Kings Head — Restaurant in London

The worse Sunday lunch I can remember in a long time. The pub had a very nice bar maid, very helpful, the surroundings were fine, no nonsense British pub and we arrived early enough to beat a rush of orders.

Never been before and I suspect on a different day you might get away with a baguette or a burger, but with only one other table waiting we waited an hour for our roast dinners, no gravy, most food cold and seemingly have been finished 20 minutes before they brought it out judging by how congealed and dried out it was. The beef was embarrassingly bad, the vegetables boiled beyond anything passable and then left to go cold, I would not have served this at home to distant relatives I disliked.

Gravy arrived just as I finished, a poor cook aggravated by a disorganised waiter with no idea, it felt like the cooking side to the pub was being done by people with no experience of catering and certainly no experience of what a Sunday roast is.

£13 for a terrible roast, we ate most of it as we were so hungry by the time it arrived, made for a sombre time really.

If you want a pint in a traditional if unremarkable pub you will be fine, a light snack if you've no where to be in a hurry, again it will get by, but do not order a meal, they are charging the same as pubs that are competent with...

To be fair, I must start by saying a friend and I had been traveling the countryside of England and Wales for 2 weeks before arriving in London and had some very wonderful, reasonably priced pub meals in various locations. And, my experience has been that unless you spring for a "haute cuisine" meal, what is available in London (especially in tourist areas like Bayswater) is of lesser quality and higher in price than what is "normal' in the "hinterlands". As far as being a "traditional Victorian pub", the Kings Head looks the part. Wood floors, large wood bar, stocky wood tables and chairs, etc. Though there is not table service, the staff gets a big "thank you" for finding us a place when the pub was crowded. My friend and I both ordered fish and chips. Not the best we had on our trip, but definitely better than some. The chips were rather ordinary and the cider was "mass market". (The local ciders in Wales and Lancashire are something I still dream about!). If this pub were in the "hinterlands" I would give it at best a 3. For London, it is much better than some, and, at least, the atmosphere is authentic. Would definitely return here, given the choices...

This staff was extremely rude. We went to use the DUSK app to redeem our drinks, but he told us to wait till other (paying) customers were served first and we waited at the bar for over 10 minutes.

When there was no other customers anymore, despite saying "excuse me, sir" multiple times, he completely ignored us, choosing instead to open the safe and count cash. When he finally decided to acknowledge us, he told us to read the barcode numerous times. If his hearing is bad or couldn’t get what we said, he could take our phone and put the number or simply scan the barcode as other bars do.

When we sighed out of frustration, he told us to move on and leave the bar. We only stayed there because we already ordered food before this happened. If not, we would have left immediately. It was so obvious that he didn’t want to give out free drinks. If that’s the case, why even bother participating DUSK? This was, without a doubt, the most horrendous experience we've ever had at a bar and don’t recommend anyone to go there.

*p.s. female bartender was friendly even though we couldn’t get order from her as she wasn’t aware how to redeem...