I don't know why I persist on going to this place. I haven't had much success with what I've ordered before, but keep returning. With it being the winter season (I went in the spring and summer on the last 2 occasions), I thought I'd give it another chance, seeing as they update their menu based on seasons...winter may be a good season for them...

Ordered the game terrine with pear chutney and toasted brioche. The terrine was bland. Also, the ratio between the terrine and the condiments is not proportionate: not enough brioche and chutney for the amount of terrine you receive. Had a scotch egg too. They use wild boar for this. A bit too dry, but the egg was runny.

For my mains, I ordered the monkfish with a pumpkin risotto. Again, it was slightly under-seasoned. Also, the monkfish was overcooked.

I think I'll give Fox and Grapes a miss from now on. One of the reasons I've been there as many times as I have is due to the fact that there aren't a lot of good eateries in the general Wimbledon area. Maybe it's time to stop eating in Wimbledon...

I needed a venue for a first date in Wimbledon so I asked my friends in the know. "What about Claude Bosi's place on the common," they said. "Perfect," I replied, "I'd completely forgotten about that."

So, gastro pub, not too posh, not too noisy. Could be good.

I booked. My date might have seen this as a pushy bird's move, but what the heck, he'd better find out early what I'm like. Wednesday lunch after new year. Probably no need to book but I wanted to be sure of a good run at things. Didn't want to risk traipsing the street on a first date.

I arrived early. Never done that before. Had a chance to look at today's menu. Not so different from the website but mercifully no cauliflower in sight (my date had already told me that he liked Mozart (tick) and good food (tick) but disliked cauliflower and rude people - I can go with that).

He arrived on time. Ticked all the visual boxes too. We ordered water - sparkling - January detox, at least for me.

After a nervous ice breaker chat the helpful waitress came back for the second time and we ordered.

I went for game terrine with pear chutney and brioche followed by pumpkin risotto with chestnuts. He went for crab omelette (I was tempted by this) and fish pie (a bit fishy? - should I read something into this?). The attentive waitress pointed out that the omelette was soft in the middle (damn, knew I should have had this) - good advice but no problem for the man who likes good food.

Chat getting slightly less stilted - we'd moved onto teenage boys (good - a real live area of common interest or necessity). First course arrived, nice and quick. Except my terrine came with pistachios (not a problem for me, but she didn't mention that!) and sad to say it was a rather bland affair - simple seasoning would have done the trick I feel. I didn't find out about the omelette - it had disappeared soon enough though.

Discussion moved onto sport - not a problem, I love it. Good he's a rugby fan and likes a little cricket too. We might be warming up here. The main courses arrived, again nice and promptly. Nice presentation - a good deep bowl with a show-offey restaurant sort of rim to my plate of richly orange risotto. His fish pie in a sweet little casserole dish, piping hot. My risotto was delicious, but extremely rich with probably just a tad too many chestnuts added. His fish pie disappeared very quickly. A good eater. A good sign.

Chatting moved onto previous dating horrors - him, not me, as this is my first ever (well at least the Internet type) ...well you have to start somewhere. Now we're really laughing..... Is it going well??? Oops, that's not us, it was the waitress asking if we wanted dessert. Sadly no thanks. Maybe the excesses of Christmas catching up on us??

So the meal was at an end. But what about the date. I suggested we get the bill. He said he would ask for it whilst I slipped to the loo. Came back. Chatting continued. I reminded him that we were going to get the bill. He said, "Don't worry it's all done!" What a gentleman!

How was that for a first date? Well, the venue was a good choice, despite a slight disappointment with the food. Any future???? That would be telling.

Dined with friends the beginning of December. We had a great experience - the food, service and wine were all very good. That being said, the one miss might have been a pumpkin, gorganzola lasagne (or something like that), that was not quite to one of our party's taste. However, the fish curries and fisherman's pie were very good. Based on our dinner and service, I would return!

British readers will know that 'I saw you coming' is a sketch performed by comedian Harry Enfield about a shop in an expensive part of London which charges absurdly high prices for low value items to locals who are too rich or too stupid to care what they pay.

Substitute restaurant for shop and that just about sums up the Fox and Grapes in Wimbledon: high prices for small portions that are mediocre, at best. I had a so-called 'crab omelette' that turned out to be a kind of egg soup. I couldn't finish it. Two of my companions had beef that was so rare they could not eat it. OK if that's how you like it but no one troubled to ask them. And the wine! Count on a quadruple mark-up. The first bottle they served us was so sour it was undrinkable. When I complained they said that was the 'style' of the wine. Who makes wine in a style so astringent it makes your lips pucker?
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To give them their due they did change the wine willingly and we had a quite nice crème brulee for dessert. The staff were also good natured and friendly. But that's all I can find good to say. You can certainly eat much better for much less elsewhere

We went as a couple for lunch on a rainy Thursday afternoon just before Christmas. We were greeted rather too casually as we entered and offered a variety of tables for two. After choosing one we were waited on politely and efficiently. We chose the burgers as the other items seemed better attuned to an evening meal. The waiter said that for heath and safety reasons the burgers had to be medium rare or better - haven't actually ever heard of this before but better safe then sorry I guess! The meals took quite a while to come but were hot and very nice. The chips were in little wire mesh deep fryer baskets which was cute. We finished with a cup of tea (Twining teabag which I thought was a bit naff) and a late which was fine. Total bill for two burgers and two hot drinks was £40. That's a lot. There's a 12.5% service charge on the bill.

There was a set three course meal (without drinks of course) for £20 pp. (two course for £18) The choices on the set menu were too limited for me to be bothered with it.

Bottom line - nice place, good food (But not great), good service apart from the meet and greet but take a second mortgage out before you go.