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Oscar’s

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Oscar’s used to be situated where Stonegate Yard now resides and after a bit of a fight over naming rights (see that review for brief details), Oscar’s set up shop next door to it’s alcohol purveying sister, the Biltmore.

It was always renowned for it’s food and this doesn’t seem to have changed in the new premises, in fact, since it re-opened Oscars seems to be almost totally focused on dining. The new food serving times (’til 11pm) and dedicated waitresses (you used to have to place your orders at the bar) corroborate this notion and the shiny ‘please wait here to be seated’ sign which greets you as you enter, kindly remind anyone in any doubt.

So nowadays having a drink in Oscar’s, as thepubsofyork.com did most recently one December evening, is unfortunately a rather uncomfortable affair and whilst your portly reviewers could have possibly sat down on one of the few vacant tables rather than prop up the bar, being sat next to an army of diners happily chomping and chatting away whilst nursing a bottle of lager gives a very uneasy feeling which we imagine is similar to inadvertantly finding yourself at a Cliff Richard convention dressed as Johnny Rotten.

Although it sits outsite the reviewing remit of this website, thepubsoyork.com is pretty sure that the food served up here is very good. With this in mind, it’s worth saying that Oscars looks like a fantastic place for a group of girls to sit down to share a bowl of nachos and a bottle of wine while discussing Jude Law’s latest film.

It’s a shame that drinkers (or at least these drinkers) feel pushed out, as there are some fantastic bottled beers on offer; Vedett, Duvel, Leffe, Innis and Gunn to name but four and with Frulli fruit beer and Grolsch wheat beer as the pick of the pumps, Oscars should provide a pleasurable drinking experience. But it doesn’t and it’s not really surprising when considering the Oscar’s website only invites you to ‘pop in for a quick drink’.

If you want to pop anywhere for a quick drink, thepubsofyork.com think there are much better alternatives nearby and suggest the short walk to Pivo where you can have a beer and enjoy a meal in a bag (in the shape of a packet of crisps).


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Rating: 2.5/5 (2 votes cast)

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Vudu Lounge

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Come on, be honest, you’re probably thinking that thepubsofyork.com must have looked as out of place in the Vudu Lounge as Delboy and Rodney did when they turned up at a wake dressed as Batman and Robin in the 1996 Christmas Special of Only Fools and Horses.

The bars name may well give away that it is a cocktail bar and a favourite haunt of York’s young and beautiful people, and while thepubsofyork.com’s two authors are relatively young, they’re far from being beautiful.

It wouldn’t be right to criticise the sparse selection of draught beers, as although there is only Kronenbourg 1664, John Smiths Extra Cold and Heineken on top of the bar, to visit this place in search of a pint of beer would be sort of missing the point. The fridge is quite well stocked with Moretti, Cusquena and Desperados chilling on the shelves, but its what is on the cocktail list that makes this place what it is.

We are reliably informed that only Bobo Lobo and Evil Eye can rival this place’s in the cocktail stakes and those same people who know what they’re talking about will tell you that the bar staff here are experts at mixing a mojito and serving up a Sex on the Beach. Although if you want thepubsofyork.com’s opinion (and you probably don’t) you really shouldn’t be drinking beverages that take more than sixty seconds to serve and cost more than a Bernard Cornwell novel.

The entrance should give sufficient warning to those who may be averse to fruit based alcohol drinks. When entering Vudu Lounge (did Noddy Holder write the sign for these guys?) you trot up a broad staircase from the front door located on Swinegate and head up to the bar area, which although luxuriosuly appointed, strongly resembles a strip club (so we’re told).

The squarish main room wraps around the top of the staircase and red leather sofas flank the perimeter walls of the dimly lit room which features a DJ booth and stylish chandeliers. While this poorly written description may sound like heaven to York’s young posers, to thepubsofyork.com it reads like a warning message to not visit again.


