King's Arms — Restaurant in London

In short, I'd suggest you head to L'Affaire just down the road and not bother...

We booked it given the nice look of the outdoor area by going to the pub to fill in the form and then followed up by calling and speaking to one of the staff who confirmed the booking by phone.

Upon arrival to a mostly empty pub at 4:30, the security at the door said it was by reservation only and that she couldn't find our reservation, did we have a booking reference? Given it was done by phone, we didn't have one. With a party of 11 including two young children​, we were kept waiting as they tried to get us another table after their initial mess up.

Then we noticed them checking people's IDs, and not even for drinking age needs, supposedly in case of emergency. Of course, many in our party of 30 year olds didn't have IDs, as no one in London IDs... Ever... And upon booking, we weren't informed to bring IDs.

So finally, having found us another table, they weren't willing to let us in without IDs. So we called another local pub 100 meters down the road that seated our party immediately and didn't make up ID regulations like at the Grand Union.

However before we could leave, we needed to get back the cake that we'd dropped off with them an hour earlier. After checking twice in their fridge and telling us they didn't have it, we expressed our frustration and the staff started to act all offended when they were being incompetent and ruining our day and party. Finally, third time around, they found our cake and we parted ways.

Can't say anything about the inside of the pub, but they​ definitely think they are a lot more posh than they should be and even though they tried to be helpful, really all the issues were due to their staff not doing their job correctly in terms of booking or informing of IDs or keeping track of items left with the staff...

We won't be going back there. Head down the road to L'Affaire, they were very nice and even hosted another group who was messed about by Grand Union on...

Negative: The bouncer. I came to this pub 29th Oct last Sat, around 7:30pm, the bouncer (tall big black male with beard) at the entrance I came through was incredibly unfriendly and awkward in his manner. He checked my ID for around 2mins (disproportionately long time for such a task, surely it takes around 10-15 seconds even if you’re thorough?), mainly looking at my ID, with no explanation for why he was taking so long. He looked at me a few times with a blank face throughout this period of staring at my ID, & also asked my age, then my date of birth a couple of times, eventually finishing with a “hmm ok”. It was quite strange and unpleasant to be interacted with like that. I know he had a job to do, but it didn’t need to be done in such a drawn out obnoxious way.

Within an hour of me being inside, he repeated his unpleasant behaviour. I was stood at the bar, and could see from the mirror him being behind me staring at me, for around 1min (disconcerting to be stared at like that), then he asked for my ID again in his abrupt, unfriendly manner, and stared at it for around 1min, even after all that examination at the entrance. He gave it back without explanation for his actions.

For context, I was completely sober as I didn’t drink that night, and though I look young for my age the general response I get is my ID checked for seconds by the other bouncers I’ve met.

Price of food very expensive, mains I saw on the main menu around £14-£15. I ordered a vegan one (with chickpea’s), and the hash brown side (£7.5). While the main was healthy and side was nice, definitely not worth the money you pay.

Positive: Nice interior and bigger than it seemed from what I saw online and from the outside. A friendly and polite bar staff lady who wore a black top/skirt. A male bar staff member who apologised for the long wait to get served to my friend. Their politeness was appreciated. Also the other staff I saw seemed to be working hard. Dog friendly, meaning you get to see lovely...

I'm a tad conflicted about this place. On one hand, it's a welcome sight in an area where nice pubs are sorely lacking, and has one of the most magnificent beer gardens I've ever come across. The interior is lovely, nicely decorated and the food is decent too, if a little towards the pricey side. On stepping into the pub, you could easily convince yourself that you need not enter another pub in the area again.

But the big letdown is the service. The staff are, how to put this, a little standoffish (and have found this over a few visits). And not overly helpful.

The incident I experienced mat have been isolated, but has played on my mind. Their huge beer garden was kitted out with a TV screen in every conceivable corner, which I can only assume was for Euro 2012. Thirty seconds before kick-off, pumping disco music was still playing. On checking with the bar staff, we were told that no commentary would be turn on for any TV (and it's worth saying there were at least 14 TVs) and nor would it be turned on. "You can watch it, but you can't hear it," were the words used. Although not everybody was watching, there were groups huddled around televisions to watch the game.

At half time, we left to find a pub with commentary. On returning just before 10pm, they were charging £5 for entry. We were told in no uncertain terms, if we didn't like it, we could go elsewhere. So we did.

That said, I'd still return here, because it is a lovely pub. But I'll avoid Saturday nights or...