Halfway House — Restaurant in London

Feedback I sent to this pub directly several months ago below in a polite attempt not to name and shame publicly. As it went sadly unanswered and my stubborn self imposed exile since from what should be a good pub seems all a bit unnecessary now, thought I'd offer a public olive branch and see if that smokes them out.... xx

Being quite fond of your pub based on previous trips, rather than submit the standard "Disappointed of Earlsfield" review on social media, thought we'd try to be more helpful and follow up directly with some feedback on our New Year's Day experience.

We had booked a booth for our group at 2pm, with the intention of staying until the evening for food and drinks. When we arrived, we were told that the booking has been taken down incorrectly as being for midday instead and so there was no booth available for us. Mistakes happen but, given the pub didn't open until 1pm, we were surprised that the booth had been given away to someone else without anybody spotting this or thinking to contact us to double check the details before we arrived.

The bar manager was very polite and apologetic and advised that a group at one of the booths had only booked it until 3pm and would be reminded of this so we could take it, an hour after our orginal booking. This was quite inconvenient, but as some of our group were running a little late, we agreed to order a drink and accommodate this rather than go elsewhere.

Unfortunately, 3pm came and went and, after we had followed up with the bar manager a couple of times, he again said he was very sorry and offered us a round of drinks by way of further apology. At this point the group in question had finished eating and were just chatting and slowly finishing their coffees. They had either not been told that their booking was only until 3pm or not been told with sufficient clarity. Certainly we did not see the bar staff try to hurry them up at any point.

In the end another booth became free and we sat down to order food just before 4pm - nearly 2 hours after our original booking. Needless to say, we were rather hungry at that point!

We appreciate it is a little awkward to ask people to leave a table, but given they were just drinking coffee and chatting they could easily have been politely moved to another area - surely that is far less awkward than leaving another group waiting to order food for 2 hours. If the situation was reversed, our group would happily have moved had the circumstances been properly explained to us and I'm sure this group would have done the same.

It is worth adding that, throughout this time, two booths were booked for a "John" from 3.30 and were intermittently available throughout as a result. John's group never turned up and again, in the circumstances, it is a little surprising nobody thought to call them and confirm the booking as that would obviously have solved the problem with no fuss at all.

As mentioned the bar manager was apologetic and seemed like a very nice guy. However, whilst the booking error was unfortunate it could have been much better handled with a little more initiative and proactivity on his part (as nice as the free drinks were, that didn't actually address the issue).

Anyway, hopefully the above is useful as feedback - any thoughts by way of a response would be welcomed, as it would be a shame for this experience to spoil our view of a...

We had Sunday lunch here and it was great!

It was just after the rush so we were easily able to find a table (I suspect this is somewhere you should book to guarantee a table on a Sunday) and the place felt warm and comfy. I really like the decor in this place. There’s one table under in the conservatory which had a large group including kids and looked a really nice group space.

I wasn’t drinking as I was driving so just had a coke.

We had roasts (chicken and beef). I had the chicken and it was delicious. Some cracked pepper on the skin and a good portion size. The yorkshires were good. The carrots were yummy. Perfect amount of gravy. This is an art they have perfected.

The beef was equally good although the dish came out just above warm as opposed to piping hot but it wasn’t an issue enough to complain. It also tasted great and had a thick slice of beef.

The atmosphere was good in the pub and service was quick and friendly. No one came during our meal to check if it was ok but when the food is this good I suppose it’s a given 🤣

I would definitely go...

Can’t give no star say dog friendly but allow someone to stay at the back on their land with a poor dog out 24/7 crying and in all weathers just tethered up whole time When I spoke to manager said he loved dogs and would not allow this and had spoke to owner and said would improve Has not improved Called and left messages and still dog in freezing weather tethered outside crying Spoke to lady today who one minute said was owner of pub and dog not on her land and when told her I spoke to owner she said she was just bar lady and wasn’t going to do a thing She seemed quite okay to know a dog was freezing and uncared for on pub land Said if I have a problem call RSPCA What lovely behaviour and mannerisms she has Obviously as usual as long as they are getting money for the caravan to go on their land back of pub they don’t care Please think about using this pub halfway house Yeovil until they show some compassion and care for what’s happening...