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Rating: 1.5/5 (2 votes cast)

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Biltmore

Monday, December 28th, 2009

The Biltmore sits on Swinegate in a lovely part of central York that seems to be home to trendy hairdressers and lots of cobbles. It is close to Vudu Lounge and (the “new”) Oscars and if you know these other two bars you’ll probably think that it is more than likely that the Biltmore is an uber trendy, wine-bar style establishment … and you’d be correct.

As the bars’ website kindly tells us, the it is housed within a former Elim Pentecostal Church and this architectural good fortune means that there aren’t many more impressive venues in which to enjoy a drink in York city centre.

The space is bright and vibrant and impressive looking light fittings plunge down towards the glass fronted bar from the high ceiling – saying that though, there is a distinct lack of cubicles in the Gents toilets.

Despite the stunning decor, thepubsofyork.com isn’t really at home in this type of bar; there’s no cask ale and in place of delicious packets of Seabrooks Cheese & Onion crisps and Sky Sports the owners of the Biltmore have opted to offer it’s customers cocktails, fine wines and tasty food from the impressive looking menu.

In the face of thepubsofyork.com’s lack of complete affection for the Biltmore, it is occasionally sober enough to recognise that this place isn’t completely unworthy of a visit. Taking a girl here on a first date would probably induce a big metaphorical thumbs-up and it is no suprise that this bar finds it’s way into our “Something for the Ladies” section. In fact, if thepubsofyork.com could only recommend one bar that ladies should visit for cocktails and chats with their female friends, it would probably be this place.

Whilst it isn’t the favourite watering hole of York’s most handomes and suave pub review website there are plenty who find much to enjoy about this place. It’s striking setting and impressive drinks menu ensure that there are certain occasions that might mean that a visit here needn’t be too much of a painful experience.


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Rating: 1.7/5 (3 votes cast)

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Bobo Lobo

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Bobo Lobo sits on Little Stonegate opposite the imaginatively titled Stonegate Yard and just down the road from Kennedys. It is York’s only ‘Latin American Cocktail Bar and Restaraunt’ and as such offers a unique drinking experience.

However, the pubsofyork.com is about as Latin as Sean Bean or Yorkshire Pudding, and this subsequently means that crossing the threshold of this bar (which admittedly isn’t that often) generates similar feelings to those that Juninho must have encountered when visiting Middlesbrough for the first time after he signed from Sao Paolo in 1995.

For many people, Bobo Lobo no doubt conjures up feelings of excitement and happiness which isn’t totally lost on York’s most up to date pub review website. The attractive lighting, decor and atmosphere could put a smile on even the most cantankerous of faces. Salsa classes are advertised on the  interior walls of the bar and the (somewhat predictable) large mural of Che Guevara leaves you under no illusions as to what sort of bar you’re in.

The drinks on offer, if you’re that way inclined, are impressive, with an attractive cocktail list (which rivals Evil Eye) and over 30 rums and tequilas on offer. There is also Red Stripe on tap which as far as thepubsofyork.com know (and this website should know, shouldn’t it) is the only example of this Jamaican lager beer on draught in York. Your thirsty reviewers were also pleased to see the fridge was well stocked with a varied selection and it was a delight to spy Quilmes and Cusquena.

There is nothing of interest for the real ale enthusiast but you wouldn’t expect to be able to get a pint of Brakspear Oxford Gold in Bogota now would you? And to be honest, if you only wanted to drink real ale, the facade of Bobo Lobo is sufficiently vibrant enough to send you searching for an alternative before you get anywhere near the bar (in case your wondering, the Punch Bowl is the best and nearest alternative).

Bobo Lobo is a fun, friendly and colourful bar. It serves good food, offers a good time and has a huge coffee machine that looks incredibly like a dalek. Whilst not for everyone, including (on 363 days of the year) this website, it definitely has a place in York’s drinking scene.


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Rating: 3.0/5 (3 votes cast)

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Vodka Revolution

Monday, December 21st, 2009

According to thepubsofyork.com’s dog-eared dictionary, revolution means “a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving”.

Quite why the people behind Vodka Revolution think that this bar, or indeed the vodka it sells, is a drastic change from the thousands of other places offering a similar drinking experience is beyond the wit of this website.

