The Fox Organic Gastro Pub

I'm writing this on Saturday night on the pub's wifi, which is great. And I just had a fantastic meal. I don't know what the last reviewer was on, but we must have caught them on a really off day last week.

My girlfriend and I came for a look around dalston this Saturday afternoon and at 8pm looked for a place to eat. The trusty iPhone map suggested the fox and pointed to this review page. First review: 6th June, worst meal ever. We were a wee bit put off but the reviewer sounded particularly narky so we decided to give the place the benefit of the doubt.

And I'm very glad we did. We were attentively presented with menus, and served very quickly. The food was fantastic, tasty and well presented - I had surf & turf followed by mocha cake: yum! - and the portions very generous.

The place was pretty empty which might have dampened the atmosphere, but the bob Marley soundtrack suited our chilled dining perfectly.

Give it a go - maybe you'll get the bad waiters of the narky bird. But if you get ours and anything like our food, you'll have a lovely evening in a cool pub.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Saturday, June 21, 2008

I went to The Fox yesterday evening, and it was, without question the worst meal I have ever ever had.

I had reservations from the beginning, we walked in, and no-one bothered to come and ask if we were dining, sat down, the place was dead and tacky music blaring. I ordered 'Garlic Mushrooms on Toasted Brioche with Onion Marmalade' as it was the least unappealing starter option. What came was some haphazardly chopped mushrooms in a sauce that looked and tasted like off mushroom soup, no garlic at all, atop a soggy hunk of sweet brioche with some fried red onion that had had some sugar whacked in at the end of cooking. It was utterly grotesque, and something I very much doubt the huge Alsatian dog who was one of the few customers would have even eaten. My boyfriend ordered onion soup, which was under seasoned and overly oily. But edible. The waitress who took our plates didn't even think to enquire why I had left my plate untouched. Another came over, very apologetic, but clueless. I asked for it to be removed from the bill. For a main course I ordered a 'Salmon and Tuna Brochette with Roasted Vegetables, Beetroot Salad and Lemon Butter' which, again was the least unappealing of the options. I can't even begin to describe how revolting this was. A bamboo skewer with one cube of overcooked tuna, and some salmon that tasted like it had been marinated for a week with red onion. The beetroot salad was a mass of salad leaves with two slices of the vegetable, with cherry tomatoes placed on cucumber slices around it..like some kind of garnish moat. I suggest the chef spend more time on other elements. The salad tasted bizarre, like it had been stored next to meat. The lemon butter was missing in action, replaced with some pink creamy slop. This was £13.95. Again, I barely ate a mouthful. My boyfriends burger was not medium rare as requested and came with very obviously frozen skinny fries, though again, it was just about edible. Needless to say we skipped on dessert. The bill came and I had been charged for the main course. We also had a 12.5% service charge which to me seemed ludicrous. I have never in my life sent back two courses consecutively. So, without guilt we paid for the wine, my partners meal, and left the service charge begrudgingly. I would never ever eat there ever again. I am surprised that it has any positive reviews here, or anywhere. My worst dining experience in London so far.
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diabolo - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, June 06, 2008

the fox is the greatest pub in town as soon as you walk through the door you enter a great atmosphere this pub has had a bad reputation for many years but finally the locals have a great place to go it offers wi-fi organic food and pizzas bar tapas kids menu organic sunday roast 2-4-1 cocktails great furnishings sofas church candles old antique furniture finished with brick such an escape the area has nothing like it the food is superb and the prices are fair especially considering its organic went there with a party of 40 people service was impeccable i recommend this pub to everyone i now go almost everyday well done
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max brown
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, January 04, 2008

Oh dear! This place seemed so promising last Sat night. It was a balmy evening just right for a walk down the road with friends to this local gastro pub. The pub itself was lovely inside, great big wooden tables and lots of light. The food was good, not great but good and plentiful but this was all let down by the most AWFUL service I think I have ever received! After waiting ages to get served we took ourselves up the bar just to be told to sit down again for table service. After many delays and a few errors in ordering we waited for our food, and waited, and waited! This wouldnt be too bad if waiting for gourmet food but for burgers an hour is ridiculous! The manager was very polite and gave us free drinks after complaining but the waitresses were just awful! To top it all off they added 12.5% onto our bill - we thought we would be generous and give roughly half that but I wish we hadnt. The waitress marched back announcing that we hadnt paid enough - we pointed out that we didnt have to pay the service to which she very stroppily replied that it wasnt her fault because she was very busy (I used to waitress and she was not busy!). Such a shame - if they only changed the waitresses I would go back and hopefully give them some more stars!
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Thursday, July 12, 2007