Barmy Arms — Restaurant in London

EDIT: Additional information in response to the GM's reply to my review: I am sorry to hear about what must have been a stressful incident with the problematic customer. As a publican since 2008, I can empathize with the stress that can come with those kinds of situations. However, there are aspects of the reply that are highly selective, if not disingenuous.

It's been stated that there was a full selection of draught beers available, and no products ran out. We were patrons at the pub in the garden for several hours, from 4pm until just shy of 7pm. We had four pints of Hop Head IPA each, which was our fifth choice, because while we were ordering, members of your bar staff demonstrated that the previous four things (Neck Oil, Hazy Day, etc.) we asked for had run out, by flipping the valves to show nothing coming out of the beer line. If this was simply the case of changing a keg or rectifying some cellar issue (gas change etc) then that should have been communicated in the ordering process, and we'd have been more than happy to wait, or choose an alternative for the first round in the meantime. But a younger member of your staff saying your site had run out of lots of things, when I asked for soap, seems to cut against your claim that all products were available. Re: that part of the reply, I used the facilities twice in just shy of three hours and there was no soap on either occasion. I washed my hands in the woman's toilets when the coast was clear.

I appreciate the desire to defend a colleague, but I stand by my observation about the site's team leader. He was gassing with customers and flirting with multiple tables of girls, including some American tourists younger than half his age. We were not the only people to notice this, as a table next to ours were joking with us about it.

Visited 29th June, around 4pm.

Giving the service a three out of five rather than a one, because one of the junior bar staff was very good, and the beer was okay, with a price not unexpected of a tourist-heavy spot.

The bar space, outdoor space, and several tables around the main bar, were littered with empty used glasses. There was no soap in the men's toilet, and when I reported this to a member of staff, I was told, "Yeah there's a lot of things we've run out of". If a pub or restaurant don't have sufficient soap or washing agents facilities in toilets, then it shouldn't be open: that's an Environmental Health Organization stipulation.

The man I presume is managing the pub for Greene King (little bald guy in a blue shirt) just went around chatting to people and flirting with female customers, rather than doing much to tidy the place up, help the staff, or otherwise improve the service.

Some roided up guy, presumably a relative or friend of the manager, was obnoxiously shouting on a phone call in what sounded like Arabic for a long while when we were there, which did nothing for the atmosphere inside. When we decided to sit outside instead, he later came out onto a table reserved for him at the very front of the pub, and blared tiktok videos out of his phone.

Customers were being told there was an hour and a half wait for food, so we didn't eat (hence no rating left on the food as such). Just shy of half the draught beers had run out, leading us to get two pints of our fifth choice...

Sadly not the best visit to The Barny Arms just before Xmas (22nd). Staff were friendly as always but service was particularly slow and it wasn't a full pub. I had a steak sandwich and chips which was perfectly fine even though it was quite light on steak and the meat had a grey look to it. My wife went for the mussels and this is where it went wrong. Initially she noticed that the mussels hadn't been cleaned properly which in turn causes grit in the dish, she then began to realise that every other mussel was closed and after looking through we discovered that 14 of the mussels were unopened which was more than half the total. Staff were informed and apologised and assured us that the dish would be taken off the bill. They asked if we would like a replacement dish but unfortunately as it had taken quite a while to get the food initially we didn't have time to wait for a reorder. It was all handled professionally which was appreciated as it's never nice to complain about food but this wasn't something you could overlook. We've had positive experiences here before (see my other reviews) but making an error with mussels is something that the chef on duty shouldn't have made. I don't believe this is a common occurrence and we'll be back for another visit but this particular visit...

We went to the Barmy Arms for a Sunday lunch... unfortunately had a dreadful experience. The slowest service we've ever experienced in Twickenham. Waited for around 90mins for food to arrive. There was zero communication from the moment we stepped inside until our food arrived. We were very close to leaving but toughed it out since we had little children that were hungry. The other tables were not so 'fortunate'... there were multiple complaints and food orders either being sent back or never arriving, by which time many of them left.

No doubt the manager will just copy/paste a standard reply to this review (similar to other 1 star reviews) and say no one complained on the day or some similar comment. To be clear, we, as well as multiple others, made complaints and provided feedback that there needs to be better communication if food is taking longer than usual, or at least keep people updated of when it might be ready.

It's a shame as we would have loved a better experience, but will avoid having food here again. I hope this feedback will be taken on board as you will lose more customers if this...