Everything about it, to the grumpy minds of thepubsofyork.com is stagnant, insipid and cliched; from the handsome bar-staff to the ambient music, from the black and white paisley ‘feature wall’, to the irksome ritual of being presented with a napkin underneath your drink (in fact, what the ruddy hell are you supposed to do with these things? Seriously? Do you take them with your drink and use them as a mobile coaster, or should you leave the napkin at the bar, it’s job being just to clean up the initial moist bottom? If you can help clear this up, please get in touch).

As has been mentioned many times on these pages, these sort of places just don’t float this website’s boat any longer, but that’s not to say that you will not like this incarnation. One man’s meat is another man’s poison and all that. However, thepubsofyork.com are told this is a good place to party, somewhere cool to drink, eat and be merry, and it must be said, of the Vodka Revolutions this website has had the (mis?)fortune to enter, this is one of the nicer examples.

This is mainly down to it’s location which, along with it’s bedfellows Orgasmic and Pitcher and Piano, is perched next to the river and provides fine views of some water, two bridges, the horrific looking Park Inn, some tramps sleeping in North Street gardens, the Norwich Union Aviva Offices and All Saints Church.

Incidentally, All Saints Church has some of the finest medieval stained glass in England and is well worth a visit. It also used to house a 15th century hermit whose abode (albeit a rebuilt one) at the rear of the church can still be seen (but not from the balcony of the bar).

Whilst Vodka Revolution isn’t so bad as to make your authors suggest they would rather be a medieval hermit than drink in here, it’s just not thepubsofyork.com’s cup of tea. This chain is so prevalent within the UK nowdays that you probably know exactly what you’re going to get anyway, so  it is assumed that you are only perusing this review because you’re extremely bored, or trying to spot our typos and despicable use of grammar.


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Rating: 2.7/5 (3 votes cast)

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Pitcher and Piano

Monday, December 21st, 2009

This place is part of a chain of trendy, fashionable bars that probably put as much focus on the food they cook up as on the drinks they serve.

It sits just off Coney Street next to Vodka Revolution, City Screen and Orgasmic and affords lovely views across the Ouse to North Street if you can grab a seat on the beer terrace.

This al fresco delight is the best reason for visiting this modern bar, not to say that things inside are so bad.

Despite almost never visiting this place (apart from for reviewing purposes of course), York’s premier pub review website is somewhat impressed with the range of drinks on offer, and upon the last visit, did detect a pretty cool vibe that in a different life, could have been appealing. Like many other similar drinking dens though, it can get a bit lairy on a weekend and this cool vibe can turn into an altogether different beast.

On draught the Pitcher and Piano generally offers Staropramen, Amstel, Peroni, Fosters, Guinness, Scrumpy Jack, Becks Vier, Heineken and Bitburger. They even had Pedigree, although it was drawn through an ice covered pipe. Whilst thepubsofyork.com should really know more about brewing procedures and optimum serving conditions, it is pretty sure this isn’t the way to obtain the best pint of this Marston’s tipple.

There were also some pretty cool bottled options, with VB, Vedett, Budvar and Innis and Gunn chilling in the fridge. The choice of spirits on offer was particularly impressive too, although the young, pre-pubescent looking bar man seemed a bit confused by a request for a single measure of Jura.

As thepubsofyork.com stood admiring some very nice looking wrought iron pillars, it considered the absence of crisps behind the bar and deduced that it could only really respect a boozer that was able to sell it a packet of this staple fried potato snack.

Despite this, thepubsofyork.com reckons Pitcher and Piano is more worthy of your time and money than the two bars it sits next to (but, to be fair, they are pretty shit). It offers better ambience and a far superior choice of drinks and of course, shares that very nice view. However, Ladbrokes are offering odds of 100/1 on you ever bumping into this website here.

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Rating: 2.0/5 (3 votes cast)

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Orgasmic

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

If this isn’t the first review you’ve read from this website then you’ll probably guess that it’s not going to be a glowing write up of this trendy, often thronging city centre bar. And you’d be right.

