The Fellow — Restaurant in London

We popped in last night for a quick drink before heading home, it was rather busy but we managed to find a table.

I headed to the bar to order a drink and waited to for those who were there ahead of me to be served, once it came to my turn, I noticed that I at least 3 people who had come to the bar after me had been served including a guy who was after a refund.

At this stage, other people around me had also noticed that I was being over looked. Eventually the the woman working behind the bar, that had ignored me for over 20 mins, attempted to serve the person standing next to me, who politely told her that I was next.

I waved and smiled and she shouted back at me "I'm not serving you, you waved at me, its disrespectful". Everyone stood at the bar, was shocked by her attitude and surprised at the over the top response.

Myself and 3 other people who had seen the exchange tried to explain to her, that I had been standing there for a very long time and that she had been ignoring me, to no avail.

Bemused and quite upset, I went back upstairs and told my friend (also a woman of colour) what had happened. She then went downstairs to order a drink and was also ignored by the same member of staff, who chose to serve every other (white) customer, leaving her standing there for another 20 mins until a younger member of staff came to serve her.

At this point, it became very clear that the non-service was racially motivated. Again my friend asked her for her name, and was refused.

The staff member that I am talking about was female with short short blonde hair.

I am so shocked by this, as we used to pop into The Fellow for a drink on our way home pre-covid, and have never experienced a situation like this here before.

I am also not the type to complain about things like this, having ran bars myself in the past, I know that it is not always easy when things are busy. However, it was just so apparent that we were being treated differently due to the colour of our skin, that I just have to...

I came here as part of a group and wasn't expecting much. It was a Sunday and we got the Sunday menu (which was more expensive than the weekday one which looks pretty good value at £18 for 2 courses). I ordered the fish and chips reluctantly as I didn't want/trust the other dishes. It comes with a sorry tiny portion of mushy peas which I hate and asked them to change for cabbage. I prefer to order fish and chips in a specialist place because they do a particular style of chips that restaurants can never replicate.

Unexpectedly it was the best fish and chips I'd had for years, even if the chips were not "real" chippy chips, they were nice nevertheless and the fish was very fresh and in a light, crispy, non oily batter. My cabbage was delicious too.

It came with tartare sauce (could be better, but ok), curry sauce (I don't touch the stuff but it was over microwaved and dry) and the mushy peas I saw on other people's plates was the same, and a ridiculously tiny portion too, completely token. Those were my only complaints.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal except the roast beef which he had asked for medium rare, one piece was well done (sitting under a heat lamp too long) the other very rare and he said that the meat was rather fatty. I didn't order a roast as the potatoes looked soggy and they were just sitting in gravy in the bowl. The roast chicken was huge and the bangers and mash all got eaten.

The toilets were not perfectly clean (unisex, always a nightmare, the toilet seats were horrid), but they didn't smell and the pub was busy so I count that as a win. Unisex toilet seats are really hard to keep clean for the ladies, bad idea from a cleanliness...

Another meal out and once again, another disappointment that I need to warn others to avoid.

Ordered two roasts on a very quiet Sunday early evening.

3 members of staff working hard behind the bar and doing the best they could.

Front of House/Restaurant had two scruffy, badly attired female senior members of staff sat opposite the hot pass, drinking wine and cider doing 'work' on the laptop and not paying any attentive care to customers. The two individuals in question were clearly doing their best to make a song and dance of showing how hard they were working together despite seemingly doing very little apart from drinking and scrolling endlessly on their phones. In short the two of them looked like unprofessional slobs more suited to being sat together on a dirty old sofa together at home.

The food itself was put under the hot pass and the chef rang no less than 3 times for service. He was ignored and attempted to serve us himself. Eventually one of the two picked up and brought our food over, having had a shoulder massage from another member of staff and kept us waiting further.

Yorkshire puddings were like sandpaper, the veg undercooked and the meat chewy.

All in all a poor experience. Don't waste your money, the venue and management seem to think public service/hospitality is all a big game and are more interested in themselves. I'll be contacting their regional management for an explanation or for training to be given to the two ladies in question. Totally unacceptable and not appreciated by paying members of the public.

Bottom line - Focus on your customers and duty of care NOT yourselves...