The Crown & Sceptre — Restaurant in London

This is specifically a Burns Night review. I'm sure the pub is perfectly nice in its normal function. But providing a Scottish tribute to Robert Burns by way of a menu of Scotch favourites, it utterly failed. Starters were "Haggis" scotch eggs, discernible from any other scotch eggs, or mussels in cider and chilli. So far, so generic. Mains were of course Haggis neeps and tatties, or venison steak with braised red cabbage and potatoes. The Haggis seemed to appear in its veggie variation, which was available for those specifying it, and which we haven't. Maybe they'd run out. Although there was only one other table dining. The mashes with both quite watery. The venison steak arrived with broccoli instead of the red cabbage, which is fine, but the whole plate was entirely cold. On pointing it out it was promptly taken and microwaved to within an inch of its life. Then there was the puddings - Cranachan or "scottish cheeses" with oatcakes. The Cranachan was just a goblet-full of toasted oats, and some sour raspberries on top. When we asked about cream, being a main component of the dish, we were told chef says it's mixed in with the oats, and given a gravy boat of the stuff. The cheese plate was in no way of Scottish origin (more like supermarket economy pack origin) and the oatcakes offensively stale. It has to be said that all portions were generous, however other than the starters none were finished and/or enjoyed. The staff did their absolute best and we weren't charged for our drinks as an apology, i guess. There was, however, also a whiskey tasting session we weren't aware of when booking this meal - neither did the other table dining - which was a lovely surprise and certainly tempered our...

Insulting, rude and incredibly discriminatory staff who followed up with a bunch of lame/nonsensical excuses for their atrocious behaviour. I organised to meet 4 friends here prior to eating a restaurant near Goodge Street as it was between their Marylebone Hotel and the restaurant.

I've eaten and drank at hundreds if not thousands of bars and restaurants globally over the last 30 years, from street food stalls in Beijing, numerous 5 stars hotels, truck stops in Bolivia and I honestly can't recall a worse experience... ever.

Apart from the service: Beer selection was extensive but not very imaginative, although we did find something that we were happy with in the end. Very noisy, so much so we couldn't have a catch up/discussion inside the pub so we stood outside (none of us are smokers) Football was being shown on widescreen TVs on a Friday night, normally something I avoid but I guess that's down to your personal opinion.

I recommend one of many other nearby pubs as an...

The food was honestly awful, which is shocking for a Fullers pub, as I have been to many and had a far superior experience. The staff including the manager had no idea about their food. I asked about the gravy on the roast dinner, neither of them knew if the gravy was served on the side or not. Also asking about an ingredient in the gravy caused some confusion for them both. Finally upon receiving the meal I was truly shocked, the beef seemed like two grizzly pieces of very cheap steak, dry and overcooked. There were 3 potatoes, all of which where like small rocks. Not roasted fluffy thyme, as advertised. The pub was dark and dingey, nothing like the photos. I will not be returning, if I didn't have arrangements I would have left and sought an...