I hope so. Far too much snobbery on this thread... I've shown it to a few 'professional people' and the attitude has put them off.chiba wrote:No doubt this will be particularly upsetting to those posters who seem to feel that modern, smoke-free, comfortable environments should be the exclusive realm of the middle classes.
The Dolphin
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nork1
- Posts: 287
- Joined: 9 Jul 2006 12:49
- Location: Banned myself - can't be bothered with the Greg/Ulysses show anymore
dorset, i know what you mean about the lack of vegetarian options, and the unfair pricing of what is there, but the dolphin is hardly the worst offender. after god-knows-how-many years of being veggie i've sort of got used to getting stiffed every time i eat out. i actually really liked the cauliflower cheese, though - and those home-made crisps they brought out before the proper food were bloody incredible.
in fact i'm so grateful there's finally a place like this on my doorstep i probably would've paid double the price of the meal for the crisps alone, just to keep them in business.
we went sunday lunchtime, and it was gratifyingly busy - mainly with couples and well-behaved boden-clad kids. the staff couldn't possibly have been any more welcoming, so maybe they were different to the frosty types described elsewhere...
in fact i'm so grateful there's finally a place like this on my doorstep i probably would've paid double the price of the meal for the crisps alone, just to keep them in business.
we went sunday lunchtime, and it was gratifyingly busy - mainly with couples and well-behaved boden-clad kids. the staff couldn't possibly have been any more welcoming, so maybe they were different to the frosty types described elsewhere...
Spent the evening in there Wednesday till it shut!
the party i was with enjoyed themselves,Two people ate the food and said it was nice,they had the Cauliflower cheese with salad and crumble for dessert.
I personally thought it could do with more seats and more colours?
It still smells of paint although thats much better than smelling of smoke.
The Barman was very attentive but i felt a bit awkward because they were waiting for you to finish and whipping the Bottles/Glasses away almost before they were empty, but having said that it was nice to get served straight away.I did think £2.00 for a bowl of nuts was expensive but then i don't normally buy them in bowls so perhaps not?
But all in all an enjoyable evening was had by all.
By the way i love the old panneling.
finally got to The Dolphin
Finally..... excuses of no baby sitter aside, MrsT and I finally made it to STD lastnight.
Most impressed, we had the fish pie and chicken skewers (nope, still can't remember what they were called on the menu.) Both were good.
We left around 10ish - and I was alarmed at how quiet it was - perhaps 5 people left. (near 25 when we arrived at
- we'll be back soon, but I wait with baited breath for the place to have more punters - i can't see it lasting with that level of custom..
In agreement with others - staff really friendly, had a good chat with them on arrival, but during t
he meal, frequent
"is everything okay?"
became a _little_ intrusive.
As that's my biggest/only critisizm then a massive "well done" from us. I have already invited friends to SYD for beers - which I've not done for a few years....yaay !!
DaveT
ps - funniest moment - very drunk blokey (but still friendly) walked in about quarter to 10 and found the fact that STD is non-smoking most hilarious. "what, i have to stand outside? This is outrageous..." Lol..
Most impressed, we had the fish pie and chicken skewers (nope, still can't remember what they were called on the menu.) Both were good.
We left around 10ish - and I was alarmed at how quiet it was - perhaps 5 people left. (near 25 when we arrived at
- we'll be back soon, but I wait with baited breath for the place to have more punters - i can't see it lasting with that level of custom..In agreement with others - staff really friendly, had a good chat with them on arrival, but during t
he meal, frequent
"is everything okay?"
became a _little_ intrusive.
As that's my biggest/only critisizm then a massive "well done" from us. I have already invited friends to SYD for beers - which I've not done for a few years....yaay !!
DaveT
ps - funniest moment - very drunk blokey (but still friendly) walked in about quarter to 10 and found the fact that STD is non-smoking most hilarious. "what, i have to stand outside? This is outrageous..." Lol..
Booked to eat with a few girlfriends. Found the staff friendly enough. Particularly Graham. Putting up with a gaggle of women istn't easy at the best of times.
Generally had a nice atmosphere, with a real fire it was warm and welcoming.
Tasted a few of the wines but it wasn't until we got to the Montepulciano at £15.50 that I found something really drinkable. Interesting as this is the house wine at another establishment that I frequent in town @ £3 a glass.
Food was nice but if the menu was more varied, with lighter more female friendly fish and veggie dishes I could have perhaps stretched to a 3 course meal.
I think the clientel will grow. It's not had much time to establish itself for the silly season and people want a guaranteed good time at this time of year. I'm thinking about giving it a go for New Year but they would need to turn the music up a bit
Generally had a nice atmosphere, with a real fire it was warm and welcoming.
