Bell Inn St Olaves Reviews Summary

Location & Setting

Pros:

• "A beautifully located pub set on the river and with a pretty big garden."
• "A lovely riverside beer garden with lots of seating."
• "It's big draw is the riverside Lawn with dozens of tables with a great view."
• "The location by the riverside is very scenic."
• "Great Riverside location with lots of outside seating."
• "Nice place to rest on a sunny day by the river with nice walks nearby."
• "On the river so lovely views to boot."

Cons:

• "From afar, a picturesque pub by the river, albeit next to a main road. On closer inspection, a depressing journey into the faded glory of British pubs."
• "Some road noise due to position, but this is bridge traffic stopping and starting."
• "Just a shame it's so close to the road."
• "It's by the waterside, so when it gets warm there are a lot of mosquitoes."
• "Flies were damn annoying though."
• "Bit of an unusual 'stay outside customers' set up right now (2021)."
• "Don't bother if you just want a drink. You are not allowed in the bar and have to sit outside rain or shine."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "We had an excellent meal here at The Bell at St Olaves today. We couldn't fault the meals and all had generous portions."
• "The food that is served is more of a traditional pub menu but the food is cooked and served to a good quality and is lovely."
• "They serve good food and decent beer."
• "The food was beautifully cooked and presented, served piping hot and fresh."
• "Food was amazing! Went there with my family for a Sunday out."
• "Both our meals were fantastic, really tasty, lots of it and great value for money."
• "The food was really excellent and of a great quality."

Cons:

• "Unfortunately the green beans and tender stem broccoli were under cooked."
• "Some of the food came to the table that overcooked childrens fish fingers."
• "Fish and chips, fish was really wet and mine had freezer burn on the tail end."
• "The food came promptly but it was overdone and cost was overpriced."
• "Some of the food had to be returned twice and then not acceptable."
• "Had beef and ale pie which had solid tasteless suet crust."
• "Sadly the burgers were overcooked & dry, the meals had missing components."

Service

Pros:

• "Lovely friendly staff, food delicious and plenty of it."
• "Staff friendly and helpful without being over the top."
• "Called in for lunch on Thursday, was lovely, good quick service great meal, will be going again."
• "Very quick food service especially given it was lunchtime."
• "Staff were very helpful and friendly and even brought us a water bowl for the dog."
• "Service was exceptional."
• "Even though they were busy my meal was served quickly, and the staff were not only polite but very professional too."

Cons:

• "Went here for anniversary meal.service was fine until after dessert menus were given, then we were ignored."
• "Waited over an hour for sandwich to be told no order slip no order but they delivered our drinks."
• "We asked a member of staff how long the pizza was going to be but she was quite short with us."
• "Waited 25 minutes for a drink and when we asked where it was we were greeted with a rude response."
• "Staff weren't interested, to please customer."
• "We had 3 different servers and nobody checked our table."
• "Unfortunately the service was very slow, we asked for the menus twice and then we weren't asked if we wanted anything, we gave up after half an hour."

Value

Pros:

• "Very reasonably priced food, the portion size is good."
• "Prices to suit your pocket."
• "Had a delicious breakfast and to our surprise it was 2for1 on breakfasts Mon - Fri @ 9-11am!"
• "Good selection of food available at reasonable price."
• "The portions were big, food was tasty and rhe service was wonderful."
• "Good good choice of full meals and snacks at reasonable prices."
• "Good pub grub, had baguette with salad and coleslaw, everything was nice and fresh."

Cons:

• "Very disappointing, couldn't have a meal as they had ran out of food at 7.30."
• "London/tourist pub prices."
• "The meals were charged at £12 each, which was extortionate!"
• "Food was average little bit over priced."
• "Drinks can be a little pricey though."
• "Final bill price was £102. Really was not worth the price as the pie was microwaved, and the fish was really greasy."
• "Only gripe was cost of the drinks, one pint of Diet Coke and a pint of lemon & lime £7.50, pretty steep for non alcoholic beverages."