Big Penny Social — Restaurant in London

Had the worst experience of a venue in my life at the Penny Social. The staff who worked there are very young and inexperienced to say the least. My friends booked a karoke booth that started late. This meant that by the time we finished in the booth it was past the closing time. The late start was due to the previous people in the booth and not us. When we left we were meet with sniggering and mean staff members who seemed annoyed we were keeping them from leaving. I understand the long hours of hospitality staff as I worked in the industry for years.

Things however got from bad to worse as soon as we left. The staff had finished work and were making us leave quickly as soon as we got outside. I was bombarded by one of the staff who made a wild accusation about one of my friends beings anti islamatic to one of her friends. She was high (smelt of marijuana) and was swaying side to side whilst pointing fingers at me.

I tried to calm to sitation down and ask her what happened. I managed to get her to leave us alone. A lot of the staff who had finished, a lot of them were hanging outside and smoking marijuana. In the entrace gates of the venue. I was absoloutely shocked by this. The bouncer that was rude to us whilst leaving had more issue with us leaving a few minutes late then their own staff smoking illegal substances around the venue.

As we left the off duty staff started giving us dirty looks and making comments to me and my friends. We then got to the corner of the road were one of my friends was talking to the first girl who was pointing at me aggreasively. She then came up to me and launced another vile attack this time telling me I need to watch out who my friends are. I tried asking her what she specifically saw, as previous to this she said that she just heard about the incident not that she was there. She then exploded at me. Made comments going as far to use racial slurs specifically and commented on how I acted. (even though we are both black and clearly from the same race).

I was shocked about this that I left instantly. As soon as we started walking away, she then launched herself at me and wanted to fight me. Safe to say she was pulled away by her friends. The same friends who were making rude comments about us before. Luckily she didnt touch me or I would have reported her to the police.

I have NEVER had this kind of experiences in a venue before. I will be reporting this venue to the council and escalating this further.

To say this situation was shocking was an...

Mixed feelings about this venue. It's beautiful and a great size but some of the events I've been to have lacked organisation and really missed the mark.

We took our kid to see Mrs H today. £18 for three of us. Her and her band were AMAZING - she's a national treasure! Sadly the event organisation was so bad we ended up having a really stressful time and it felt like such a wasted day. For family events (or any time really) they need to put a buggy park at the entrance to limit buggy carnage (loads of big venues do this), for most of the event there was only one member of bar staff so my husband spent 30mins in a queue and missed most of the set. There was no warning that the kitchen would be closed. For a children's event on a Saturday that starts at 10 and runs over lunch I would expect some lunch options available. They had croissants but we ended up having to leave early to get lunch for a hungry toddler. But the most frustrating aspect was the layout. I was so excited to see Mrs H in a big venue but they had arranged the furniture and sofas so that everyone was penned into a tiny area! This made it impossible to join in with the audience participation or dance comfortably.

Why have a huge venue, sell loads of tickets only to shove us all into a tiny space? Move the tables and chairs well back and let us dance!

I've also been scolded by kitchen staff in the past for ordering a kids meal for myself (I only wanted a small portion and don't like wasting food). If they aren't allowed for adults then put a note on the menu saying so. The telling off was a bit much - we still spent lots of money on other food and drinks.

Also went to the Halloween event there which was pretty quiet. We'd hoped for some cheesy Halloween spooky tunes but it was a lot of 00's garage which none of us enjoyed. We ended up leaving early because it just fell really flat. If it's a 00's garage night then advertise it as that because Halloween it was not.

Could be a great venue. Just needs a bit more thought/organisation to maintain the community feel rather than a lot of the events ending up feeling like a bit of a cash grab.

Won't be...

There is little in life worse than defeated expectations. In this case my expectations were crushed.

This new Truman's venture is based in some old, vast, disused warehouse on the Walthamstow side of the river Lea. It, is, however, a short walk from Blackhorse Road tube so easily reachable. On the evening I was there, not many had bothered to reach it. (See photo.)

The website promises a large range of Truman's own beers and the temptation of a range of street food. The reality is quite different. The food doesn't go beyond a basic burger (beef or chicken) and chips. No sign of anything else on the menu or coming out of the kitchen.

And the beer? Surely you can't go wrong with Truman's, an historic London brewer? Well, let's be clear. There was no real ale at all. A few foreign beers were quaffable but Truman's own beers were in the form of fizzy, cold keg pints and just awful. And no outer London bargain prices - I paid £6.20 a pint, and that before the "service charge" 10% was added by default. To remove it, first you had to notice it, then deliberately delete it. Disgraceful.

Next, the food orders. Despite being at a table within ten yards of the bar, the staff insist you go online to order food. I complied meekly but my friend didn't so I piggy-backed on his order and had a boring cheeseburger and fries. The fries came with no condiments. I requested some and after a break, as my food cooled, two sachets of mayonnaise and ketchup were thrown on the table. I wanted neither so asked for salt and vinegar. The response was hilarious. The salt and vinegar arrived in what looked like a polished ashtray each. I was informed that I should have requested salt online and that the chef, "had run out of vinegar". How I was to get the vinegar on to my chips wasn't explained. Again, a photo of the salt and vinegar is attached.

It's difficult to sum up concisely how utterly awful this "Social Club" was. No real ale, overpriced beer and food, the worst customer service I have seen for years and the atmosphere of a morgue on a rainy night - more of an anti-social club. Can only be recommended to...