Tasted a few of the wines but it wasn't until we got to the Montepulciano at £15.50 that I found something really drinkable. Interesting as this is the house wine at another establishment that I frequent in town @ £3 a glass.
Food was nice but if the menu was more varied, with lighter more female friendly fish and veggie dishes I could have perhaps stretched to a 3 course meal.
I think the clientel will grow. It's not had much time to establish itself for the silly season and people want a guaranteed good time at this time of year. I'm thinking about giving it a go for New Year but they would need to turn the music up a bit
Hello
We went to the Dolphin on Monday night for a meal and enjoyed the food. The stew had a great flavour and texture, and the fish pie was yummy, though a little dry. The salad dressing was a bit too salty for my taste, and the prices were a tad on the high side for the quantity of food, but we definitely enjoyed having another choice of place to eat in Sydenham. We felt that the staff were slightly inexperienced, and a warmer more confident welcome would have been nice, but we appreciate that it's early days and that things will settle in soon.
I too feel that it needs a bit more furniture and easier lighting to give the place a bit more heart as it is very large - something to break the space up a bit perhaps?
All that said, we LOVE it and are delighted to have a nice (non smoking!) pub at the end of our road. We're also thinking of spending New Year there and drumming up non Sydenham friends to come along too.
Merry Christmas and a Guid New to you all!
We went to the Dolphin on Monday night for a meal and enjoyed the food. The stew had a great flavour and texture, and the fish pie was yummy, though a little dry. The salad dressing was a bit too salty for my taste, and the prices were a tad on the high side for the quantity of food, but we definitely enjoyed having another choice of place to eat in Sydenham. We felt that the staff were slightly inexperienced, and a warmer more confident welcome would have been nice, but we appreciate that it's early days and that things will settle in soon.
I too feel that it needs a bit more furniture and easier lighting to give the place a bit more heart as it is very large - something to break the space up a bit perhaps?
All that said, we LOVE it and are delighted to have a nice (non smoking!) pub at the end of our road. We're also thinking of spending New Year there and drumming up non Sydenham friends to come along too.
Merry Christmas and a Guid New to you all!
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stone-penge
- Posts: 292
- Joined: 5 Nov 2004 14:40
- Location: Newlands park
just been to the dolphin today, its's great, so happy to have a decent pub in Sydenham to drink in.
I think it needs a bit more in the way of comfy seats to sit in and they need to change the glasses they serve the ale in.
Long tall glasses are really only just acceptable to drink lager in but for bitter!?
Are they having a laugh?
they need proper beer mugs with handles
I think it needs a bit more in the way of comfy seats to sit in and they need to change the glasses they serve the ale in.
Long tall glasses are really only just acceptable to drink lager in but for bitter!?
Are they having a laugh?
they need proper beer mugs with handles
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Greg Whitehead
- Posts: 474
- Joined: 11 Apr 2005 15:44
- Location: SE26 5RL
Good to hear that T.D. seems to be slowly finding it's feet. It's interesting that most of the negatives seem to be based around the lack of furniture. Now, I would never suggest I am speaking for the owner Michael but I seem to remember him saying the place isn't actually 'open' until the New Year? Now, it clearly is open as all of us here have seen and experienced but I think what we're living through is a time of practice. I believe Michael is still sourcing extra furniture and certainly before I left for the holiday season each new day brought some extra work on the place (new signage seemed to appear from nowhere one day etc, etc).
I'd like to pop across and check developments and give continued support but I am in Cyprus for the festive period so will have to wait until the 2nd.
I'd like to pop across and check developments and give continued support but I am in Cyprus for the festive period so will have to wait until the 2nd.
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Greg Whitehead
- Posts: 474
- Joined: 11 Apr 2005 15:44
- Location: SE26 5RL
I must say I strongly disagree, there's not enough snobbery on the thread - God knows there are enough ABC1's in Sydenham but they're perhaps not yet vocal enough. Let's not kid ourselves people, were it not for the rapidly increasing numbers of my type of people, snobs if you will, living in Sydenham then there would be no Dolphin - simple as, there can be no argument on that matter.nork1 wrote:I hope so. Far too much snobbery on this thread... I've shown it to a few 'professional people' and the attitude has put them off.chiba wrote:No doubt this will be particularly upsetting to those posters who seem to feel that modern, smoke-free, comfortable environments should be the exclusive realm of the middle classes.
Govt. statistics show that a lack of education is predominantly (but not exclusively) responsible for smoking, ergo it's generally the have-nots who smoke and these are not the type of people the Dolphin is geared towards. If it has put your 'professional' friends of nork1 then I'm sure the Golden Lion across will be much more accommodating to their whims.
