Everyone connected to Wilde's is inordinately pleased by the listing in Saturday's Independent, rating us as one of the 50 best bars in the UK. The judging panel - which included Ben McCormack, the editor of 'Square Meal' and wine guru Anthony Rose - quite clearly 'got' Wilde's: the food, the wine, the atmosphere.
It's especially pleasing because we are located in a town and a region which is rarely visited by critics of any kind, and so slip below the radar of the AA Gills and Jay Rayners of this world.
It's not really been an issue. We were founded as a neighbourhood bar and restaurant, and will continue as such. As our customers know, it's often difficult enough to book a table on a wet Tuesday without Independent readers racing up the motorway from NW5 and NW6.
Will that happen? Do these reviews make a difference?
Don't know yet. But do know that the received wisdom in the industry is that you can spend years building a reputation and lose it in a nano-second. Maura Foley of Kenmare, County Kerry, reckons one bad meal will lose 100 customers within a couple of days because the one thing people love talking about more than good food is bad food, or perceived bad food.
The point is that, often, it is about perception. Whitney Balliett famously said that "a critic is a bundle of biases held loosely together by a sense of taste". Sometimes, their biases break free. Sometimes, they are just wrong. And sometimes, customers come out to have a row.
The only poor review we have had in the last 10 years or so came from someone who was wrong not on a matter of taste (that's personal and legitimate) but on a matter of fact. His review is probably libellous, but what the hell - he had a girlfriend to impress and so demonstrated to staff and fellow diners the meaning of 'reductio ad absurdum' in argument.
But his uniqueness in this respect means that, most of the time, we get it right. And we do so by listening to our customers, many of whom have become good friends. As The Independent said: "Simplicity is the order of the day at Wilde's, a cosy basement bar and restaurant that promises good wine, good food, good company".
Couldn't have put it better myself.
Today's listening: Rossini, Petite Messe Solonelle. Jon Snow reminded me of this when he chose The Kyrie as his Desert Island Disc on Sunday. Thanks, Jon.
It's especially pleasing because we are located in a town and a region which is rarely visited by critics of any kind, and so slip below the radar of the AA Gills and Jay Rayners of this world.
It's not really been an issue. We were founded as a neighbourhood bar and restaurant, and will continue as such. As our customers know, it's often difficult enough to book a table on a wet Tuesday without Independent readers racing up the motorway from NW5 and NW6.
Will that happen? Do these reviews make a difference?
Don't know yet. But do know that the received wisdom in the industry is that you can spend years building a reputation and lose it in a nano-second. Maura Foley of Kenmare, County Kerry, reckons one bad meal will lose 100 customers within a couple of days because the one thing people love talking about more than good food is bad food, or perceived bad food.
The point is that, often, it is about perception. Whitney Balliett famously said that "a critic is a bundle of biases held loosely together by a sense of taste". Sometimes, their biases break free. Sometimes, they are just wrong. And sometimes, customers come out to have a row.
The only poor review we have had in the last 10 years or so came from someone who was wrong not on a matter of taste (that's personal and legitimate) but on a matter of fact. His review is probably libellous, but what the hell - he had a girlfriend to impress and so demonstrated to staff and fellow diners the meaning of 'reductio ad absurdum' in argument.
But his uniqueness in this respect means that, most of the time, we get it right. And we do so by listening to our customers, many of whom have become good friends. As The Independent said: "Simplicity is the order of the day at Wilde's, a cosy basement bar and restaurant that promises good wine, good food, good company".
Couldn't have put it better myself.
Today's listening: Rossini, Petite Messe Solonelle. Jon Snow reminded me of this when he chose The Kyrie as his Desert Island Disc on Sunday. Thanks, Jon.
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