Orgasmic, York, Coney Street, BarApparently this place is a Cafe Bar and thepubsofyork.com has a big problem with these places; cafes serve cooked breakfasts, cups of tea and have ketchup holders in the shape of tomatoes, while bars provide beers and spirits and you go to them to have a good time with friends, or to enjoy a quiet pint and a book in a secluded corner.

thepubsofyork.com couldn’t have a good time in this place if British Sea Power were playing a secret gig upstairs and it had just got six numbers on the lottery. They generally always have shit names too, and Orgasmic certainly doesn’t disappoint on that score.

Access is gained from Coney Street and the bar sits very closely to Vodka Revolution, City Screen and the Pitcher and Piano. thepubsofyork.com would only usually venture to this part of town to watch a film and it’s recent visit hasn’t convinced it to come drinking here more often.

Patrons have to walk down a long, slightly dingy corridor to arrive in the large open, two floored bar area, which rather pleasingly features a cool looking white tiled wall and industrial RSJs. This decor detail and the exceptional view from the beer terrace across the Ouse to North Street (which is the sole reason that this place gets ‘Brilliant Beer Garden’ status) are all that this place can offer thepubsofyork.com, but that’s not to say that you, dear reader, won’t be more turned on.

The drinks choice is somewhat limited with Bulmers Draught, Boddingtons, Guinness Extra Cold (what would Arthur think?), Stella Artois, Becks Vier and Staropramen on offer. Most visitors however will probably opt for something from the fridge or one of the bottles hanging upside down behind the bar, and they’ll probably be young, usually female and scantily clad. There are brown sofas to kick back on, but thepubsofyork.com suggests not getting too comfy here, the two nearby bars, (or should that be Cafe Bars?!), in thepubsofyork.com’s humble opinion, are a better bet.


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Rating: 2.7/5 (3 votes cast)

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Evil Eye Lounge

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

thepubsofyork.com doesn’t believe all it reads and doesn’t hold grudges (apart from against Christos Michas) so subsequently won’t be elaborating on the Evil Eye’s somewhat less than complimentary recent press. Therefore, the following review will be based purely on this websites visits to said establishment, and there’s been a few.

If you didn’t know the Evil eye was there, you would be forgiven for never visiting in the first place. The entrance to the bar is via a well stocked shop accessed from Stonegate which sells an enticing collection of spirits, liquors and interesting beers.

Once you’ve negotiated your way through the beer emporium and entered the bar proper, you will instantly notice a couple of things. 1) The huge and extremely impressive selection of bottled spirits behind the bar, and 2) An even more impressive cocktail list which is, according to people who know more about this sort of thing than this website, probably the best in York. (It is on the strength of it’s cocktails that Evil Eye is placed in ‘Something for the Ladies’ category).

However, if you visit on a weekend, you will also notice just how incredibly busy this place gets.

On Friday and Saturday evenings it regularly throngs with trendier-than-thou types all jostling for position at the bar in a Rugby League type scrum. The somewhat cramped layout of the bar area (long and thin) doesn’t really help matters, although you can take your drinks to any of the other two floors, and the longer than average service times due to the aforementioned cocktails being shaken and stirred can also .

All this is absolutely fine if you like that sort of thing (and plenty do) but it doesn’t really float thepubsofyork.com boat.

Visiting on a school night or during the day however is a totally different proposition and it can be a rather nice place to have a bite to eat, sample one of the many interesting bottles of real ale or check your emails (the Evil Eye also doubles as an internet cafe).

When squinting a bit and blocking out the Yorkshire accents, the bar itself has got a bit of a Meditteanean/North African/Asian (those should just about cover it) feel to it thanks to the vibrant colours and very un-British ornaments. Which is most certainly a bonus on those cold, dark November afternoons.


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Rating: 2.7/5 (3 votes cast)

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Kennedys

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Kennedy’s main strength is that it lies in a cracking part of York, in Little Stonegate which means it’s next to lots of other cool, “trendy” bars that thepubsofyork.com doesn’t usually frequent. This section of the city could star in a very sophisticated night out where men get to wear long sleeve shirts AND shoes and ladies can drink champagne and cocktails. You’ll certainly avoid the scum that spend their Saturday nights defacing Micklegate on the other side of town and that is just about crucial to enjoying any night out in York.

