ah! Mystery solved! Thank you!

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Judy, that post is a spammer.

>>Judy, that post is a spammer.<<

And he is now also using the handle "JonathanHoston1".

and Helen_HD

Which one?

comment removed...caught by editors

Hi Judy,

It was the post immediately before your "Thanks, I'll check it out." Advertising is not allowed on the forum, but the spammer thought he was clever by using three different user names, two in the forum and another in reviews. It was blatantly obvious though, and now, as far as I know, all the spam posts have been removed.

Now that I think about it, I probably did click that link! I still don't know who's real and who's not on here.

Thanks everyone for the warning!

Judy

Most of us are real. As Heimdall said, advertising is not allowed. One quick way to discern between a legitimate recommendation and advertising if you're not sure is to click on poster's name to see if they have posted previously. The spammers are usually noticed quickly and their post removed so won't have other posts.

Also check the poster's profile for the date joined Fodor's. In the case of the three user names now deleted, all said "Member since September 2012". Most genuine new members (like yourself) will start out by asking questions rather than giving advice. If a new member starts out by plugging a hotel, restaurant, or website and includes links in the post, then it is usually spam.

Another travel forum (I won't mention the name) is riddled with fake hotel and restaurant reviews. Some of the reviews are from the owners themselves, others (the unfavourable ones) from rival businesses, and with others (so I have read) the reviewers are actually paid to write them. You can do a Google search to find companies that pay a small fee for each review.

I'm sticking with the advice from my new friends here on Fodors!

I find it amazing that a supposedly well traveled person doesn't understand what it means when tourists are looking for "traditional" food from a particular region. Sure the most popular food in London might be chicken masala, but that doesn't mean it should be so confusing that most outsiders would picture roast beef, yorkshire pudding, and sticky toffee as more "traditional".

That said, my favorite by far for "traditional" British, and it's also very convenient to most theatres is Rule's. You feel that Henry Higgins and Pickering are probably at the next table. The food is considerably better than Simpson's. And if I'm not mistaken they could probably arrange a nice more private dining experience in one of their many rooms for a group of 10.

http://www.rules.co.uk/

Sorry, having problems with the site this morning -- more than half the posts in the middle of this thread were missing, then when I scrolled back up, they reappeared. I couldn't figure out why it said 31 posts when there were only about 12! I was surprised Rules hadn't been mentioned, and now find a bunch of posts about it. What is going on with this site these days? I wait and wait for threads to load, then they appear in partial form?

NeoPatrick -- I'm not sure if you are criticizing my choice of restaurant, or the opinions of the many contributors to this thread!

I appreciate the advice I've received here and these opinions have helped shape the scope of my trip for which I am so thankful.

Now....about Simpsons....it's already booked -- is it really a bad choice? We leave in 2 days, I'd hate to start changing reservations at this late stage. But, now I'm feeling really anxious that I've made the wrong choice.

Judy_Rosa,

Please don't be anxious about this. Simpson's will be fine. Decent food in a pleasant, traditional setting. I'm sure your qroup will enjoy the entire evening.

"<i>Now that I think about it, I probably did click that link! </i>"

Probably not -- If I remember correctly the swine didn't type an actual (clickable) URL, but an 'abcdxyz dot com' sort of thing.

Stick w/ Simpson's now that it is booked. It will be a wonderful, traditional English experience.

Thank you Bette and janisj!

Judy, no I was not criticizing. As I said this morning only the first dozen or so posts appeared on this thread so when I posted I was unaware of any Rule's suggestions or that you had already made a choice.

Yes, Simpson's will be fine. Never fret!

The only one I was criticizing was the poster who didn't seem to understand what you wanted by traditional British food -- apparently he's in some sort of embarrassed denial of his own heritage.

We just got back -- Simpson's was just OK, but not excellent. It was near the theatre we attended afterward, so the location was good.

We went to a Thai restaurant near Covent Gardens the next evening and that was really quite good, but I can't recall the name.

Thank you for all your advice.