The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘score’

A bit disappointed with this after listening to much hype from many a friend and acquaintance. I was lucky not to queue for too long and soon sat down to experience Magpies for the first time on Saturday 21st April. The service was professional and quick but the quality of the food was not as we had been led to believe. While the cod was good and fresh., the chips were a bit of a let-down. Being famous for the queues of people trying to get into Magpies we expected something a little better. The establishment is clearly a well oiled machine with a very large turnover of customers all the time. Worth a visit for the quick service, but don’t expect the best fish and chips you will ever eat. You’ll find them round the corner at the Kyber Pass (read my review).

We returned this year to try the take out fish and chips and again it was a disappointment.  The staff were curt with the customers and the food was nothing special at all for the very high price.  We much prefer Harry Ramsdens down the road for take out fish and chips.

Score: 2 Stars. Visited April 2009.

We found ourselves back at Maxi’s (Chinese) Restaurant in Nether Poppleton, York, this evening.  We hadn’t planned to come here, it just sort of happened given our first choice of restaurant turned out not to have any food to sell (read about it here).  Anyway we had been here before and looked forward to another good meal.  Walking in through the front door, you  quickly realise this restaurant is set up to cater for large numbers of customers.  It is a  huge cavernous place that always takes you by surprise when you enter.  They have clearly spent some time and money on decorating the venue in traditional Chinese style and the staff are all appropriately dressed and professionally turned out.

We were quickly seated.  We ordered up our food and it quickly started to arrive.  This was very pleasing given we were both really hungry at this point.

The portions served up for starters were very generous indeed.  The prawn crackers were fresh and served up in a large wooden bowl.  I went for salt and pepper ribs while Dusty had honey chicken wings.  We also ordered up 1/2 crispy duck for seconds.  We shared them all and they were really good value indeed.

Attentive service continued with our mains promptly arriving not long after our starters dishes had been cleared away.  They were just as good; big portions, piping hot and great value.  By this point we were really struggling with the quantities of food so couldn’t actually finish our mains.

All in all a nice evening meal in great surroundings with excellent attentive and quick service.  Ideal!

Score. 3 Stars. Opening Hours 7 days a week 12noon – 12am. Tel: 01904 783898

This sexy little number turned up on time after I ordered it from Amazon and I have to say it is very good indeed. For such a small box it certainly packs a punch and certainly does Carmine Meo by Emma Shaplin a whole lot of justice. For just over 200 quid it is worth every penny.

UPDATE. September 08.  I have been so impressed with this, since my last review, I have bought two others to place around the home.

Go get one.

Score: 4 Stars

Dusty and I ventured out to the Vue cinema in York on Monday evening to watch the latest Will Smith movie, Hancock.  Little over 90 minutes in length it finished before it really got started.  Quite a slow film with little by way of a plot.  We were bored throughout.  Not one we would recommend on this occasion.

Score. 1 Star.

Travelling back from Ross today, I stopped at the Moto motorway service station on the M1 at Trowell.  The place has clearly seen a little overhaul the last few years but unfortunately the experience itself was just as bad. 

I am not actually complaining about the food either.   It was very good and with my 20% AA membership discount was reasonable value as well.  What made the experience bad was the sheer amount of background noise in the place.  The wooden floors ensured every crying baby, shouting kid, stomping foot, ringing till and pinging microwave echoed around the place.  To add to this form of hell, an alarm had been triggered, which continually beeeeeped away without any member of staff seeming to take any notice. 

If the purpose of a motorway service station is to allow you to relax for a little over perhaps a drink and a little food, then this place has lost the plot.  If however you want to experience dirty tables and excessive noise, then give it a go.

Score: 1 Star (they had a toilet and I was desperate).

UPDATE.  I stopped here on the 27th December for a coffee to find they didn’t have any decaffinated.  Not happy that they ran out of something so basic.  The toilets though were absolutely spotless and the guy cleaning them did himself proud.

