Tipped

Good for close friends

May 15, 2008

I went with some close pals to the Windsor Castle for a night out and we had a rocking good time. The pub is, as some others have noted, quite cute and old fashioned with a fireplace and those little separating mini-doors (which are a real pain for me to go through, btw, I am about 2m and the doors are like 1.25m - it must be a real treat to watch me get low and through the door).
There are several different rooms in the pub, as well as a glorious garden out back. We preferred a seat in the little ante-room beside the main entrance with the fireplace, and managed to snag a nice booth for the four of us. As somebody else posted in their review, the place is not exactly friendly for massive groups, as it is mostly clusters of small tables and a few medium sized ones (think like a small dining table).
I didn't encounter any of the stuffy attitude of the bartenders although I wasn't really blown away by the selection of beer or wine, either (they do have some real ales on draft, tho). Still, this pub left me quite satisfied, it had a real old fashioned attitude about it which seemed to be just what I needed on this night, so I give it a quality recommendation.

Tags: real ales, good for small groups, fireplace

Windsor Castle, Shame of Kensington

February 12, 2008

This pub had a good reputation, so a reservation was made for a group of us to hire the rear
nook & have a meal there. The placed looks charming, very cosy (but be aware that cosy =
small!) & has a feeling of eccentricity & antiquity. There is a decent variety of beer & wines & food, BUT... the landlord & staff are a moody, surly & unhelpful bunch who could have
stepped right out of the pages of a Dickens book.
In the course of explaining why he would not honour our reservation, the Landlord said that his was a completely inappropriate pub for us, as the Saturday night clientèle were loud, drunk & aggressive, & there could be bottles or glasses smashed & fights breaking out. Some recommendation!
The suspicion was voiced that perhaps the landlord felt that Drunken Yahoos were likely to
spend more on a Saturday night than we were. That, however, is no excuse for not honouring a
confirmed booking.
Having since read other reviews on the place, the problem bar staff appears as a recurring theme, and threatens to tarnish the standing of an establishment that once had a very good reputation.

Tags: Windsor Castle, surly, yahoos, staff, Dickens

amazing garden

November 01, 2007

Forget the fact that this is meant to be Madonna's favorite pub, forget the fact that the atmosphere is amazing and that it has a fireplace, forget the fact that the food is amazing and also forget the fact its a super old pub and has all those cute 4ft doorways all over the place - the Windsor Castle is all about the garden.

Since the smoking ban came into force the landlord (a smoker) realized that he had a great asset on his hands and transformed the garden into an eden. There are heat lamps and awnings, rickety old garden tables and wrought iron chairs, ivy covered nooks with candles and fairy lights aplenty. Honestly, I went there the other day with my non smoking girlfriend when it was cold and even she agreed that it was so much nicer outside - woot.