The Fox & Grapes

Great pub near Wimbledon Common. Good food, buzzy atmosphere. Wonderful service. Dogs allowed- my friends dog threw up and the staff cleaned it up- no fuss.

We visited on a Sunday for lunch, the choice of mains was 2 fish dishes, 1 vegetarian option, and 3 roast options. I ordered roast beef and can only describe my meal as mediocre at best, and for the price (£20) I would have expected far better quality. The beef was in thick slices with a generous helping of fat in each slice, it did not scream high quality. The roast potatoes had clearly been made some time in advance and tasted as though they had been kept heated for too long, the result was not fluffy roast potatoes with a crisp outside, but rather dry and simply not very good. The gravy was thin and lacked flavour, it had also been added quite sparingly which made the whole plate rather dry. Service was average, it would have been nice if someone checked on us after serving the meal to check whether everything was ok, and I would have thought it was normal practice to ask the diner whether they wanted any sauces/condiments with their meal once it had been served but this did not happen either. If this was an average pub with average prices then the meal may have been acceptable, but particularly given the price I felt the need to write a review. Perhaps the food outside of the Sunday menu is better, but overall I found the whole thing quite disappointing and would advise people to go elsewhere. The location is excellent, but sadly this was the best thing about the whole experience.

On a mountain bike jaunt through Richmond Park & Wimbledon Common we had decided in advance that our fuel stop would be the Fox & Grapes, situated as it is slap bang in the middle of the common. But more than that I in particular was very excited to dine at this Bosi run gastropub. We were very muddy on arrival but that didn't phase the staff too much (except for a little bit of an up and down look from the day's manager / head waiter) and we were seated and quickly offered a drink. I started with the wild boar scotch egg.. it came with a scattering of salt on the plate but nothing to dip into although mustard was offered (English). The scotch egg was nice enough, runny yolk, crisp brown panko breadcrumbs but it didn't wow me at all and in fact I felt the sausage meat was a tad under seasoned. At £4.50 I kind of wanted to be wowed – even the Hind's Head scotch egg is only £3.75. Mains followed and I had the wild rabbit & crayfish pie with buttered Jersey Royals. I did enjoy the pie – the filling was richly gamey but I felt that there was not quite enough of it (breaking through the pastry lid there was a good inch and a half fall to the half inch layer of filling) and it needed a bit more moisture. The pastry was also underwhelming: a bit bland. I remarked to my companion that surely the point to a pie is in the pastry, and this added nothing to the whole at all which was a shame. My partner had, I think, I can't quite remember, the lamb rump. This was a very generous portion, served very pink as they had advised on ordering. It was very nice indeed. I didn't taste the sauce as it had cucumber in it, which I can't abide, but it was pale with spring (or summer) veg and mint. It seemed quite well received. We didn't have dessert as were continuing on the bikes although a banana and peanut butter concoction caught my eye. All in all it was a pleasant enough lunch but at these prices (£91 for 2 people: 1 coke, 2 halves of Meantime, 2 glasses of wine, 1 scotch egg and 2 mains) I was expecting a lot more.

Uninspired food with little of no finess. Service distinctly slow and quite arrogant. Worst of all was that we were served uncooked chicken twice! Would not recommend to anyone who has any understanding of good food.

I took my family for a birthday dinner and had an excellent evening. The room is spacious and atmosphere excellent. Staff were friendly and attentive. Food is good particularly the scotch eggs and burgers. The prices aren't cheap and the wine list could be improved and made more reasonable. Overall, a good addition to Wimbledon and a place with character, away from the endless chain restaurants plaguing the high street.

A little gem of a gastro pub tucked away off Wimbledon Common. Turned up for lunch (no reservation) with my family (including two young children), but the staff couldn't have been more friendly and welcoming and we were quickly seated at a large table with plenty of room. Menu not too long, but with a good range of choices to suit most tastes. Myself and my wife ordered the venison shepherds pie (excellent, very tasty) and our companions ordered the burger (rave reviews) and fish and chips (ditto). There was a nice children's menu for the kids. They both had the kids size fish & chips and, as it all got eaten, I can only assume it was good! Overall, a great addition to the Wimbledon restaurant lanscape, we will definitely be returning regularly and it seems to be really popular already despite the ‘hidden away’ location.

Went there last night as a follow up boasting session to mates after a lunch I had a few weeks ago, but unfortunately it seems I may have been looking through rose-tinted glasses/beer goggles. While the pub has great lighting and the tables are well spaced, there is a distinct lack of ‘pub’ feel to it, it is basically a restaurant with a bar (which they were quick to get us off) as opposed to a gastropub. The menu has some great starters, indeed the pork pie that I remembered was still there and as good as last time, but the main course selection really let it down and therefore I was pushed towards the grill. The stand out thing about the ‘grill’ section is unfortunately the prices, sirloin £27.50, rib-eye £29.50, fillet £31.50 which put it more expensive than any Gaucho Grill. Surely at these prices then I was going to get an improvement – this is a Wimbledon pub after all, not a City restaurant. Alas, my sirloin was basically half fat, as was another of our table, the skate was overcooked and the fillet was described by the wife as ‘pretty tasteless’. Overall our meal for 6 came in at over £430 and we all left disappointed. Value for money is definitely not good, but the ‘prime’ reason I won't be returning is the quality of the meat.

Sadly missed opportunity to provide a stand-out dining experience in a great location. Food quality fell well short of expectations on reading the menu. Snail and Veal lasagna sounded promising but v disappointing – poorly presented and something not quite right in the flavours… Thought you couldn't go wrong with a rib-eye steak, but turns out you can. I had to send mine back, as the main flavour was kerosene or firelighter or whatever it is they use to create blacked ‘char-grilled effect’ stripes across the meat. And waiters, please, wait until you are out of earshot of your customers before you bitch about them for sending back a bad dish!!! Incredibly underwhelming food for very high prices, reasonably good service (if you excuse the indiscreet gossiping about customers) and interesting wines but not enough to compensate for totally under-delivering on the food.