"I must say I strongly disagree, there's not enough snobbery on the thread - God knows there are enough ABC1's in Sydenham but they're perhaps not yet vocal enough. Let's not kid ourselves people, were it not for the rapidly increasing numbers of my type of people, snobs if you will, living in Sydenham then there would be no Dolphin - simple as, there can be no argument on that matter."
But didnt you say previously that you grew up in a council house?
You may well be a snob greg,but in my experience most snobs are insecure about their closeness to what they are snobby about.
But didnt you say previously that you grew up in a council house?
You may well be a snob greg,but in my experience most snobs are insecure about their closeness to what they are snobby about.
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Greg Whitehead
- Posts: 474
- Joined: 11 Apr 2005 15:44
- Location: SE26 5RL
A snob, guilty of snobbery, is a person that adopts the world-view that other people are inherently inferior for any one of a variety of reasons including supposed intellect, wealth, education, ancestry, etc. A snob imitates the manners, adopts the world-view and affects the lifestyle of a social class of people to which he or she either belongs or aspires. That "right" is not necessarily a birth-right: a Pseudo-intellectual is a type of snob.leaf wrote:"I must say I strongly disagree, there's not enough snobbery on the thread - God knows there are enough ABC1's in Sydenham but they're perhaps not yet vocal enough. Let's not kid ourselves people, were it not for the rapidly increasing numbers of my type of people, snobs if you will, living in Sydenham then there would be no Dolphin - simple as, there can be no argument on that matter."
But didnt you say previously that you grew up in a council house?
You may well be a snob greg,but in my experience most snobs are insecure about their closeness to what they are snobby about.
Leaf, I'm not entirely sure you understand what a snob is. In the same way as you seem to think Sydenham is inhabited only by poor people and seem reluctant despite Nasaroc personally offering you hard facts to change your view or at least accept the reality.
So, I thought I would make things easy and cut and paste a plain and simple Wikipedia explanation for you. For what it's worth, yes, I was born in a council flat in Ireland as Mother was separated from my Father for reasons I won't go into here. She is now happily re-married to a Major in the Army.
I digress, being born in a council flat does in no way exclude me from qualifying as a snob - as we see from the description above.
I'm not saying my view is any better than yours but Leaf you've been as consistently guilty on this forum of inverse snobbery as I have of being an odious snob. I, as with yourself no doubt, am blissfully unrepentant in my view that Syd does have about 50% extreme wealth and 50% abject poverty (of course all things being relative) and the divisions between the two are only going to be felt more acutely in the future.
Here's the rub. How much more welcome will I be made to feel in the Greyhound by standing there in my bespoke suit asking for a cold bottle of Chablis or Sancerre as someone standing in T.D. putting 20 B&H on the bar and looking for the Stella pump whilst adjusting their Burberry cap? It's not for me to say that those types are not welcome as money is money but I'd hazard people with a certain taste might find T.D. just not their cup of tea - I know the Greyhound wasn't and perhaps never will be for me.
In short, I'm not insecure about my birth-right - in fact I'm proud of it. I simply do not want to drink with the other lot and doubtless nor them with me.
Greg
I do understand what a snob is greg,as i said in my experience most snobs are insecure about their closeness to what they are snobby about.
I dont need a definition of what a snob is!
I dont think i have EVER said sydenham is only inhabited by poor people,i do recall writing of middle class people that have ALWAYS been a part of sydenhams history.
"Here's the rub. How much more welcome will I be made to feel in the Greyhound by standing there in my bespoke suit asking for a cold bottle of Chablis or Sancerre as someone standing in T.D. putting 20 B&H on the bar and looking for the Stella pump whilst adjusting their Burberry cap? It's not for me to say that those types are not welcome as money is money but I'd hazard people with a certain taste might find T.D. just not their cup of tea - I know the Greyhound wasn't and perhaps never will be for me."
The thing is greg,i think the 'problem' of you drinking in say the greyhound is more about how YOU feel about mingling with the patrons rather than how THEY feel about mingling with YOU.
*burberry is old hat now![even for 'chavs'!]
I do understand what a snob is greg,as i said in my experience most snobs are insecure about their closeness to what they are snobby about.
I dont need a definition of what a snob is!
I dont think i have EVER said sydenham is only inhabited by poor people,i do recall writing of middle class people that have ALWAYS been a part of sydenhams history.
"Here's the rub. How much more welcome will I be made to feel in the Greyhound by standing there in my bespoke suit asking for a cold bottle of Chablis or Sancerre as someone standing in T.D. putting 20 B&H on the bar and looking for the Stella pump whilst adjusting their Burberry cap? It's not for me to say that those types are not welcome as money is money but I'd hazard people with a certain taste might find T.D. just not their cup of tea - I know the Greyhound wasn't and perhaps never will be for me."
