Arthur's — Restaurant in Prague

Full of awe by their social media, yesterday I visited Arthur's pub. In hindsight, I should have stayed away from the real thing. The first impression was a pointless bar on my right hand side where they rerouted me to their big bar. There was no sign asking to stay until I'm seated. Just go to the bar. For a place that is really trying hard to be something, a piece of paper and a mic stand shouldn't be that difficult. I asked to be seated outside, where I was in awe with the beautiful garden. Until... I ordered a bottle of brute, and was asked to pay immediately. Whatever the waitress couldn't do anything about, oh dear, working with what she had. When my partner came we ordered several small meals to try out. On the next table to us, I guess the owner and some form of influencer were taking pictures of the food(Friday evening may I point out). Every meal we ordered went through their photo session and came to us cold. The stone loach was very chewy, but it was the highlight of the evening unfortunately. The asparagus was not well done, because some incompetent person told them they can grill green and white together, the olives we ordered were obviously a long time in the fridge and covered in(!) olive oil, the halloumi came afterwards, the bread with it was great, but a halloumi that can not be spread is basically cold rubber. When we finished our food, immediately again came a waiter, asking me to pay, the conversation went into the style of "if you don't want anything else you gotta pay", which is terrible customer service even for the last village on the border with Poland. The general feeling from the whole evening is that this place is owned by a nouveau-riche from some village, who brought their money to Karlin, but forgot to leave home the kitsch and superficialness. The service is terrible, the food comes cold because it has to be photographed before, the garden is great, the atmosphere...

Giving one star for the feeling that the owner of this place doesn’t care about its customers: table of the owner was having a feast while we, customers, had only grilled asparagus food option. We booked a table in the evening week in advance, came there after work and were offered a table in the garden (as inside space was still closed). At this point only 3 food options were available: fish, cheese, and asparagus (waiter already told us there’s no meat). As we were choosing what to get - 5 minutes have passed - we ordered cheese and it was gone. Ok, we ordered asparagus. Then, in about 15 mins, we decided to get also a fish, to what waiter replied - its also gone and there’s only asparagus left. Yes, the place is still new and somehow it’s understandable the bar didn’t count with portions (but it was still the beginning of the evening so not sure if they were expecting like 5 people to visit them). What’s THE WORST experience here is that as we were hungry and chewing that asparagus some people were grilling sausages next to us on the open fire, once we asked the waiter what’s with the sausages she replied - oh no, it’s the owner. O_O Then the table of the owner got some bread, some pate, then more sausages, basically all food that was somehow available for them but not for customers who came there and tried to enjoy somehow this place. This owner didn’t think of telling his staff to go buy this cheese or something to offer to customers, nothing. Basically they could keep the place closed for their party if they didn’t want to provide food nor service to their customers. Good marketing on the Instagram but if you can’t deliver the service not sure why you even open the place. Won’t come back and won’t give...

This English pub in the hip Karlin district has a sweet interior vibe with lot of attention to detail. Fantastic service steals the show – the staff is not just nice and friendly, but impressively knowledgeable. They guided us not only to the best #food choices but also curated a stellar lineup from the cocktail menu. Kicked things off with this super colorful amuse-bouche that set the bar high for food presentations. For starters, we indulged in fish croquettes and the iconic scotch egg – a true foodporn moment that left us beyond satisfied! The seafood chowder was perfection – creamy, with a divine interplay of different oils, seafood, and bacon. A symphony of flavors! Now, the fish and chips with English malt vinegar – an absolute classic that needs no introduction. If you know, you know! While they may not claim to be a steakhouse, their flank steak proved to be one of the best we’ve ever had. Accompanied by demi-glace and chimichurri, it was a carnivorous delight. Desserts were irresistible – the Afternoon Tea, fragrant with earl grey-infused butter and baked tea, seemed like a perfect breakfast idea. And the Irish Coffee? An indulgent and perfect ending to a remarkable meal. Big ups to their drink game too – nailed the Guinness, sipped some fancy Cremant, and got adventurous with the Spicy Mezcalina cocktail. Arthur’s Pub, you’ve got our hearts! Can’t wait...