Fentiman Arms — Restaurant in London

We booked a table for 4 for the 2nd December, and when we arrived we were pleased to see that the pub had a great selection of beers on tap downstairs. We were seated upstairs, which was no issue to begin with, but we were unaware that drinks from the downstairs were not able to be served upstairs. When we asked what the options were for upstairs, there was only a handful of beer options available (possibly only 5). This was initially very disappointing and made no sense.

The upstairs room was incredibly understaffed - there was only one member of staff to the whole room, and I felt a lot of sympathy for her as she had too much to handle.

In line with the new restrictions, we had to be served a substantial meal along with our drinks. The menu looked lovely, but it took a very long time for the waitress upstairs to take our order. with our order finally being taken around 7pm, around half an hour after we arrived, the room started to fill up with more groups of people. I could see that each group was having their order taken for food and drink. The drink was arriving, but the food wasn't.

We finally asked where our food was around one hour after we ordered. The waitress said that it was being prepared, and it finally arrived at past 8pm - bear in mind we had already been there for an hour and a half. We were the first people in the room to get our food, and when we left at past 9pm, not a single other table in the room had any food. This was poor show from the Fentiman, and I doubt this is in line with government restrictions.

Our food was very sub-standard. The gnocchi was dry, and it took 20 minutes for someone to bring us some vinegar for the very dry fish and chips. However, we ordered one beef burger and one vegetarian burger, and when they arrived my friend who had wanted the vegetarian burger had been given the meat burger. We called a manager over, but she could not discern which burger was meat, and which was vegetarian. This wasn't very reassuring, so the burgers did not get eaten. These burgers were taken off of our bill, which was very nice.

No allergens were visible on the menu. I understand they might have had a separate allergens menu, but it would be good to have the allergen information visible on the menu.

Overall, this was a hugely disappointing experience. The government guidelines were barely being followed, the drinks were disappointing and the food was really poor show. For food to not turn up almost 2 hours after people had entered the room is awful. The upstairs room is very understaffed, and was...

Really could not have been more disappointed with this visit.

Arrived to be told the table wasn’t ready and that I would be told when it was, after 15 mins I went to ask again and just got told yeah and pointed in general direction. Then no one came near us to take any orders until we asked if it had to be done by phone or table service to which we were given response as if we were putting them out by asking.

Starters were delivered with no cutlery, which again we had to get up and ask for after several minutes.

Table was not cleared after starters were finished.

When the mains finally arrived they were passed to us for us to figure out which was which in terms of the steaks being cooked certain ways and server just said I don’t know. We had also asked for one of them to get pepper corn on side which we were told they could do but then never arrived. My burger had been forgotten and delivered to the table when everyone else had finished and was told I got an extra chips which I hadn’t. Again when food was all finished the table was not cleared and so we ended up moving the empty plates and and drinks glasses to a close by empty table. The service was just so bad and the attitude of those servicing was no only not helpful but quite rude.

When I went to pay I actually made the mistake of paying without checking the receipt which given the issues with the food I should have checked. When I went to ask for one we were told it was too late.

I’m so disappointed as this was a dinner for friends with visiting family and I haven’t had as bad an experience in a long time. The venue also had plenty of empty tables so cannot use the excuse that they were overly busy.

On top of all this the bar staff were also rude and handed over drinks and either didn’t full fill the pints or handed it over spilling...

The fentiman arms is an attractive pub nestled amongst large and beautiful Victorian home. A nice sized front patio with two large tables and a couple smaller. On entry the bar is a good size. A cosy and warm atmosphere. Through to the back is a large back garden with lots of seating ideal for large groups of people or a party even. I arrived with work colleagues for a late lunch. 2 vegetarians and 1 non drinker and two 'normal' people. We were 30 mins early but our pre booked table was ready. Great. Ordered beers at the bar no problem. The non drinker asked for a cup of tea. The tea arrived at the table about 15mins later but it was earl grey. Proceeded to order our food. Not many veggie options but lucky the lady serving us asked the chef if he could whip up a simple salad which he did no problem. The tea drinker asked for a normal pot of tea but took a further 20mins to arrive. Finally the food arrives. The two veggies are happy with their veg. 1 sausage and mash no problem. Now...the two beef roasts. They arrived stone cold and had to send them back. When we finally got the roast it was ok but not spectacular. The beed its self was very slightly blushing in the middle. Very fatty on the outside but not much colour. The gravy was poor in my opinion. Very pale in colour and next to no flavour. Seemed like a bad chicken gravy. Potatoes barely roast. The star of the plate was a great Yorkshire pudding. A good size and very crispy. Veg was slightly over cooked and not seasoned or under seasoned at the most. Over all not a great. Staff were friendly and polite but service was slow. I shall not be returning for food but may return for drinks...