The Builders Arms — Restaurant in London

Loud and unenjoyable are two words that come to mind when I think of The Builders Arms. To start, the chef went to use the bathroom while wearing an apron which seems unhygienic and disturbing. The lady who greeted us at the door was very nice, however the one who brought us our food hated us for no apparent reason was extremely rude, barely even saying a word before huffing and walking away.

In terms of food, the Sunday roast can simply not be recommended to anyone with more than 2 tastebuds (the pork was nice though). The chicken was unseasoned and didn’t come with the stuffing or pigs and blanket advertised in the menu. Both bland and lacklustre! The Yorkshire pudding was more of a Yorkshire roti as it was very flat and not like anything I’ve ever eaten in my 34 years of life. Potatoes also burnt and had no seasoning. My boyfriend enjoyed his roast pork, but gagged when he tried my chicken. Table next to us was very rowdy and caused quite a scene. A dog even ran around the restaurant which is in violation of health code despite being cute, and no it wasn’t a seeing eye dog. The blackcurrant soda was nice though, but anyone with a soda stream and a Braun cell could make that. I bet it was made by the nice darling girl who greeted us and not the grump. Divine...

I recently visited The Builders Arms in Kensington for a Sunday roast, and unfortunately, the experience was disappointing.

The service was poor - after taking our order, the staff didn’t check on us at all. No one came back to see if we needed drinks or to check if everything was okay during the meal. It felt like we were completely left alone.

The biggest issue, however, was the roast itself. We ordered two sharing roasts (£48 each) and one individual roast for £22. Given that the sharing roast costs more than double the price of the individual one, you’d expect a significantly larger portion - but that wasn’t the case. The sharing roast for two included just one piece of stuffing and one pig in blanket to split, along with only four roast potatoes between two people. Meanwhile, the individual roast had four potatoes for just one person, but no stuffing or pig in blanket. The portioning was completely off, and everyone left still feeling hungry, which really shouldn’t happen at that price point.

For the cost, we expected a well-portioned, satisfying meal, but instead, we got an unbalanced, underwhelming experience. Combined with the lack of attentive service, it’s not somewhere I’d be in a hurry...

Walked into the Builders Arms Kensington at 7pm Sunday May 25th 2025. Ordered a pint and asked if food was still being served. Initial answer was yes, so start checking out the menu. Another member of staff says to the guy that served me that food was unavailable for people without reservations. It was done for my benefit. I interject and tell them no problem. I’ll drink here, eat elsewhere.

10 minutes later a couple come in, no reservations and sit next to me at a window seat, order fish and chips no problem. The difference? The couple are wearing Rolex watches. Hilarious! I left mine back at the hotel, maybe I need to wear it in this part of town? Perhaps I was too poor looking for you guys…

Snobby, stuck up establishment that has no idea about customer service. I wouldn’t mind if it were anyway upmarket, it’s a spit and sawdust pub. I’m here in Kensington all of the time and will strongly recommend against visiting to anyone coming here.

Awful, awful way to treat customers. Shame on you, and I’m glad I get the chance to review and...