Leicester Arms — Restaurant in London

Called into this venue on Bank Holiday Monday as we had a table booked. Arrived at the allotted time, and went up to the bar, where there were 2 bar staff in attendance, asked at the bar about the reserved table, the lad behind the bar was slightly confused, but we found our table. Went up to the bar to order our food, which was a scampi with mushy peas, a steak and ale pie with mash and peas, drinks were a pint of level head and a tea, I was offered herbal, but just wanted an everyday normal tea, went to show my discount, which seemed to confuse her, but needed a manager to authorise, which was fine, bill was eventually paid and went back to the table. My drink of "level head" was brought over, first thing I noticed, apart from the non branded glass was how dark it was, I tasted it, it was a bitter and not the pale ale I had ordered, I went back to the bar to ask what it was, level head IPA, I said it was a bit dark for level head, but went back to the table, where a few few moments later she came over apologised and said she'd made a mistake, took the pint away and brought me a level head in a non branded glass, we were still waiting for the tea, which we had to go ack to the bar to ask for, the pub was busy but the staff were not over stretched. The tea arrived, there was no milk, no sugar and no tea spoon, so back to the bar again to ask for milk, where the young girl had no idea where it was, also asked for a spoon, someone else had to sort the milk, and we were given a soup spoon for the tea, which turned out to be early grey, which we had not asked for. The food arrived, the scampi looked ok, but the chips were not as advertised, they were not thick cut chips, but thin chips, also the pie arrived with no veg at all, so again we had to ask, and the peas came a couple of minutes later, the food was ok, but having to ask for so many things, wrong drink, staff not exactly knowing what they were doing, dampened the visit. After I had finished my scampi, the lad from the bar immediately came over to clear my plate, while my friend was still eating, and asked if I'd like a dessert, I declined, but as soon as he had finished, he came over again to clear his plate, and again asked if we wanted dessert, we both declined. Would I visit again,...

Edit following a response to my review. This is not a malicious review, it’s a reflection of my experience, but judging by the response, I’m not surprised.

I’m fine with a pre-prepared microwave meal, hence the first line of my review, I was expecting it. But paying £18 for half of a small bowl? It wasn’t hot. It was stodgy. There were 6 or 7 tiny pieces of bacon, and burnt garlic bread.

I was also honest in my review that the manager refunded me, but I doesn’t take away from the experience. And that overcooked, leathery piece of beef in between two dry pieces of bread? We paid for that too, but only because my friend was too polite to complain.

If you don’t like negative reviews, you should either get out of the hospitality industry, or even better, make edible food.

** I was expecting a pre-prepared meal that was going to be reheated, but even with such low expectations, I was incredibly disappointed.

I paid £18 for mac and cheese, and I got a small pile of cold,stodgy mess with a few pieces of bacon (which I paid extra for) and a couple of slices of cardboard. The side salad was fine, but I was never planning to eat that anyway.

I asked for a refund and was told I needed to go downstairs and speak to the manager, so had to ask the manager to come upstairs. Thankfully he refunded me as there was no way I could have made myself eat it.

My friends food wasn’t much better. A roast beef sandwich (pictured) was just a slab of leather in cheap bread - it was so dry. The roast potatoes were nice once we got the horseradish.

Steak and ale pie needed an axe to get through the pastry.

All in all, a terrible experience. I still begrudge the £40 I paid for the other...

Where do I start? Never in my life have I had such a disappointing culinary experience. I opted for the sirloin and half chicken roast - what a terrible decision that turned out to be, the 'sirloin' looked like a grey, mangled piece of leather which somehow had absolutely zero taste. The roast potatoes were starchy but overall edible, the vegetables were abhorrent, they absolutely sucked. The half chicken was somewhat better, the skin had a semblance of seasoning to it which made it palatable in the slightest sense of the word.

My girlfriend opted for the vegetarian nut roast Wellington, the Wellington didn't actually contain any nuts and strangely used couscous in it, this, combined with the pastry; which a quadriplegic 2 year old could have made better, amounted to a disappointing experience for her too.

Overall, I think I would have had to have been paid to eat at the Leicester Arms - and I warn all of those people who are looking for a meal to steer well away from this place. It's a miracle that this place can even...