The Herne Tavern

I love the Herne! Have been here now a few times and have never been disappointed. Service is always good, great menu, tasty food which has always been worth paying for. Yes, there are a lot of kids around but luckily, the times we were there (which includes last sunday which was a hot and happy day), the kids' parents were the sensible kind that respected other diners/drinkers and therefore did not let their kids run around like others might do. East Dulwich is turning into a pregnant, pram pushing and parenty neighbourhood which you can not avoid unfortunately unless you stay out of it.
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sofie
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Had a nice lunch here on Sunday. The highpoint was the Scotch Duck Egg, crab salad was nice and the roasts (pork and beef) were fine. We all drank either Addlestones cider or Adnams. This is a nice pub, with decent service. The place does fill up with kids, though. The table behind us was like an NCT meeting. I think if you're pregnant or a new parent and you live in Dulwich, you're compelled by law to come to the Herne Tavern on a Sunday.
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Boz
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, July 21, 2008

Great for kids but not for adults. 10% service charge rip off which they will add to the drinks you order at the bar and carry with you to the garden - that a minimum of £1.20 for their cheapest plonk - where is the service there?

They don't feel at all inhibited from serving an incinerated yorkshire pudding, and my roast topside at £11.50 was a smaller portion than my daughter's £6.00 child meal and came in 3-4 small slivers and not a single proper slice.

My wife's tiger prawns seafood linguini (misspelt on the menu) did indeed consist of 2 tiger prawns, 5 clams in their shell, 3 empty shells which had not made it into the dish, and an unopened clam. There were brown shrimps included.

My "whole crab" starter was tasty, but in removing the gills, half of the brown meat had also been removed from the shell.
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Simon
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Sunday, June 15, 2008

Have had great burgers here, really good steaks too. Fantastic potted shrimp starter. Had an extraordinarily memorable rhubarb and almond tart – one of the most fantstic puddings I've ever eaten. Service has been good.

However, there is still an element from when this was a die-hard local 'boozah', who have been royally p••••d and agressively lairy, which seems at odds with the kitchen aspect.

The predicament of the modern (gastro)pub in progress!
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Ali
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Friday, October 19, 2007

Other than a child friendly garden this place is hugely dissapointing. Although i had booked a table well in advance for lunch, due to an overcomplicated and fussy ordering system it was an hour before we were able to order our lunch and wine. Things didn't get any better as the service was slow and haphazard and the food ordinary - surprising given its connections to The Palmerston in ED. Be warned though that the manager of this place is amazingly inept and clearly inexperienced in the catering industry, and will at best "beg to differ" if you have the audacity to voice your opinion. In addition to all of the above, he was completely at ease with the fact that the wine i had ordered was a different year to one i was served, because "its still the same wine".
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Thursday, July 26, 2007

We had an all-round good meal catering for 10 - 75 year olds, a big party of 12 of us celebrating my nephew`s 18th birthday. The anchovy salad got a positive response, as did the potted salmon - starters. The leek & potato soup was garlicky & tasty, portion rather small. For the main course the seabass was crisp on the outside and fresh on the inside, could have done with more saute potatoes but otherwise very nice. Service excellent, coffee and desserts good.

re decor, I thought the chairs were a bit tired-looking but the food made up for it.
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Ann E. Jones
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Saturday, July 14, 2007