Dovetail Bar

One of the best bars in Clerkenwell. RIDICULOUS selection of Belgian beers.. I could, and have spent hours here. Tons of character too.

The Dovetail, like its sister bar The Dove in hackney, is just fantastic. The food is interesting, delicious and not at all expensive. The Belgium beer menu reads like a book and the staff know all about the beer they serve, which is great cz. it means I can risk trying something different. Its a small hidden gem…so don’t tell everyone otherwise it will spoil it for those in the know!!

Went in afterwork on a Friday, was completely packed. Pretty average place, good selection of beers but nothing to write home about.

friendly place only been a couple of times but always a good night out =) thanks guys.

Nice burgers.

I went here for a quick lunch with a few work colleagues during a lunch break to celebrate an end of season before everyone went away on their xmas holidays. We got into the place where we'd booked a table as were a fair large group and seated at the back in this little conservatory add on, it was december and thus freezing however the thought of putting the heating on was not thought of until prompted. The place was empty apart from us so the staff clearly didn't have much to do, though getting their attention was possibly the hardest thing in the world.

I was promised the burgers were great, so i decided on a buffalo burger the order for which was (agreeing with gibbon here) reluctantly taken and half an hour later my food arrived. The burger was fine, nothing wrong with it but nothing spectacular and ended up being pretty expensive for what it was.

The place was ok, the staff could have been a bit more enthusiastic especially seeing as at the beginning we were the only people in the place! Don't think i'll be returning.

I am delighted to have found this Belgian bar, tucked away in Clerkenwell. The place looks really cool and that’s before you even come on to the drinks.

The drinks list is so extensive. There are dark beers, light beers, fruity beers, sour beers. I could go on for a while. They boast over 101 types. Most of these will be in bottle but they have some beers on tap (such as the dangerous but lovely ‘kwak’). These are a bit too expensive to want to drink here too often, but they are no higher than you would expect, given the specialist nature of the venue.

Food looks quite good too. More than I would normally spend, but again it isn’t exactly normal fare. You can get the classic moules frites if that kind of thing is to your taste. Personally I had one moule, once a long time ago…and you will thank me for not describing the aftermath.

This is a fabulous little bar. But I'm blaming them for my accidental hangover. It's one of the only times I've thought that alcohol percentages should be properly displayed.

I had two or three drinks there earlier this week. Only little tiny beers. By the time we reached our next destination I was trollied. I can actually hold my beer better than most girly girls, so this was a bit of a shock. Until I discovered I was drinking an 8.5% beer and had no idea. Hehe! Fun though. And it's done nothing to quash my like of the place.

It was busy, but cosy rather than rammed. The food was good (well, the chips were, we found ourselves looking longingly at the plates of mussels at the next table). A round is cheap, at £14 for four drinks. I like like like all of these things. Staff aren't hugely helpful because there's so many beers and so much choice. Asking for a beer is complicated, but they do have menus. Unfortunately beer menus aren't ever as comprehensive as wine menus and I could be ordering anything. Like an 8.5% beer.

But I like it. It's a great little bar and I'm pleased I've tried a new venue in Clerkenwell. I'll be back here. I'll eat all of their food and get accidentally drunk and be accidentally hungover the next day. And I'll probably enjoy every single minute of it. Again. Yay.

This gibbon is averse to excess grease. Therefore I was offended by the food put in front of me here. It was swimming in the stuff. A food order had been reluctantly taken, then slowly delivered. When it arrived I feared heart attack. But, as a Hungry Gibbon, I ate it anyway.

The Belgian beers are nice if you're a time traveller from the 1990s and still think beers from the continent are exotic.

Great selection of Belgian beers, though some are a little hard to see behind the counter and the 'beer menu' huge! Well worth asking the bar staff for a recommendation if you've not tried them before. Food was pretty good, though we didn't try the burgers.

We visited on a Saturday evening and had no problem finding a table - the bar itself wasn't packed, but there were enough people here to create some atmosphere.

There was a charge for using a debit card though, so well worth stopping at an ATM on the way there!

One of my favourite bars. I love Belgian beer and the Dovetail has a very good range. The staff are ace!

As well as a variety of draught beers they also do bottled Trappist beers, Kriek and other fruit beers, blondes, dunkels and the list goes on.

Their food is also very nice. I'm not a fan of mussels but their burgers and chips are large and tasty.

Great beer - a massive selection of fine belgian ales like its sister pub the Dove. Not quite in the same class though unfortunately. The bar is little so you can’t view the array of beers properly.

It also lacks a little bit in decor, its sparse and a little cramped and the seating isn’t the most comfortable in the world.

Its still my flavour of the week every second Friday - check out the Three Kings if you’re in the area and seeking an alternative.

