Cafes, Restaurants, Pubs & Takeaways

[DaveR]

Cadwaladers where stripping all their stuff out last nite.

I saw the van parked on the pavement and them carrying out a freezer.

[Hugo]

Hugo, have you not signed up yet for three courses for the price of two after 3pm on Sundays? 

I was so hungry Bri that I couldn't wait until 3.00pm.  Absolutely delicious and worth every penny as my clean plate proved.           

[DaveR]

I noticed today that the Carlton had scaffolding up in order to carry out some work on the building. What was funny was that workmen had just smashed the glass panels in the canopy to stick the poles through, instead of lifting them out. 

[Bosun]

I have just paid the most that I have ever paid for a pint of bitter. £3.65. Where, Chester? Liverpool? London? In a club or fancy bar?

No.

The Castle View, Deganwy.

[norman08]

and they wonder why the pubs are empty  :rage:

[Michael]

   Where is the Castle View?  Is it the old Maggie Murphys? or part of the Quay complex?

[Hugo]

It's Maggie Murphy's Mike.       Z** Z**

[Cat Stevens]

Not bad price. You will Struggle to buy a decent pint for under £4.25 in London. And under £4.00 in Manchester.
Depending what you drink. Good beer in good surroundings normally costs.

[Bosun]

I am a beer, not lager, drinker, and I have recently been to Bath, Liverpool, Manchester, London and Norwich in the past few months, and whilst trendy bars do charge a premium, in pubs I have never paid £3.65 before for Courage Directors or similar. The most was £3.40 in Norwich for London Pride.

I don't mind paying a little extra for a good pint in nice surroundings, but £3.65, that's taking the.....

In one suburban pub in London, it was £2.95. In the Albion, which is by far the busiest pub in Conwy it is £3.00 or, dependant on the strength, above 4%, £3.10.

Then there's always Witherspoons..............

[Fester]

Even Weatherspoons prices have been edging up to nearer that of other pubs.

Special promotions aside, there is maybe a 10% advantage in JDW compared to other local pubs these days.

However, I now find that the average price for a pint of lager in a 'regular' bar is around £3.70

So.... we are racing suicidally toward the £4 pint.   With earnings increasing hardly at all, is it any wonder that the social life of our pubs is becoming a thing of the past. 

[DaveR]

With earnings increasing hardly at all, is it any wonder that the social life of our pubs is becoming a thing of the past. 

...yet certain pubs always seem to be busy. How do you account for that?

[Bosun]

Last night, Saturday, the Albion was full, standing room only, very busy. Checking the other pubs in Conwy there were two or three people in them at best.

The other difference is that the Albion is clean and tidy, the beer is perfectly kept and there is no muszac, juke box or TV.

Hmmm, it'll take Sherlock to work this out...........

[DaveR]

Not bad price. You will Struggle to buy a decent pint for under £4.25 in London. And under £4.00 in Manchester.
Depending what you drink. Good beer in good surroundings normally costs.

Nice to see you back, Cat. Been busy? 

[Fester]

In the past I have posted many reviews on eateries in three towns area.
We are blessed with many great places to go for a meal in this area, even though some of them struggle to survive and some have closed down in the last couple of years.
The reviews I have written have been overwhelmingly positive.

Mrs Fester and I had heard many people recommend Nikki Ip's in Deganwy, but we had never ventured there ourselves.  Sadly we cannot write a positive review on this occasion.  Nikki Ip's was very disappointing in many respects.

On arrival, despite having a table booked, we were left waiting in the bar area, without any service for what seemed an eternity.
Then we were told a table had just become free, which was strange because when we were shown to it, there were lots of empty ones.  Sadly, we were then seated in a pokey little corner, against a wall, with precious little elbow room.
A funny thing is, when you are 'shown' to your table, you must leave the bar via the door to the chilly street outside, and walk three-doors down to the restaurant 'proper'

I was expecting a large choice of quite different and exotic cuisine, given the reputation, but the appetisers and main course choice is not that extensive.
Certainly nothing you wouldn't find in a standard Chinese restaurant, but  the prices here are much higher. An average £7 for a starter, and approx £13.50 for a main course.
When I go for a meal, I like to be able to fancy quite a few dishes on the menu, and have to rule some out.
In the case of Nikki Ip's we both struggled to find anything that we couldn't resist ordering.  So rather than leave, we settled for something and ordered.

When our food arrived, two teenage waitresses placed it down on the next table and had a good giggle whilst they tried to figure out what it was.  They failed, and it all seemed very amateurish.
At this point, it became clear that you don't get rice or noodles with the basic dish, you have to order them seperately on top.  So, I had to spend extra to get some noodles, otherwise I would have had a plate of just slices of duck in soy sauce!
To be fair, the quality of the food was above average, In fact it was good. But certainly not THAT much above given the disparity in price versus comparable eateries.
Yes, food verdict GOOD... but certainly not special.

The decor in the upstairs restaurant is a mish-mash of different coloured chairs, around those little square aluminium tables.  All in all it is very reminiscent of the kids play area in McDonalds.
Toilets, reasonable, if you don't mind wading past plastic chairs stored haphazardly, and avoiding the kids high chairs propped up adjacent to them.

So, having waited many years to try Nikki Ip's, (supposedly saving the best until last) we were pretty disappointed.

There are many local eateries which deserve our custom more, and at a substantial discount to the prices at Nikki Ip's.

If anyone has a different experience of this restaurant, please make your comments heard here, because it is very important that reviews are balanced.

[DaveR]

Stick to the Seahorse and the Empire, mate, can't go wrong.