The Argyll Arms — Restaurant in London

Visited twice. The first was the week after the bars re-opened after lockdown and had a lovely experience, just went for drinks with my partner and nothing was wrong. The second was yesterday (18th Aug 20) and it was a real let down. Went for drinks again but this time with an old friend and I figured we would have the same experience as the first time. We both ordered pints, but when mine seemed to taste a little odd. My best attempt at describing it would be as if there was disinfectant mixed in with the beer. A combination of not being 100% sure at first if i was imagining it and not wanting to be the guy who returns anything meant i tried to ignore it for a bit. But after a few attempts it was so noticeable and disgusting i plucked up the courage to ask for another. I figured maybe someone had been spraying disinfectant near the glasses or something similar so was happy to just get another in a different glass. When approaching the bartender (the same who had initially served me) he was short and sarcastic with my request. Asking if I was "sure something was wrong" with it and exclaimed with a forced and mocking "oh no, well thats a shame", to which prompted a laugh form the wait staff standing near by. Given my pre-disclosed anxiety I have with these sort of situations, I was mortified. All i wanted was to just not have to drink a £6 beer/bleach cocktail and I kept thinking how could i have handled it differently? To top it all off, the bartender made the conscious effort of filling it up to the exact height of how much I had drunk from the first one. So we left shortly after finishing the 90% of the disinfectant-free beer that we had actually paid for (and yes - it tasted completely different).

It seemed to be a completely different staff from the first time, so potentially just an off day, but given the volume of other places around, I wouldn't want to risk going again. Its a shame because the first time it felt like they went above and beyond decent service.

On a side-note, my friend said the pints looked different colors at first, but i couldn't see it (color-blind) so didn't bring it up at the time.

TLDR: Was served a pint that had disinfectant in it and was given contempt for trying...

I booked a table for an evening for a small group of friends a couple of weeks in advance . When we arrived, it was obvious from the look on the staff members' face that the table hadn't been reserved, despite me receiving confirmation of the reservation and we were ushered upstairs to the dining area where a couple of tables were hurriedly pushed together. We selected a bottle of wine, but were told it wasn't available, neither was our second choice... Next on to the menu, we ordered a couple of sharing platters, but again the first choice wasn't available. No worries, we chose another one. Now onto the mains... We had come especially for the pies only to be told that they had nearly all been sold out. We had the last two brisket and a chicken and mushroom and another person opted for the fish and chips. We were then told that the kitchen closed at 9:00 so it was likely that they would want to send both the starters and mains at the same time, but they would do their best to avoid that. After some wait, the starters finally arrived which weren't bad, but we had to wait a good ten minutes after they were finished before WE finally cleared our own plates and asked if we could have the mains. The mains eventually arrived. the pies weren't too bad, but it was evident that the fish and chips had been left for a while as they were almost cold. We were then told that the dining room was closing at 10:00pm. ( I had booked a table 8:30 -10:30). Now we were seriously in impressed. We finished the mains and waited and waited until eventually the two staff staff stopped talking and one came over to ask if we wanted the bill. I asked about deserts, nope! So what about coffee? Nope as the machine is switched off at 9:00pm. Overall, a very poor experience and not what I expected from the Nicholsons chain of pubs which I've always found really good. Will I be going back ? Nope! Can I recommend this...

The pub itself looks adorable and so traditional but the restaurant upstairs had a rude member of staff, this big elderly foreign waiter with glasses. We were not greeted upon arrival or taken to the table. Instead, we were told straight away that we couldn't eat there as the place was meant to be for eating "proper food" only. We explained we were all ordering mains so the waiter then let us stay. We were there for 1hour and 45min total, during which time we had 5 mains and 1 dessert. Mains were mild, not hot as you'd expect. We had to ask for one of the mains to be rushed, we then had to ask for the dessert twice because it also took ages, we had to ask for the bill three times. When waiting on the bill, the waiter didn't serve any other tables, he just walked around the room as if he hadn't listened to our request in the first place. Bill came automatically with a 10% service fee which we were not asked about. Even though we were a group, we couldn't pay seperately either because the system doesn't allow it. For every other poor soul that was ignorantly trying to eat there, they were rudely told that they work by bookings only and groups had to show themselves out after having sat down already. This information was told loudly over the room as people arrived and sat down, not to each group individually. There's nothing wrong with working by bookings only but the way the waiter kept speaking to everyone was just shocking. When this waiter spoke with the other waiter, we also managed to recognise a lot of cursing in a foreign language. The younger waiter was so polite and friendly, I feel sorry for him. Considering this is in a central touristic part of London, you'd expect a bit more efficiency so people have some time left to...