Just thought I'd post my comments on the new Honor Oak pub. I've been living in the area since it was the St Germains and have visited all the various incarnations so was very interested to see the latest.

First impressions - very impressed with the interior. They have made it all much lighter, and a much better use of the basement space (which was always rather dingy). It looks like a quality refurbishment rather than just a lick of paint. I was with a group of 6 at a table and the acoustics weren't a problem for us, although we were in the back room.

The staff seem nice, although as others have said not that confident yet. It took a while to get our drinks, but once that was sorted everything else came on time and they were quite attentive.

The menu though I am not so impressed with. As a non-meat eater there was not a huge choice. We weren't sure whether to go with the bar menu or the restaurant menu but when we looked at the bar menu there was actually nothing on it we wanted to eat - a ploughmans in my opinion is fine for lunch, but not for an evening meal, there was nothing vegetarian except salad or chips, and veal burger or lobster roll are quite specific tastes, even the meat eaters in my group did not fancy veal. A bar menu IMHO should be a simpler, cheaper menu than you would get in the restaurant (the lobster roll was £12 and I have seen it and it's not that big). You can't have the restaurant menu in the bar by the way.

So I decided to go with the restaurant, however some in my group were not eating, the first person I spoke to said this was a problem, and I was about to cancel and go elsewhere but then the second person said this was fine (this was a weekday evening, the pub wasn't fully booked).

So I think there is a bit of a personality crisis here as to whether it is a simple gastropub or an up market restaurant!

The food itself was good, my tart was nicely cooked with crisp pastry, the chips were lovely (although not a very big portion). The pudding on the other hand was massive and I couldn't finish it!

The wine list seemed good, I am not a wine connoisseur but it looked a good selection to me (and a huge improvement on the 'red or white' option we had when we last visited the Honor Oak!)

So overall, generally a thumbs up, but I do think they should revisit the menu as I am not sure I will eat there again until the choice improves, but I'll definitely go for a drink. So glad we have finally got a nice pub back.