Naturalist — Restaurant in London

Has the management or the staff or the policies changed in the last week or two? I've been bringing people here for friendly service and excellent food practically weekly since lockdown started to lift with external seating only - but very different today. No ordering or service at tables, total chaos in setting up a bill tab (hardly anyone else there), long wait for food, took over an hour to bring us a jug of water, waitress in the garden refused to take a drink order and insisted that I, as a visibly disabled person with knee scars and a stick, should go and get my own drink from the bar, but when I asked to speak to manager, she never came to us. When I went to the bar, I did not recognise her or any other staff as those whom I have got to know over recent months, nor could she provide any details of Customer Services to complain to. Food and beer still excellent - but at those prices, I expect some service. All very sad, and I'll be sorry to lose a regular haunt.

REPLY TO OWNER'S RESPONSE I am sorry but that is inadequate: a) The waitress was standing by our table when I asked her politely to bring me another drink - and she refused, citing her manager. So I asked her to get her manager to come immediately, so that the manager could get me a drink - pointing out my walking stick and that I was disabled. b) The manager did not appear c) My friend eventually went to get the second drink d) Our food arrived quite some time afterwards - so the excuse about not disturbing us while eating is as disingenuous as it is insulting. e) When we went to pay our bill at the bar, the waitress again spoke to the manager, who was unwilling to come across to me. f) When she did come eventually, first she tried the 'you were eating' excuse, and then said 'well, I didn't start here until 3pm anyway' - so both excuses cannot be true at the same time - and in fact, neither are true g) she also refused to give me your contact details...

Short: Great staff but very expensive. Longer: The bar staff are really friendly, chatty, helpful & lovely. When they put the music on too loud at 9pm & someone asked them to turn it down, they did without problem. They offered table service and to settle up the bill at the end of the night without having to put a card behind the bar. The pub itself is very nice looking and comfortable to sit in. The food was ok, but not great. A bit meh and definitely overpriced for what you get. Over all the prices are very high for food and drink. Cocktails are £9.45 - that’s more then in central London. Most small glasses of wine are £6+ (about 25 of them) with only 5 being £5.40 - £5.90. The gins come listed as a ‘pairing’ with different tonics but the list prices are just the price of a single gin, not the price of the tonic. It’s a shame Young’s have decided that as the pub is part of a new build estate, it’s going to have an extortionately priced drinks and food. I was there on a Friday night and it was quiet with people playing board games & not all the seats filled. And I can’t see how at those prices it will get any busier. So the positives are, if you want somewhere quiet and you’ve a load of money or are happy to nurse one or two drinks for a whole night, this is definitely the place for you. If you’d like a more reasonably priced drinks menu and better food, there are a lot of other places in the area to chose...

Rude staff, extremely loud yelling crowd in the late evenings, banging tables and windows - called the pub several times without getting answered. As a member of the community I initially loved the authenticity of the bar and thought it was a nice addition to the community, however the arrogance of the staff (mainly the manager) and the noises is progressively making it difficult for me to appreciate the Naturalist pub in Woodberry Down. All the other business working with woodberry down and Berkeley are very nice, this one is an exception. Wouldn’t consider going anymore as there are far better places with nicer staff and nicer prices around in woodberry down and wetlands area. I almost wish I could file a complain directly to the management of the property suggesting them to reconsider lending the place for such group.

Reply: I didn’t find you arrogant and rude through the phone calls that were never picked up. Well done pointing that out. I initially liked the pub and had been a few times at the beginning with friends or on my own. And I found the manager rude. The staff, especially the old lady was very nice and lovely. If I was gonna only rate her service then sure it’d be higher. But overall, for the period of time that I’ve been here, it is true that the noise wasn’t just an one off event. And the price and value were much...