Arments Pie & Mash — Restaurant in London

In my quest to visit [and review] every P&M shop in London, I managed to visit Arments today. Arments is one of very few shops that now offer Stewed Eels [~£5 a bowl], but unfortunately they didn't have any when I visited, although they do jellied as well. Firstly the service was prompt and friendly; like most P&M shops the ladies who serve are of a certain 'breed' i.e. 'down to earth' and friendly. Shop [you can see kitchen behind, counters/serving area, and eating area were really clean as well. 10/10.

So to the P&M : Pie - pastry was cooked nicely i.e. brown but not burnt, meat filling didn't have gristle but it could have dome with a little more, needed a little more gravy/jus [oh listen to me with my fancy chef words!]. Medium size pie i.e. not small but not large either 8/10. Mash - really nice floury type potato used, one 'eye' found, and was put on the plate in the 'traditional' way i.e. scraped on side rather than ice cream scoops; I would estimate it was about 3 scoops worth 9/10 Liquor - nice consistency [not too thick/lumpy], didn't taste of flour, but needed a little more Parsley as taste was faint 8/10. Price - 1 pie (£3.50), 1 mash (£1.60), 1 liquor £free with other two, so £5.10 all in 18 Jan 2025. Not the cheapest but not the most expensive either 8/10. Decor - not the 'old, old' tiled shop but still bench-type seating. I put this here for those tourist that may want a Traditional P&M experience, but for me the other factors [especially the food] is the most important 7/10.

So overall a respectable 8/10....of course if you speak to a local [like all locals with 'their' local P&M shop] they will tell me I am wrong and its 'The Best' in London! :-)

If you are in the area and fancy a filling meal at a good price; same price as a 'chain' burger and fries [yuck!], then worth a visit...better to have 'real' food rather than the...

Went to Arments today for the first time, although I have been enjoying pie and mash for over 60 years at other shops. I come from a family of pie and mash lovers. I have left 5-star reviews for all the other shops I’ve been to recently and sincerely wish I could have done the same for Arments. Sadly, I can’t. There is nothing wrong with the food, except, perhaps, that the tops of the pies seem darker than I am used to. I haven’t marked them down for that. I assume it’s just the way they do things. The surroundings were also bright and clean and the prices good. The service was a bit slow because only one woman was serving (this was at 1pm on a Tuesday). I waited at least 7 or 8 minutes, even though the queue was not long. But I don’t mark them down for that either. Maybe I was unlucky. No – my dissatisfaction is entirely to do with the serving staff. There was no friendliness and no sense of welcome at all. I don’t claim they were outright rude – but it was as if serving me was the last thing in the world they wanted to do. I’ve never experienced that before in a traditional pie and mash shop. It was clear the person serving me could not care less if I wanted to come back again. And, surprise, surprise I don’t. At the end, in an attempt to be helpful, I tried to return my used plate to the counter - just as my family and I always have done. When I was about to put the plate down on the counter, the same person told me to put it back on the table where I had come from. Now, maybe, that’s the way it’s done in Arments – despite my experience everywhere else. But it would not have harmed the person to acknowledge I was trying to be helpful. Instead, it was as much as they could do to end their command with a reluctant and insincere “please”. If that’s how little Arment’s staff want their customers to feel appreciated – I'll go...

This is the place to go if you want real London pie and mash. The establishment has been family run since 1914 and is still to this day true to its roots of pie and mash, and the good old jellied eels! The eels aren't for me but the pie was perfect at less than a fiver for a hearty meal. They keep the menu concise with a choice of steak pie or steak and kidney pie (wouldn't recommend to non-meat-eaters necessarily, although online there was mention of a vegan pie, you might have to ask specifically and get funny looks from everyone around you). The pastry was perfect, the liquor (parsley sauce) was delicious, and the mash topped it all off.

The place had a queue out the door on the weekday lunchtime when we visited and every one of them was a local resident or worker (except us), which you can always count on as an accurate indicator of a genuinely local and top-quality business.

Definitely worth the short bus ride down from Trafalgar Square.

Really can't sing its praises enough. Such a rare find in this age of extreme capitalism. Would have loved to try the fruit pie (apple when we visited) but they had already run out...