The Cadogan Arms — Restaurant in London

I was expecting big things from the Cadogan Arms. There were some big plusses and a few minuses.

The decor is charming and the table placements pleasant. Not so close that you might feel that your neighbours are family, yet not so far that the pub loses its sense of comfort and coziness.

The initial server at our table likely wasn’t a server, which led to some confusion, as he didn’t know much about the menu or the food options. It left us with an initial impression that this might be problematic as the meal progressed.

There was also one slight confusion that a simple additional line on the menu could clear up. The “feasts” are only available on Sundays, so don’t expect to be able to order it on other days. Much to my pithivier dismay!

To our relief, there is a bit of an all hands on deck approach to serving, as our table was attended to by multiple staff, one of whom was clearly our designated server (although I never did quite narrow down which of the two delightful and attentive women was specifically our table’s server). The people in black aprons seem to be the servers, while the people in red aprons seem to be the bussers, et al).

I shall start with the drinks. The Sticky Toffee old fashioned was sublime. I’m a big fan of old fashioneds at the best of times and the buttery softness of the “sticky toffee” made it velveteen on the tongue. It was so good, I ended up having one with dessert too.

I also had the Big Pimmsin. It was fine. Given its description, I was hoping for something far fruitier and tart, especially with the mention of “berries”. It came out, however, as essentially a Pimms iced tea.

The soda bread with Guinness butter was also ok. The bread was a dark, earthy, almost molasses-type bread with a slight hint of sweetness. The Guinness butter was almost too sweet in accompaniment.

For the carnivores, the buttermilk chicken was the favourite meat dish. I’ll come back to the steak shortly.

We enjoyed a cheese tart that is not currently reflected on the menu on the website, but which is on the menu at the pub. The pastry was a little too flaky and caused the tart to somewhat disintegrate, however, the flavour combinations were superlative and flowed together beautifully.

The steak was good. Not the best steak the carnivores had ever had, but certainly good. They did feel, however, that it could have used a bit more seasoning. Salt was called for.

The cheese toastie. Hmmm. It was a toastie. It wasn’t blow my socks off. It wasn’t offensive. It was a toastie. The saving grace for the toastie were the two sauces that came with it and the addition of a fried portabello mushroom that came as a side to the steak. That combination worked much better.

The sticky toffee pudding was dark and dangerous. It tasted fine and was heartily strengthened by clotted cream. The rhubarb crumble similarly was decadent and the accompanying crème anglaise only added a creamy soft goodness to it that worked so well. Often rhubarb leaves a rough feeling on my teeth. The fact that this did not is testament to how well it was prepared.

Mind you, by this point we were beyond full.

A satisfying meal, even if it missed on a couple of points. And the serving staff more than...

As Canadians who have lived in London since 1994, we are always on the lookout for trendy places to take our friends and family when they come and visit, and nothing could be trendier or more iconic than dinner at the Cadogan Arms in Chelsea.

The Cadogan has been an Inn and a Coach House since the 1800's before Canada even became a country, so it certainly ticks the historical box. It's located in the heart of Chelsea on the Kings Road, so that ticks the iconic and trendy box. It has been frequented by many famous people over the years, including Queen Elizabeth II, Mick Jagger, and Eric Clapton, putting a big tick in the celebrity box. And it underwent a major restoration in 2014 with a stunning, elegant, and cosy decor, unticking forever the tired, shabby, fruit machine, and stale beer box.

It has a fabulous and busy bar staffed by friendly, knowledgeable and highly capable bar staff, but the two things that make the Cadogan Arms a real standout for me are its restaurant and truly memorable Customer Service. So it was with a smile on my face that I booked at table for some Canadian friends who only had one day and night in London on their way back from Barcelona. I knew they would be impressed and I was not wrong.

The restaurant menu is not extensive but every one of their choices is tasty, well proportioned, and beautifully presented. Our friends enjoyed the Paneer & Vegetable Makhani Curry and the Beer Battered Fish and Chips (the triple cooked chips are to die for!) and my wife and I chose the Beef and Guinness Pie.

The wine list is extensive and well chosen. We opted for the less expensive of the two Pinot Noirs and it was excellent.

Likewise, their dessert menu is very appealing, although my choice is made the minute I spot sticky toffee pudding on any menu.

As a digestif we were introduced to The Japanese Slipper, a delicious and refreshing cocktail made with cointreau, midori, and lemon juice. Stunning!

But for me, the most enduring feature of our evening was the way that we were looked after. In the high turnover hospitality industry, I don't know how you select for outstanding Customer Service, but the Cadogan Arms has found the sweet spot (and kudos to the Management for making this a critical part of their formula.) From the moment we walked in and were shown to our table, we were made to feel special. During the evening we were looked after and even entertained by the wait-staff, checked on by the manager of the bar and even met the chef at the end of the evening.

To say that our guests were impressed would be an understatement, and for me it is always the 'experience' of dining out that stays in the memory.

Whether you are GenZ, GenX, Millennial, or Boomer, you will feel welcome and special here (not to mention well fed and well watered.)

Fully deserving of...

I'm honestly still scratching my head about our experience here. We entered the pub at 5pm and there were plenty of tables, but nowhere near the entrance where we could wait without being in someone's way (there were four of us). We wandered further in with the idea that we would order a drink at the bar and hopefully get directions from the bartender about where we could sit. We honestly probably would have left because the vibe was not super welcoming - at this point we had realized there wasn't enough space at the bar and we were sort of standing around awkwardly while three staff members talked in a corner - except a young man at a table by himself offered us his table. We were very grateful, but as soon as we sat down the guy in the corner who I assume was a manager swooped in and told us that we would need to give the table up by 7pm. We kind of looked at each other (7pm was two hours away, so while I totally get letting us know I don't know why that was the opener) and told the manager that would be fine, we were only looking for drinks. (I will also note - everyone else in the bar were only ordering drinks from what I could see. So I don't think he was annoyed that we wouldn't be spending more money. Also there were plenty of empty tables and no one else waiting, so I don't know why he immediately gave off the vibe of being annoyed that we were there). Once we assured him that we wouldn't be here long, he was generally very cordial when interacting with us and taking our order. The drinks were great and priced where I would expect them to be for a pub on King's road. We also ordered fries and they were delicious too. However we couldn't fully enjoy them because the manager kept walking past looking directly at us (I even got a picture of it by accident when I was adjusting my camera settings, but I don't want to post a picture of a stranger on google). When not walking past us he was standing in the corner looking at us every thirty seconds. When we paid and got up to go - a full hour before the 7pm deadline - he practically pounced on the table and started clearing it before we had taken three steps. Anyways, it was the weirdest service we have ever received in London (we're Canadian but my husband lived in Cardiff for a year so we visited often) where we generally find everyone very friendly and welcoming. Everyone agreed the vibe was off and that we felt unwelcome. I have to assume that we only got half the story and that the rezo at 7 was for someone incredibly important. It's now a funny story among the four of us and I will forever be guessing at the strange behaviour we experienced here. Apologies to the stress on the manager, we really were just looking for a quick pit...