The thing is greg,i think the 'problem' of you drinking in say the greyhound is more about how YOU feel about mingling with the patrons rather than how THEY feel about mingling with YOU.
*burberry is old hat now![even for 'chavs'!]
I visited the new improved Dolphin last night with my other half. We had beef stew, cauliflower cheese and chips to eat. All were very nice. I like the way you can get different sized portions and the nice clay bowls they serve the dishes in which also makes them good to share like tapas. All the food was lovely, I couldn't fault it really.
We also sampled the London Pride and some other bitter they had - can't remember the name but it was very good. Also had a tasty glass of Bordeaux. The service was good and everyone semed friendly. From what I could tell there seemed a good mixture of people in there all managing to get along with one another without any problem. It was nice to see that lots of people had brought their kids along. My friend has just had a baby and we willl be needing somewhere child friendly to go.
The building has been done up tastefully but simply and the place has a nice atmosphere. What more could anyone possibly ask for? Happy New Year!
We also sampled the London Pride and some other bitter they had - can't remember the name but it was very good. Also had a tasty glass of Bordeaux. The service was good and everyone semed friendly. From what I could tell there seemed a good mixture of people in there all managing to get along with one another without any problem. It was nice to see that lots of people had brought their kids along. My friend has just had a baby and we willl be needing somewhere child friendly to go.
The building has been done up tastefully but simply and the place has a nice atmosphere. What more could anyone possibly ask for? Happy New Year!
I have been into The Dolphin several times since it opened and I think it's fantastic to finally have a really nice bar in Sydenham. I really want it to to do well and have been there at least four times over christmas to show my full support!
Slight grumble.. we tried to book a table on the 1st of Jan for 6 of us (finally managed to get friends from E. Dulwich to come over and give it ago) but it was closed. Also 118 118 doesn't have there number registered so we couldn't book in advance/ check opeing times etc.
Overall, really like the food (tried everything now!) and hope they change the menu every now and then to keep regulars coming back. Wine and beers on tap were good and loved the open fire. Also staff were very friendly and seemed to genuinely care if you liked your food etc.
Also love the windows in the front so you can see if it's busy or not - too many of the pubs in sydenham look dingy. Looking forward to trying the garden out in the summer..!
Slight grumble.. we tried to book a table on the 1st of Jan for 6 of us (finally managed to get friends from E. Dulwich to come over and give it ago) but it was closed. Also 118 118 doesn't have there number registered so we couldn't book in advance/ check opeing times etc.
Overall, really like the food (tried everything now!) and hope they change the menu every now and then to keep regulars coming back. Wine and beers on tap were good and loved the open fire. Also staff were very friendly and seemed to genuinely care if you liked your food etc.
Also love the windows in the front so you can see if it's busy or not - too many of the pubs in sydenham look dingy. Looking forward to trying the garden out in the summer..!
Sorry Jonekt - I think we might have kept the staff up late on NYE!
Was really a great night, staff were very accomodating, music was a good eclectic mix and they turned the sounds up later in the evening for a party atmosphere.
I haven't been able to go down that often as I managed to put my back out over the festive period. But I will do.
Happy New Year All!
Was really a great night, staff were very accomodating, music was a good eclectic mix and they turned the sounds up later in the evening for a party atmosphere.
I haven't been able to go down that often as I managed to put my back out over the festive period. But I will do.
Happy New Year All!
The Dolphin
I was in the Dolphin over Christmas for lunch with friends and family. We all really liked the food but a lot of the dishes on the menu are a bit spicy and not suitable for younger children. A decent children's menu would be a good addition i.e. not the usual unhealthy chicken nugget and chips kind. I was there during the day and it was pretty quiet. I'm very surprised that they haven't advertised better. I imagine if they put flyers through doors which gave 10% off food they would get a lot of people in. I agree with the general sentiment that it is a great addition to the high street.
I love Broadside too, after encountering it in Southwold three years ago I have been buying it bottled fron Sainsburys.
I've only been to the Dolphin once, for a couple of swift bottles of Peroni, three pounds each!
Didn't examine the menu as I didn't have my glasses with me but liked the ambience and the decor, except those daft wall lights that look abit incongruous to me. They also need to get a heater for the smoking area. Will go for lunch there soon and have a proper look at the place, and some lovely Broadside.
I've only been to the Dolphin once, for a couple of swift bottles of Peroni, three pounds each!
Didn't examine the menu as I didn't have my glasses with me but liked the ambience and the decor, except those daft wall lights that look abit incongruous to me. They also need to get a heater for the smoking area. Will go for lunch there soon and have a proper look at the place, and some lovely Broadside.