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| - I'm not a big fan of the Duke of York, other than the occasional visit at lunchtime with my coworkers I've pretty much got my radar set to "avoid" when it comes to this place.
I've only ever gone during lunch hours, so maybe this place really comes alive during the evening, but as far as I can see the crowd seems to skew older and I think the menu reflects that. The anglophile menu items like fish and chips and curry are pretty standard, nothing to get too worked up about. The pub items are also pretty standard, nothing mind blowing by any stretch. The lunch and seasonal menu items are a little notch up, the quesadilla meal and some of the other special items seem to be pretty popular. They also have a few decent desserts, although I would advise against the "guinness pudding" as it literally tastes like jello pudding served in a pint glass.
The restaurant has a hideous basement that is somewhat unpleasant, luckily enough I've only had to venture there once or twice for a washroom trip. The patio seating seems popular in the warmer months, although the one time I sat there I couldn't help but notice its proximity to the dumpsters and the wasps which were buzzing all over the place.
My major disappointment here is the same thing I triumph at other local pubs - the service. The waitstaff on the lunch shift honestly give the opinion that they aren't working for tips. The big problem was especially the hostesses, who are happy to ignore you when you come in or seem to forget to assign you a server after you're seated. To be fair, I did have one really great server there once, unfortunately enough on repeat visits he was nowhere to be seen.
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