Aside from the burgers (which are excellent), the portions are quite lean.

Don’t bother with starters.

Great beer, very noisy, friendly service. always worth booking ahead since it’s rammed on week nights.

A great bar. The range of beers is excellent (with a leather bound menu to select from.) The food is also very good and is served quickly. I like the fact the bar is hidden away - but even this doesn’t stop the crowds from descending.

Try to get in early if you want a table.

The Dovetail is one of my favourite bars in London. I’m not a big drinker, but for those who are they have around 200 different varieties of beer.

For me, the food is what makes the Dovetail so memorable. They have a lovely menu specialising in seafood, but they also have a lovely sausage and mash and Belgian burger section to the menu. The burgers are traditional Flemish burgers and are particularly delicious - the highlight being the wild boar burger. Unfortunately they have recently changed the relish they offer which isn’t as good as it was before, but that aside this is one of the best places in London to eat. Don’t leave without trying a pint of fries, which is their delicious home made chips served in a pint glass.

The Dovetail is easy to miss, which is one of the reasons why it is such a nice little place. It’s hidden away in a dark passage in Clerkenwell, but it’s worth seeking out. It has a very rustic feel to it - it’s almost like you’re eating in an old dark cellar - albeit one that has been immaculately decorated with a tiled floor and pictures of Tintin adorning the walls. Not only does this place serve great food and drink, but it has character and personality. It’s a true hidden gem.

I’d avoid on a Friday night though as it’s full of the Clerkenwell crowd just out of work, and there’s nowhere to stand, let alone sit. Go at a lunchtime, an evening early in the week, or at a weekend and you’ll be richly rewarded with great food, friendly staff and a truly memorable experience.

The Dovetail is one of my favourite bars to visit, namely because it’s almost hidden away, and the fact that they serve a great selection of Belgian beers with their great food. During the day, the area at the back of the bar is fantastically lit up with a skylight, while during the week is often standing room only since all the tables get taken up.

Being the sister pub to The Dove (on broadway market) they also serve amazing sets of food, or if you want something lighter, a decent selection of finger foods. The frites and mayo go down particularly well with a drinking audience.

Sometimes they run out of the beers for the week, but with well over a hundred to choose from, you are sure to find something new and interesting to try.

Ah, this is a GREAT bar - one of my favourites. It has all the ingredients which make a bar great in my opinion.

1. The drinks - the Dovetail has an EXTENSIVE drinks menu - I’m getting thirsty just writing this. There must be ten pages of amazing belgian beers, from the fruit beers to the golden beers, from the wheat beers to the trappist and abbey ales… they are all here! They’re not ultra cheap, but they’re not too expensive, and they pack a punch!

2. The food - there’s a great selection of delicious, classic food, at low prices. Really nice belgian style chips, good chicken burger, it’s all very nice.

3 The service - the barstaff are professional, knowledgeable, and nice.

4. The place itself - it’s really nicely decorated, nice wooden tables, a few little alcoves, and a nice size - quite cosy.

So basically, the dovetail is the bar to go to for belgian beer in london. It completely kicks Bierodrome’s ass, and does it with style.

There are so many awesome pubs in Clerkenwell; so, to say this is one of the best in the area is really saying a lot. They’ve got Fruli on tap, Kwak, a long list of krieks, lambics and all sorts of other specialist Belgian beers. If you don’t know what Fruli, Kwak, krieks, or lambics are, Dovetail’s a brilliant place for the uninitiated to sample some of the best brews that Belgium has to offer. For those in the know, this is probably the best pub in town for Belgian beer. And its dark cavernous setting and walls lined with Tin-Tin posters creates the right Belgian vibe for a night of drinking.

The food’s good too – and really hearty. The chips are gorgeous, and the burgers exceptionally tasty (and impossible to eat with just your hands).

Hidden away in a tiny ally at the back of Clerkenwell Green is this great little Belgian bar.

Of the two menus the one with the beer in is the most impressive, far better than you would think possible with the size of the bar but test the staff if you dare; I’ve never managed to find anything out of stock.

The food menu is what you would expect, the mussels are excellent and the other standard fare (sausage and mash, burgers) is above average.

This pub pulls into 4 stars territory though when you compare it with its competition, it knocks Beirodrome and the like for six in almost every category. The only exception being if you are looking for a more lively venue with more space.

The Dovetail Bar is a small Belgian bar near Farringdon Station. For people who like me, only like fruity beers, they serve krieks, frülis, and other beers made with bananas, chocolate or mangoes...

They also serve food. If you like mussels and chips, Dovetail is the place to go to.

An advice: If you want a place to sit, you have to come around 4 pm otherwise you will have to stand outside, which is not so bad either when the weather is good ;-)