This is the sort of bar that seems to be governed by some sort of unwritten rule, which dictates that only attractive people can drink here. Trendy haircuts and pointy shoes seem to feature heavily in the wardrobes of patrons  and there must be a similar guideline governing the aesthetic value of the bar staff recruited. The last time thepubsofyork.com was in here the three ladies behind the bar wouldn’t have looked out of place modelling lingerie for Next.

These lovelies will be able to offer you Guinness, 1664, John Smiths, Strongbow, Carlsberg, San Miguel, Heineken or Erdinger from one of those fucking silver beer taps that bars like these seem insistent on pouring their beer through.

The owners must be ashamed of the beer they stock because you have to peer so closely at the writing on these taps to know what a pull of it will yield, that it is as though they’re trying to hide it – either that or they’re so pretentious and image conscious that they don’t want the brand’s logo ruining their pretty white bar.

To be fair, in the fridge there were a few interesting bottled beers (which the owners seemed okay with being in the manufacturers packaging), including Vedett – the stunning Belgian tipple, Sagress, Desperados and Old Speckled Hen.

Girls, if they don’t like beer, can enjoy one of the many fine wines, champagne or even a tasty looking cocktail from the fairly fruity looking menu.

There’s plenty in the way of entertainment on offer too. As well as playing the game where you test who in your drinking party has the best eye-sight by seeing who can read the beer taps from furthest away you can enjoy an excellent quiz here on Monday nights (www.speedquizzing.com), regular live music and the late licence means its (just about for thepubsofyork.com) a viable after-typical-hours option if you’re still thirsty.

There is an upstairs bar and a downstairs bar and the toilets are amongst the cleanest and best kept in York, which should mean those chaps with pointy new shoes don’t have to worry about stepping in somebody else’s second hand Carlsberg. Patrons who have just emptied their bladders can wash their hands with water and more pleasingly Au Lait hand lotion in the toilets and then dry them on one of those futuristic new Dyson hand-dryers….

thepubsofyork.com would still rather have a piddle up against the wall in the back yard of the Minster Inn though and enjoy a proper pint of real ale.


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Ha Ha

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

thepubsofyork.com doesn’t want to be too blunt (because it isn’t a massive fan of the crooning former army captain), but if you’re thinking of heading to Ha Ha, maybe reconsider.

thepubsofyork.com loves what many would call “old man pubs” with jars of pickled eggs on the bar, real ale on tap and only neutral flavoured condoms in the toilets, but it is also fond of places with brighter lights, more colourful drinks, and music from this century, now and again.

Its important though that such venues get the vibe just right, and Ha Ha doesn’t.

The room that houses Ha Ha is massive, like a school canteen, albeit with trendier furniture and better looking dinner ladies.

Despite it’s size, the huge bar doesn’t manage to find room for a decent draught beer and the lights always seem a bit too harsh making you sometimes feel as though you are on Mastermind (specialist subject: trendy, overpriced bars, 1987 to the present day).

York’s chirpy pub review site thinks there are lots of better options if you want to take yourself to a lively bar in York for cocktails and fun (the Living Room, Bobo Lobo, KoKo, Blue Fly, hell probably even the Evil Eye Lounge, all fit the bill). Furthermore, thepubsofyork.com gets the distinct impression that the management wants customers in to eat rather than to drink within it’s walls which is fair enough really,  considering it does promote itself as a ‘casual dining restaurant’ (as opposed to a casual dancing restaurant?)

If you like cocktails (and who doesn’t?) you might be pleased to read that the last time thepubsofyork.com was in Ha Ha, the bar was advertising the fact that they are flogging fruity alcoholic fancies for the bargain basement price of £3 between 5 pm and 8 pm every day.

You might just be able to tolerate the sterile nature of this place long enough to slurp down a cheap Cosmopolitan before you head off in search of somewhere with a bit more about it.


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