The Herne

[bailey]

Been a big fan of the Herne to date but had a bad experience

this afternoon at lunch,ordered a steak medium and got the well - done

version, when I pointed it out I was told by the manager ( ? ) that it was

Medium and that was it !!!Take it or leave it ! Have been a regular since it opened and thought

that the approach was wrong. Moving from from being quite disposed to the Herne

to feeling slightly uneasy about the place. When we got the bill ( 4 0f us )

the steak wasn't included but that was not the point. Isn't a contented customer

the most important thing, from their point of view ? Perhaps they should of offered

something else off the menu ?Feel uneasy about the place now, which is a shame as

they have revolutionized the place from the point of view of young families.

Not sure I'd go back now !

[MadWorld74]

I'm actually of the same opinion. I've eaten there alot and felt sorry for the very very young schoolgirl waitresses they have in there. Also when I've been outside I've been worried that the kids (and there are ALOT of them!!) have been getting into trouble with the layout. Falling off the grassy banks and smacking their heads on the side of the picnic tables. Last time I was in there, a bloke on the next table had his wallet nicked. Not good.

[mrdodgepot]

i preferred it before the revamp.

[MadWorld74]

I like how the builders and 'tradesmen' still stand at the front of 'their' bar and get rowdy of an early evening! and I've overheard some cracking rowdy conversations there. As soon as the pino noir lot come in (I could class myslef as one of them) you've got the pint swillers at the bar and the wine drinkers huddled in the back round the corner.It feels like it hasn't made the transformation from one to the other, ot indeed, it's confused as to which way to go. I may pop in on the way home for a crafty glass of red.

[chiseldon]

Hi Bailey,

Sympathise with your experience.

Perhaps you should avoid the steak in future.....the smoked chicken salad is fabulous!

[Louisa]

The Herne was definitely one of the last bastions of a traditional London boozer around the Rye.. The Clock House has always been a bit snotty, but The Herne had a very big local customer base, as well as people coming from far and wide for a drink.. It's interesting to see the 4x4 buggy brigade with their weedy looking husbands with man bags huddled in a corner drinking a bottle of red, and some burly loud mouth bricklayers at the bar downing pints of fosters, all happening at the same time!.. I will probably venture in again for half a guinness as it it kind of reminds me of certain Clapham pubs about 20 years ago when the whole gentrification thing started.. Interesting social experiment, god I wish i'd taken up sociology at Uni :(

[mockney piers]

Nothing wrong with weedy blokes. I'll provide some sand at the next forum drinks Louisa. Feel free to kick it in my face ;-P

[MadWorld74]

or you could just play in it Mockney Piers...

[jim_the_chin]

this whole thread serves as an illustration of how much east dulwich has changed

[MadWorld74]

That picture is what you can expect to look like when you're in the Herne. Mr Madworld 74 says he ages 10 years when he goes in....

[jim_the_chin]

she's just seen the bill!

[MadWorld74]

yeah, 4 quid fifty for a glass of red gone that's off and the glass is covered in pearly pink lipgloss.

[mockney piers]

:))

Quality comment, but I may have to lounge this.

[MadWorld74]

I thought only Mr/Mrs Admin could do that. Do you mean weedy man that you also have powers?

[jim_the_chin]

oh man, i just wriote a really long message trying to stop the lounging and it's not appeared.

anyhoo, my 'downcast' pic was meant as a comment of despair at how people demand service with a capital 'serve' these days. this may be price related but I wonder if there was anything that bailey could have done to recitify the situation rather than leaving disgruntled and posting on here. my sense was that as there was not an immediate response to the complaint umbrage was taken and resentment created. was it impossible to sort out at the time? and you didn't even have to pay for it.

[Ted Max]

This thread has been man-bagged.

[Jah Lush]

Pa! It's already in the lounge.

[Keef]

Louisa, any builder that drinks Fosters is a rubbish builder!!! Stella is the pint of the building champions! ;-)

[MadWorld74]

as long as the builders arent drinking it whilst working otherwise your house would end up looking like shite.

[Brendan]

Yeah I never trust a builder unless he has at least 4 pints of stella in him. >:D

[Ted Max]

Preferably four at lunch when you're "nipping out for supplies". And four more after knocking off at 3:30 on your way to the evening job you're squeezing in cash in hand when the contractor's not looking.

[mockney piers]

I know where you're coming from jim_the_chin, at first I thought it was just an oh no not again despair, loved the bill comment.

I'm a bit torn, I don't like to think of myself as the type to demand service in a snotty manner, but if I go to a place that I don't think has any concern or respect for its customers, I won't go there pure and simple.

I don't want anyone fawning over me, i just like to think a place should be enjoyable to go to. I'm effusively polite and friendly to bar staff, waiters et al.

In chicago I found the level of service bizarrely over the top, but they never looked as if they were enjoying it, and that's half the battle. Or maybe they were just anglophobes, large chunks of that city are...but I digress.

err.. where was I? Oh yeah, 4 quid for a bottle of alcoholic lucozade?!? I mean, really, justify that.

*madworld, I get special weedy powers whenever the administrator is sitting in a wet field in the west country

[MadWorld74]

if you're on a job n' knock then you drink more to speed you along.

[Michael Palaeologus]

Personally, I like a lttle fawning and grovelling