Smoke & Liquor, Rochester

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E TA left this review about Smoke & Liquor

More a bistro than a pub, and not a very welcoming one at that.  It was previously a restaurant called Topes (another cliched Dickensian reference), and it’s run by the same team – perhaps in desperation, as Topes wasn’t a huge success.  The bar area is formed from two earlier rooms in the historic shop premises, decorated sensibly if a little bit on the trendy side.  There also appears to be an upstairs area, but we didn’t venture up.  No real ale is on so I ordered a pint of Curious Session beer, which apart from being expensive, took the stroppy little girl behind the bar several attempts to produce in the required quantity, accompanied by all the tired excuses about how the glass is lined (it wasn’t), how you have to pour an inch of froth, and so on.  The beer was too cold, and tasted like I imagine insect urine does.  It was also overpriced.  There is a large selection of gins, and some of the wine list looked quite good.  We then sat at an unreserved table and were told by another annoying princess that we couldn’t sit there as we weren’t eating. We chose not to eat as the food was expensive, haphazard, a mixture of road kill and trendy dishes in small bowls, though some other customers seemed to be enjoying their steaks.   I won’t be back in a hurry, mainly due to the staff attitude, high prices and lack of real ale. 

On 3^rd June 2019 - rating: 4
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