The Forest Hill Tavern, Forest Hill

Have been going there for a couple of years, recently settled on it being our 'local' given the Sunday roasts were good, always room to sit, decent selection of drinks and a good beer garden out the back. Liked it there so much we booked the place for our daughter's small party of 40 people on a Sunday afternoon ... which evidently turned out to be a mistake.

Don't get mugged for the extra £75 for an extra bar member in the hope it'll make the staff and your guests lives easier. We were told by the manager that any drinks needed to be gotten from the main bar would then be fetched by this extra person. Not the case; guests ended up being pointed towards to main bar anyway. Oh, and we also ended up clearing our own tables of empty glasses, the bar member was busy texting.

Because most drinks were then bought at the main bar, one staff in particular decided to have a strop and backchat at least x3 of our guests seperately because they were being such a pain in ordering teas and coffees. Comments such as: "...what do you want, the coffee machine taken out the back?" etc. After we pointed out that the extra £75 we paid for a bar staff (£125 total, rather than the galling £50 charge for no extra staff) was doing little in our bar, another staff member chimed in with "oooh... it's only £125..."

Food quality was good, but given the party was from 1-5pm, we didn't get the single bowl of salad or humous on the table til 3:45pm. £380 was spent on food that half arrived towards the end of the party. The excuse from the rude staff member above was "oh well we've only got one oven" and with regards to the salad "you can take it home with you".

After being refused to speak to manager through the day "she's too busy", she eventually came down at 4:30pm where we highlighted the issues with the food but our main peeve was the attitude of most (not all) staff. The response? No accountability or actual apology; "I have said sorry (she hadn't) but I 100% back my staff, if they say they weren't rude or didn't say those things, then they didn't. My mum was at the bar (she wasn't)"

Galling, really. After that we tidied the rest of the room, cleared the rest of the empties, and left; feeling totally unwelcome throughout the day despite us and our guests contributing upwards of £700 to their takings.

The manager then emailed us later that night to apologise for the food and to a small margin of credit offered a 4 person dinner on the house. Yet there was no mention of any consideration towards the attitude of her or the majority of her staff. The offer was politely declined.

5 Mar 2014 01:43

The Montagu Pyke, Charing Cross Road

Other reviews are very accurate. It's possibly too big, as in height, for a consistently good atmosphere, and when there's not a lot of people in during the day it can be too quiet. However, it does get packed particularly when there's a popular football game on or on Friday/Saturday night so the space is normally needed. Prices and choice of draught and drinks is excellent, so as others have said it's great to meet friends but then maybe go somewhere else.

I meet friends there every couple of weeks after work midweek, and it's normally just the right level of busy-ness. The staff are normally friendly, and the booths on the right (coming in through the main door) are great for a slightly more 'pubby' feel.

Cheesy house music on the Saturday night though... sometimes (but not always) played too loud.

27 Nov 2007 13:33

Castle, Farringdon

Went there on a Friday night recently, and it's a great pre-club pub that tbh just starts the night for Turnmills/Fabric goers.

Can get very packed, but the people in there seemed decent enough and the drink prices are about what you expect for a London Pub. Only draft cider was the cloudy stuff which wasn't great. Staff quickly served us despite the place rammed, and the dj was ok as well - nothing to cheesy and get's you in the mood for the night out.

On Friday/Saturday nights, strictly a pre-club pub.

17 Mar 2007 10:53