Berry and Barrel — Restaurant in London

Very nice bar. The people working there are lovely and friendly. Very observant too. They run a table service and every time we got closer to the bottom of our glasses a person appeared to take orders for another round. OK selection of cask ales too according to my friends. As a non-drinker I was impressed that they had three different types of non-alcoholic beers in bottles. And they had some vegan crisps. So, all told I was pretty happy.

Why only 4 stars? For me the music was just too loud. I prefer bars with no music at all but I will put up with low background music. The music here was so loud that it was competing with our conversation and I often had to ask people to repeat themselves more loudly. That's a big turn off. My friends were not impressed with the selection of ales on the menu and said they wouldn't be rushing back.

I would certainly go again but I might ask them to turn down the music next time.

Update: I returned here with a friend last week and unfortunately the music was still so loud as to compete with the conversation. Everyone there was trying to have a chat so I wonder why the music needs...

This is a great micropub with a good cocktail offering if you like sweet, fruity cocktails. Even the old fashioned there is somehow overly sweet.

However, I don’t like sweet cocktails.

I’ve visited a few times recently and at each visit have repeated my very simple martini order, as they have the option of a gin or vodka martini on the cocktail menu.

Each time my simple martini order - vodka, olives, very, very dry, very dirty has produced totally different outcomes.

Some just about passable, some an insult to the concept of a martini.

This reached absolute rock bottom recently, on a Saturday evening where my usual order produced a glass barely half full of neat vodka, shaken with ice and badly diluted, with one olive. No vermouth, no brine. I gave up at that point and probably won’t be returning. Certainly not for any form of cocktail.

If you have a martini option on the menu, please be sure your staff are able to make them consistently and with a good understanding of what various martini preferences mean.

Plus, it would be lovely if the menu had other, less sweet cocktail options. Even a picante would...

Bit of an identity crisis going on here; if it’s a micro pub then a) I would expect it to be more intimate and b) I would expect the staff to actually know something about the beer they’re selling. We ordered a pint of ale (very good value and great taste) but also asked for a pint of pilsner. The guy serving us told us they didn’t have any but to be honest he looked like he didn’t even know what a pilsner was. The beer list was a weird mix of interesting beers and mainstream rubbish (Meantime pale ale, I’m looking at you) and the vibe was an odd compromise between surburban wine bar and hipster beer joint. Basically, I think the owner/manager just need to make up their minds about what...