Prince Albert — Restaurant in London

I would never be inclined to leave a review like this, but the circumstances are a bit exceptional in this instance.

I spent an evening at The Prince Albert this past weekend, which was a sunny one. I had a pair of relatively expensive sunglasses with me which i carelessly left behind on a table at closing. Within about 10 mins from leaving the bar i called to enquire if they were still there. The guy i spoke with, who i won’t go to the extent of naming, was kind of abrupt with me and went off to ask his colleagues to see if anyone had seen anything. With the phone still near him and before he had the chance to say anything more than the word sunglasses, i heard a woman’s voice describe the brand and colour of the glasses as well as the specific table number i was sat at. The phone then went silent and when the guy came back on the phone i was told that they were no longer there. The pub had been jam packed with literally hundreds of folk the full evening until close and it was a scorcher, so almost everyone was in shorts, sunnies etc. So, the idea that without being party to the detailed conversation i had just had on the phone, that the person in the background knew everything down to my specific table number, and given how it was just minutes after i left, to me seemed almost impossible - unless they had showed up of course.

When i asked how the person knew everything, the guy became really confrontational, which i suppose i can understand to an extent. I followed up a few days later to double check, and i had a similar conversation with the guy in which he suggested i wouldn’t understand how the woman would have known given my lack of experience in hospitality. Turns out i’ve spent years of my life working bars and have yet to develop this impressive sixth sense.

The reason i lost the glasses was because i was half cut and careless, completely my own negligence. But i won’t be back to this bar as the circumstances surrounding the follow up with the staff are just too suspect for me and while i would never extend to directly accuse anyone of anything i can’t prove as that would be unfair and unreasonable, i thought that this combination of events were definitely worth sharing for folk considering choosing this place for their next boozy get together.

Probs for fairness worth noting that all staff had been polite and helpful, as they always have on previous visits, up...

Bank holiday Monday...a little grey and cool but we had a reservation in the pleasant courtyard of this long standing Youngs pub. The Geronimo Inns can be found around London and are invariably...variable i n their quality. The burger is always a good bet...and the adapted Scotch egg tasty but.....my £17 hot smoked salmon with crab and jersey potatoes was under whelming the lettuce was plentiful crisp and tasty...the salmon tasty but would fulfill a starter dish the crab ...found with a magnifying glass and the jersey royal (singular) potato had been cut into 8ths. This followed the posh sounding tomato and blue cheese starter...where the cheese lacked any blue element...consisting of a finely grated....perhaps pecorino? All surpassed by the service. We were shown to our table...and waited....finally caught the attention of a staff member...who curtly advised us it was bar service only.. .would have been helpful to have been told. Usually it is table service. Then we ordered...the manager getting instruction on how to use the till. We wanted to pay individually....not eat seperately but that is what happened. On the same table...1 couple got their starters...then the next couple their main course and starters together....then about 20 minutes later. 1st couple get their main courses. When chased at the 15 minute mark...the assistant manager(?) Started to suggest it was because different foods took different times (3 burgers and 1 salad?)....apparently they were short staffed as 3 people had not turned in following a night out....that certainly wouldnt have helped but courtesy and respectful of customers intelligence costs nothing..BS only ever makes things worse...BUT.full marks to the young woman working behind the bar...she was by far the best good customer...

We had booked a table for seven yesterday for Sunday lunch. When we arrived it wasn't apparent which was our table so I approached a member of staff to ask her about it but she looked at me, quickly looked away and dashed off. I tried a second member of staff but weirdly she did the same thing. My party and I were left looking a bit absurd standing in the middle of the pub, rudderless and silly. With no option but to stand there, we hovered for a few more moments before the first member of staff walked back into view. I approached her again but she dismissed me with a stern "in a minute" and walked off. Regrettably she never did come back to help us. By now, feeling entirely ridiculous, we just decided to walk around the venue until we found a table set up for seven people, which we did, and which we assumed to be ours. Turns out it was, which was a relief. A pity, then, that although it had been set up for us, there was still dirty glassware on the table.

The waitress who ultimately served us was absolutely brilliant, totally lovely and as smiley as she was efficient.

The food was ok. My vegetarian roast was pretty nice but the gravy was basically brown water - possibly this is a question of personal preference because I like my gravy flavourful and thick whereas this was very bland brown water but, as I say, very possibly some people like it this way.

A real shame that I can't rate this pub higher as it was our first visit to the Prince Albert and we like a pub Sunday roast pretty much every weekend but the service we experienced by the quite visibly hostile member of staff when we first walked in just soured the...