The service was always friendly and on the mark and we were generally very happy with our experiences.

However a little while ago, they introduced an extra charge if you pay by debit or credit card.  At the time we kind of forgave this little annoyance because the food and service continued at the same good standard.

This evening however has been a real disappointment.  We telephoned at first to see what time they would be serving food and were cheerfully told 7pm.  As we arrived just after 7.15pm the car park was already filling up.  Unfortunately as we approached the bar where you place your orders, we heard a group in front of us grumbling because they had just been told the steaks were off the menu (they had pretty much ran out of them) .  As this group left the bar and returned to their car to head somewhere else, the young guy behind the bar, had what could only be described as an uncaring smug look on his face.  He made no attempt to explain to us or the others still milling around behind us, what had gone wrong.  What made this even more annoying was that surely they knew their main menu staples of steak were off when we telephoned to enquire about opening times.  Their lack of  thought for the regular customer and this guy’s smug look tipped me over the edge and we left without even thinking about ordering something else from the menu.

Not a happy experience for us, the group of five who left before us or those people left behind us.

Pryordurkin star rating. 2 stars. (dropped from 4 stars, due to very poor customer attitude)

UPDATE.  9th May 2009

Thinking we would give them one last chance, we rang tonight to check a) if they had steak and b) if they were busy; only to be told they were not serving food.  It seems this pub, that used to have a reputation for good food is now just your ordinary run of the mill local pub.  What a shame.

I’ve been working at home this week and what struck me today as I took my ‘lunch’ break (and put some laundry on) was that I hadn’t been out the front gates for two days.  Working at our dining room table does of course let me see the great views from the back of our house, but with the central heating pumping away, the availability of fresh air to my lungs has been rare.  So finishing up what I needed to do today I hauled my ‘ever shrinking’ behind past the parked up car and walked into the village to pick up some ingredients for tea.  It’s about a forty minute walk along the edge of the fields into the village and back and when my ears stop ringing from the cold, I’m sure I will feel better for it.

There is of course is another aspect to my working from home.  Paul expects his dinner to be prepared and offered up as soon as he gets in. He doesn’t of course expect it to have flavour or substance based on previous experiences, but at the generally late time when he does get in,  I suppose anything hot and filling will do.

There are some overall advantages to working at home though.  Firstly I can get a decent freshly ground coffee whenever I want, without paying nearly £3 quid a shot.  I can sit on my own pan!  I can eat healthily and best of all, when the work is done, there is no travel other than a short stroll from the dining room to our lounge where I can catch up on Scrubs while awaiting the master to return

We’d popped into the Little John on Christmas Eve at around 10.30pm having had a very nice meal at a nearby restaurant on the Shambles.  We wrote up our experiences and to be fair there has been equal numbers of people who have commented either sharing our views and not sharing our views.

For us, this is not the type of bar we would generally go back to as we have perhaps outgrown that side of the gay scene and prefer something a little different these days, but to be fair it is the only gay bar we know of in York and for that it should be supported.

The bar area is long with seating on both sides and at the back of the bar there seems to be smaller seating areas.  We never managed to check out downstairs when we were there as it was closed (there was some rubbish on the stairs) but posters seemed to indicate some functions took place down there.

The drinks seem very reasonable but if you like a particular brand be certain to ask for it otherwise you might be served up the house varieties which we didn’t like.  They seem to have a number of functions organised during the week and when they re-launch their website, details will no doubt be provided on there.  Their original website was taken down over Christmas/New Year, but we think this was because of the html errors that kept appearing.

Anyway,  all in all, not our ’cup of tea’ but judging by the comments received to date, it gets votes for and against in equal measure.

Pryordurkin rating 1 star.

Situated within the infamous Yumbo Centre, this restaurant for many many years was regarded as one of the best on the island serving quality food to men (and women) of a particular persuasion.  We arrived at around 7pm and were pleased to find they had a table free.  As it happens, they had several tables free, but we just assumed because it was early.  Anyway, the decoration befits the general style of the Yumbo Centre, with flashy lights, tacky signs and lots of swishy curtains.

We ordered up a bottle of wine (Marques de Riscal Sauvignon) and some food.

Lets just say the wine which was cheap and drinkable was the best thing about the whole experience.

My tomato and rocket soup was very salty and not in the least bit enjoyable.  Dusty went for the Chicken coated in Sesame seeds.  Yes it was a strange combination and frankly it tasted worse than it sounded.  Think cardboard coated in straw and you will start to get the idea.

Next came the mains.  I went for the special of day, a roast pork based something or other which is exactly what it turned out to be.  Along with some warmed up Pork (read the earlier review, it wasn´t the drink that made me bad, honest!) it was served with potato croquettes.  Yes potato croquettes.  If that were not bad enough, it was also accompanied by watery (previously frozen veg).  The sauce was some kind of sweet sickly affair, which even now, three days later makes me want to gag.

Dusty’s Fish dish was no better and I could see he was struggling to eat it.

So, although we decided not to do any reviews while on holiday, we just had to write about our experiences at this once well regarded restaurant.  It was absolutely horrendous and should be avoided at all costs.  The food was foul.

Score: 0 Stars. Avoid. Visited April 08.