The Bald Faced Stag, East Finchley

Having got a babysitter, my wife and I had a rare opportunity to go for a meal together on a recent Monday night. Being local, we thought we would try the BFS as we had been told the food was quite good since changing hands. Sadly, we never got the chance to try. Being a Monday night the pub was pretty much empty and we approached the bar to have a look at the menu. Once decided, it appeared to be a humongous effort for the bar lady to come and take my order at the bar, but I overcame that and explained what we wanted.

Midway through the order I was asked if I had a table number to which I said no and then told, in that kind of 'I can't believe you've come into this pub and even considered ordering food without a table number' voice, that I couldn't order food without a table number. I accept table number are useful source of finding customers in a busy pub when orders are flowing as it can be difficult to remember who has ordered what - but there were about 6 people in the pub!!! That aside, I accepted that procedure was procedure, apologised (no idea why), and found the table and its magic number and let the lady know.

Whilst trying to give the order again (with the magic number), the bar lady had obviously better things to do then deal with a customer that couldn't be bothered to get a table number. My wife and I were made to feel so uncomfortable whilst making the order as the attitude oozing out of the bar lady was pathetic. It was like we were wasting her time and she had much much better things to be doing then serving people. We couldn't actually believe the attitude of this lady and decided that this wasn't going to be the place where we spend our evening. So, with that, we walked out, promised ourselves we would never return and spent a great night in the White Lion down the road - a much more friendlier pub, with great beers, beer garden and a 'no poncy attitude' mentality.

It's a great shame, the BFS has got the potential to be a great local boozer. I was out in East Finchley with a few mates the other night and we were looking for a place for a few jars and obviously ended up in the White Lion.

20 Aug 2009 09:26