The Marlborough Head — Restaurant in London

We were going to the theatre on Saturday night and visited Lowlander after reading the good reviews of the restaurant online. It was also conveniently close to the theatre. I booked by telephone and spoke to Mario, who was charming and very helpful, suggesting we arrived at 5pm so we would not be rushing our meal. We arrived in good time and ordered 2 beers form the extensive menu, which were delicious. We then shared the salted pretzels to share as a starter. This was not how we both envisaged the dish, as when it arrived there were 2 giant pretzels accompanied by 2 dipping sauces. These were OK. For our main courses we ordered the homemade cheeseburger, without the bun, and moules provençale. Unfortunately, both dishes were very disappointing. The burger content ratio of onion to beef tasted like 50:50 and fell apart when cutting the meat. The burger was concealed under the ‘special burger sauce’ so it was difficult to determine how the burger actually looked. The moules were very average, with at least half a dozen mussels inedible or unopened. I would not call the sauce a traditional provençal sauce, but merely a mariniéres sauce with a very few pieces of tomatoes (tinned?) and some olives added. There was no way I could stomach the ‘soup’. This proved to be wise as I suffered an upset stomach through the night. When asked if we enjoyed our meals by the waiting staff, we told them we didn’t and why, but I’m afraid this fell on deaf ears. I’m sorry to say, I cannot agree with other positive reviews, but please remember this is only my personal experience. I cannot recommend Lowlander for its food but certainly go for the drinks, if you enjoy sampling unusual ales and beers.

Further to your response, I'm afraid I have to disagree – we were not checked on while we were eating our meals and we certainly never 'cleared the plates'!! We could not face 'something different' after being disappointed first time around. I'm sorry, but as I say in my initial review, this is only my...

We went to Lowlander when our buddy came down from Brum this weekend to visit. My wife was recommended Lowlander by someone she met in Egypt that's how awesome this place is. The food is top draw here, fresh, piping hot and we didn't have to wait long to be served, the selection of beverages is out of this world. We started on a pint of cherry beer at 8% which reminded us of our 2 years living in Moscow and the staff recognised when i ordered a 2nd round that 8% would have been too much alcohol so we had Duvall which was a real treat and reminded us of or trip too Amsterdam. I have to say 3 of us ate huge portions of awesome food, meat eaters, veggies vegans catered for, we had 5 or 6 separate dishes and starters and 3 to 4 pints each and the price of all that was unbelievably excellent value for money for London prices. I really expected to pay 3 times the amount i paid and was really delighted and amazed by the final bill. We'll definitely visit Lowlander again. I can't remember the mangers name could have been Rob or Dan, i can't quite remember but him and all the staff were all really friendly and made us all feel warmly welcome. We had never been before but somehow it felt like we were familiar regulars. The atmosphere is warm, comfortable and friendly and they played some fantastic tunes while we dined. I wish i had taken photos but the food was so awesome and so different we didn't waste time letting it go cold. I'll be sure to get some next time i visit.

I had a veggie crock, wife had maules mariners an my buddy had king tiger prawns, we also had a load of sides like i still can't believe that we ordered so much and it came to just over £160.

It's definitely a well-deserved 1000/1000 from us all. If you're in London, check out Lowlander. I promise you'll be really glad you visited and if you like your craft ales you'll be in beer heaven and check out their awesome food menu, it's...

I came here with a few friends to have a few drinks and a bite to eat before going to see My Neighbour Totoro at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, which is very nearby.

We had primarily chosen the place as somewhere to have a drink and to chat before the show, presuming this would be more like a bar, assuming the café was European in name.

First off I didn’t love the fact whilst there was a bar if you are sitting down you cannot order at the bar, but have to wait to be served at the table, this adds some extra time if you are in a bit of a rush and also means that service of 12.5% is charged extra for all of the drinks. Considering the cheapest pint is already just shy of £8 it makes it nearly £9.

The food was OK, I liked the fact that it was in the theme of the Belgian/Netherlands. But I thought the sauce for my savoury waffle and tempeh was far too sweet and didn’t taste very fresh. I think everyone else agreed the food was alright but not amazing. My friend was charged an extra 50p for ketchup on their hotdog (as well a £1 for crispy onions), which considering he was already paying £15 was taking the biscuit a tad.

There was also a very extensive beer selection, as you would hope in a Belgian style bar, although we admittedly only really stuck to the beers on tap.

The staff were very friendly, although the service was a little slow to start with, especially given it wasn’t hugely busy.

Maybe if you were looking for a rare Belgian beer or Flemish food it would be good, but it’s not really ideal as a place to have a few...