The Eagle — Restaurant in London

To the reply from the pub: I didn’t state you did make Pimm’s with vodka. I said it TASTED LIKE vodka. I meant industrial alcohol like ethanol?It didn’t taste like drinking alcohol. Additionally, plenty of people here point out how inexperienced your “bartenders” were, witnessing them make cocktails wrongly so who knows what happened? Did you see them make my drink?

Plus, as I wrote, I ordered crispy squid and prawn which IS on your menu. I mentioned salt and pepper squid from elsewhere as a comparison which is close enough to your “crispy squid and prawn”. I’m surprised squid is apparently fresh and 8-10 rings? It was not even a “ring”, was more like bits imo but maybe I’m tripping?

Genuinely such a disappointing reply since all you did was denying as if I was lying, especially when you didn’t even bother reading my review thoroughly…

This pub has a very nice spacious garden. I love coming here to enjoy the sun in summer. Plus, being able to order at the table is always nice and the service is very quick and professional.

The problem I had was the food and drinks I ordered during the last visit. I ordered Pimm’s (I know no one really wants to make this drink as it’s long) as it was a beautiful sunny day. Unfortunately, it tasted like cheap vodka or industrial alcohol (I imagine it’d taste like that), very harsh and alcoholic. It definitely did not taste like Pimm’s at all and my partner agreed it tasted funny.

I couldn’t drink it more than a few sips so ordered beer and crispy squid and prawn instead. Beer was nice, clean and crisp. But the crispy squid had thick batter and barely any squid in it. The small piece of squid had no texture or whatsoever.

I often order salt and pepper squid at different pubs and I assume they all use frozen but the quality really varies. This time it wasn’t the best and I was disappointed since the portion size wasn’t so great for the price so expected a little better quality than what it was. The prawn was pretty...

It’s lovely that the Eagle puts on a Christmas dinner service each year. I’ve gone with my family for three years in a row now.

Last year the service was exceptional - the staff were attentive and even offered a palate cleanser between courses, which blew us away. We felt looked after and it was a lovely way to spend Christmas following a stressful year.

This year was not a patch on last year. We were asked for our drinks order without having been given a menu, and then the waiter stood over us while we were choosing so we asked him to give us time to look. Our starters were served before our drinks. The waiter then didn’t know which drink was which when serving them. We were also served our food with long waits in between, so some of us had cold food by the time everyone was served.

As we were drinking our complimentary coffees (which we requested, as it didn’t seem they were going to be offered) a young man came to our table saying “I’m not kicking you out, but we’ll be closing in 25 minutes.” Come on - I get that the sittings have time durations, but was this necessary on people’s Christmas Day? We weren’t being particularly slow with the coffees.

I wouldn’t have written a review like this if the experience hadn’t been so completely different to last year, which was just beautiful. All the small things - rushing plates out at different times, not giving spoons etc for coffee, the confusion with drinks, the little reminder that it would be booting out time - they add up. I can only imagine how rubbish it is to be working at Christmas, but please remember it’s the customers’ Christmas too.

The positives - the table settings are gorgeous, and the staff were also really nice. When one of our dining companions said she was unhappy with the chocolate dessert, they replaced it. I do think that the only issue was with the organisation. It’s so lovely that the Eagle puts this on at Christmas for people who otherwise might not be able to cook...

We had a great experience as always, we were served by Marco and he was great, Sonia was consistently checking in and making effort to make sure everyone was happy and the lovely Errol made the most amazing steak!

The only downside was outside of the staffs control but there was a very obnoxious customer next to us who thought he was at the ritz perhaps and expected to be overly demanding, complain loudly to poor Sonia about both steaks not being good enough (he asked for rare, both steaks were clearly rare) he was awful to sit beside and we spent half our time starring at him and his obnoxious attitude the majority of out last hour there.

Luckily he left once he’d definitely crossed the line by trying to embarrass and ‘humble’ the staff.

Our experience went back to great once he left. He didn’t pay his bill either which was more shocking than the multiple meltdowns he had in front of everyone.

This man should be barred and the staff definately don’t deserve to be talked to or treated that way at all, not when the rest of the customers were full, enjoying a drink and feeling super zen.

I haven’t been to the eagle for quite some time now due to moving and other than the entitled customer who attempted numerous time to cause a scene, zero responsibility or fault of the staff or establishment. It was very much him. If I hadn’t experienced his behaviour and disrespect it would be 5* all round.

Service and food - exceptional 5*

Atmosphere - again the pub and staff always make it great but I gave 3 star solely for the amount of times my conversations were interrupted by his man tantrums. Or it would also be 5*

I commend the staff for staying professional even when being disrespected. Sonia did a great job of defusing it and getting him to be quiet. This was right before he walked out and didn’t even attempt to pay his food bill.

Glad I’m not in hospitality anymore but credit the staffs patience!

I’ll be back...