The Idle Hour

I've been going to the Idle for a while now and can only comment on the extra effort being put into the place, from new paint, a newly varnished floor, the £10 supper for two courses and the burgers.

The paint job has lifted the place, the revitalised floor seems to have enlargened the place too. The £10 menu is an excellent idea, and despite having spent more on the wine, I felt it very good value,

As for the burgers, I don't know what the previous reviewer has been eating, but it is clear they don't know a good burger if it sat up and introduced itself. I found it flavoursome, moist and cooked to a medium rare perfection.

granted the loos need soem attention, but I saw evidence of that. The owner was charm himself, nothing was too much effort and he worked hard for our enjoyment. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone. I also note it was voted one of the top 50 pubs in the UK in last week's Sunday Telegraph, and I agree.
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J
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Idle by name, idle by nature...

I went to the Idle Hour last night and I was also disappointed. While the decor is nice (minus the toilets, but will come on to those later) and the organic wines a nice touch, the food was appalling.

To kick things off, the bread for our starter was defrosted in the microwave (strategically placed next to the bar) pretty much right under our eyes. Nice touch. For someplace that prides itself on being organic I don't think fresh bread would have been too much to ask.

As for my organic burger, the meat was nice, but the bun and garnish were cheap and the chips soggy. My friend's fishcakes didn't fare better and his (unwashed) salad had a straight-from-the bottle salad cream streak on it. Classy.

Overall impression: the cheap ingredients and sloppy presentation reeks of cutting corners and totally jars with the 'we are so organic' guff.

As for the loos, I can only speak for the ladies but they didn't look like they'd been redecorated since 1960. Plus not a SINGLE one out of the three toilet booths had a lock on them, which is just plain odd.

So perhaps some of those idle hours spent by the management should instead be spent on pulling their socks up. Either that, or just give Gordon Ramsey a call.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, April 09, 2008

I have to say this was a big disappointment. I went in this sunday around 6pm for a bite to eat with my partner.

The decor was nice, the atmosphere was a little lacking!

However the service was appalling. Waitresses seemed nowhere to be found. Although it was table service, we had to get up 3 times to go over to the bar to ask for service as they seemed totally unaware they had customers.

I ordered their award winning organic burger... I would be intriuged to know what award it won! It was tasless and small and on a McDonalds bun! Really bad! My partner had the steak and ale pie which seemed ok but the portion was surprisingly small for the price!

Havent been to such a bad restaurant in a while! A real shame!
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, March 31, 2008

Went there this past Sunday with some work collegues and really loved it. Ordered the penne pasta with broccoli and butternut. Was really good and didnt take long at all. There was a guitarist playing from about 9 who was amazing, really awesome. I will definetly be back there this coming sunday with more people. Manager was friendly too
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Ed
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Nevermind the food, I ordered a number of shorts and watched as the bar staff scooped up water in the short measures and added the spirit. It may be open late but I dont need my shorts watered down.
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Johan Rhodes
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 4
Saturday, June 24, 2006

Went with 3 others on a Friday night. Service was pretty horrendous. Food was very possibly worse - both in taste and value. £5 for a stuffed mushroom starter i.e. half a small cheesy portobello that covered only 1/4 of the plate with nothing else. That said, one of us was very happy with his burger... and the manager seemed fairly receptive to our comments at the end and offered us free desserts/shots - unfortunately it would take a large amount of convincing before I'd eat here again!
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C Lim
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Monday, May 15, 2006

My views echo those of the other two reviewers here. We waited an hour for our food (a simple burger and steak) and when we asked what was going on we were told that there was only one chef in the kitchen that night and that they hadn't expected to be so busy. We waited another five minutes and then decided to pay for our drinks and leave. At this point we were told the truth, which was that our order and five other orders "had not printed off" which I assume translates as "they were lost". The staff did apologise but didn't seem troubled that they had lost our business and were making no attempt to warn other people who had ordered food of this delay. The food may be very nice for all I know but the wait wasn't worth it.
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Helen Norris
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Went their for my son's Birthday and had a really great time. Food was excellent and the food very good value. Service was first class - very friendly.

Paddy the dog would like to say a big thankyou to Bogdan for the bones!
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Paddy''s Dad
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, April 09, 2006

Went there on Saturday night and was very impressed - lovely food, prepared with care and attention and even the organic wine was good! The bill was less than expected, partly because the wine was so reasonably priced. It has a really nice vibe and I'd recommend it totally.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, February 24, 2006

The food here is really good, as is the service. Can be a bit quiet and lacking in atmosphere though.
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Alex - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Thursday, February 16, 2006