We went along to see Superhero Movie released last week at Vue Cinema in York.  A send up of all the latest superhero movies with Lesley Nielson playing a small part.  We arrived at around 8.10pm to discover a queue of 12 year old kids waiting to go in.  Given our luck, we knew they would be going into see the same film as us.  Dusty could wait no longer and asked the manager what film they were queueing for.  Sure enough it was our film.  However having explained our predicament (ie we’re miserable), the manager (after explaining the cinema was a family entertainment venue) offered us a full refund if we found the kids to be annoying or loud so we decided to carry on and see the film.  As it turned out, the kids were fine but the film was just awful.  A real let down and one that didn’t deserve to have Lesley Nielson involved.

Give it a miss.

Score 0 Stars. Seen June 08

For lunch today, I fancied something different from the usual overpriced expensive nonsense that most sandwich shops have to offer.  Instead I took advantage of the beautifully warm weather to walk up to St Pancras International, near Kings Cross and went into Chop’d.  A made while you wait salad bar.  I ordered and handed over my £7.00 (it is London) and waited for my freshly squeezed orange juice and jerk chicken warm salad.

Sitting down inside the unit I was pleasantly surprised by the salad.  It was fresh, indeed warm and quite flavoursome.  Hot and spicy, it went down well with the (small) fresh orange juice.  So although the price could get you a main course meal in my local steak house (The Agar Arms, Warthill), I did enjoy the change.

It’s probably not something I would do everyday, but if you are passing through St Pancras International at Kings Cross, and fancy something healthy, albeit expensive, then try Chop’d salad bar.

Score: 3 Stars. Visited June 2008

Looking for somewhere cheap and cheerful to eat on Wednesday evening, with some colleagues, I popped into the Other Side Restaurant on Pentonville Road near Kings Cross London.  It was very quiet at around 8pm when we arrived and found ourselves being quickly seated.  The Lebanese wine we ordered at £17 a bottle proved a real winner and the food itself was fine.  Nothing special, but good value.  Four people eating for £80 including wine.  The service was a little slow towards the end of the meal though as the place filled up with other diners and trying to order final coffee was a bit of a chore.

An OK place for a cheap and cheerful meal with good reasonably priced wine.

Score: 3 Stars. Visited June 08

Tel 020 7713 0600

Wednesday evening involved popping into the Big Chill House on Pentonville Road near Kings Cross, London.  It was around 6.30pm and was quickly filling with trendy young things as the local office blocks around emptied for the day.  With some colleagues I took a seat in the Naxos Nook (just alongside lovers corner as it happened where two males seemed very at ease).  The background music increasing in loudness as the early evening wore on, was actually very good indeed.  A cool mixture of tunes which kept me happy.

All in all, a nice place to chill out with friends and if you like a bit of eye candy, you won’t be disappointed.

Score: 3 Stars. Visited June 08

Tel 0871 971 4515

We stopped off during our meanderings through York on Saturday afternoon at what will hopefully become another of our favourite Cafe Bars.  The sun was shining and the place was already very busy particularly outside on the pavement where people were eating and drinking in the warm heat.  As I’ve said before on earlier visits, the Blue Fly Cafe Bar does indeed serve very good food and dare I say, cake.  Last time the decoration left quite a bit to be desired though and a good clean was in order.  We were pleased to see that this time, the seating had been either replaced or repaired and the windows had actually seen a cleaning cloth.

Sitting down after we had ordered (they no longer make you pay before you get your food/drink, which is much more sensible and likely to result in more sales for them – well done), we relaxed while watching the people pass outside along New Street.

Our coffee, tea and two slices of lemon drizzle cake soon arrived.  While the crockery could still do with been replaced, the quality of the drink and cake were as usual very good indeed.  The cake is always fresh, moist and served with cream and went down a treat.

A further improvement I would suggest to the owner, is that they bring back the cool chill out house music they used to play last year.  I am not sure if they had a DJ who did mix tapes for them, but they should get him/her back.  With decent music, keeping on top of the cleaning and a change in crockery, this place could be a mecca for straight and gays alike, who enjoy good coffee, cake, a beer or two while watching the world go by.

Score: 2 Stars. Visited March 09.