Review: Pond, Dalston

We had heard great things about Pond, the Hawaiian restaurant in Dalston (strange but true), so we thought we'll come for a visit on a Sunday for their take on the roast.

To say I was left feeling disappointed would be an accurate description, though I did enjoy their cocktail menu and general bar area.

There was a choice of three on the roast menu - all coming with a combination of sides - here's the menu:

There was a group of us, so between us we ended ordering everything (twice). The major factor in the disappointment was that the smoked turkey didn't actually come with cranberry sauce - apparently the menu changes daily and today was not cranberry sauce day...which is a bit strange as the two go together like fish and chips, or so you would have thought. Anyway, fair enough if that's the case, but we thought on ordering the dish, it would have been good to let us know the sauce would not be available rather than us having to ask after we had been served the plates. 

The other factor was that not all the sides came with the dishes, even though it clearly states on the menu that it "all comes with...". I think it was a matter of managing expectations, as the food itself was generally good. The smokiness of the turkey really added to it (albeit on the dry side), I rather enjoyed the pumpkin, but not too keen on the hushpuppies. They were described to us as croquettes, but it was just really a cauliflower in batter. And the meatloaf was described as pretty good. 

The pumpkin

Turkey, without the cranberry

I'm not sure I would visit Pond again, but most of the positive reviews are for the bar food, so that may be where the good stuff lies - there was a steamed bun option I had my eye on. 

They were pretty good with the GF options and knew their stuff and it was quite a nice atmosphere, it started to get busy later on in the afternoon and I can imagine this would make a quirky, different place to take friends, but I think my experience was marred by the fact the food was not all there unfortunately. 

It's saving grace was a cardboard shark hanging from the ceiling.

RATING: 2 out 5